Tennessee lands final official visit before five-star Trey Smith's Tuesday commitment
Tuesday could go a long way in determining the ultimate success or failure of the Butch Jones era at Tennessee. Given the decline of the football team over the last five weeks of the season, in addition to the odd midseason departure of Jalen Hurd from the program, that’s not hyperbole.
Tuesday will signal one of two things: Either a continuation of the poor late-season results or a statement that Tennessee continues to progress under Butch Jones and remains an attractive option for the nation’s elite prospects.
Why is Tuesday so important? That’s the date five-star offensive lineman and Tennessee native Trey Smith will be committing to his either Tennessee, Ole Miss, Ohio State or Alabama.
Rated as a five-star prospect by 247Sports and the No. 1 overall prospect in the nation by ESPN Recruiting, the 6-foot-6, 310-pound Smith took his final official visit to Knoxville over the weekend after already taking visits to Columbus and Tuscaloosa.
For the weekend visit, Tennessee rolled out the “Orange Carpet” if you will for the highly touted Volunteer State native. The in-state lineman was the only official visitor hosted by the program this weekend. Several players and their family did their part to sway Smith toward Rocky Top on social media, including fellow lineman Jack Jones, quarterback Jarrett Guarantano and his father James:
Great weekend with my boy @smithtrey98 #family
— Jack Jones (@jackjoneshii) December 4, 2016
The future is now ! Let's ride!! #Family #VFL 🔶🔶🔶🔶 https://t.co/K1rTCoF8O0
— Jarrett Guarantano✞ (@Guarantano2) December 4, 2016
Vol Nation, take a peek…… pic.twitter.com/vlHHNYXbGI
— James Guarantano (@JamesGuarantano) December 4, 2016
@smithtrey98 👀👀👀 Deja Vu today! Everyone get to the basketball game today ! https://t.co/c9IqoNAmTS
— Jarrett Guarantano✞ (@Guarantano2) December 3, 2016
The Vols even displayed what Smith’s uniform would look like next season if he chose to enroll at Tennessee:
I wonder who this was set up for? 🤔 Any idea @smithtrey98?? pic.twitter.com/k8guLYOqBP
— Austin Price (@AustinPriceless) December 5, 2016
Following his Tuesday commitment, Smith plans to enroll early and get a jump start on the 2017 season. Both Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are expected to pay Smith and his family an in-home visit Monday night, prior to his decision. While Butch Jones will not be there, the Tennessee coach has already used up his one allotted home visit with Smith, several Volunteer assistants are scheduled to give Smith a visit.
During his Monday media availability, Jones proclaimed his Tennessee program was on the verge of signing another “top-notch” recruiting class and relayed that recruits see the positive momentum of the program.
Is Tennessee continuing to move in the right direction or will the disappointing season signal the beginning of the end for Jones’ program? We may know the answer as soon as Tuesday when Smith announced his final decision.
Smith’s commitment will be broadcast live on ESPN’s College Football Live at 4 p.m. ET.
With Smith and Cade Mays, Tennessee will have two of the top 3 tackles from the next two recruiting cycles. Great foundation for a solid O-line for years to come. Also, a good thing for whoever will be the QB going forward.
No one cares, you lost your bet, why are you even here?
Pay no attention to these outsiders. Their fear is seeing UT becoming great again. You won’t see me go to another teams page to post unless it’s to congratulate them.
The problem is @keno98 came to the sc page and other pages to talk smack all year long, so much so that he made a bet that TN would beat SC, and win the East or he would leave the comment section. He hasn’t, because that is what a Vol fan does, talk smack and then fail to man up.
P.S. I didn’t see you congratulate SC earlier, instead I saw excuses from VFLer’s. As for me I congratulated ever team section on every sc loss.
You have trash talked Tennessee plenty. It’s a CFB fan site. People trash talk. Then you act all high and mighty while saying “That is what a Vol fan does…” Lol
I present arguments with facts, and expose the bs spewed by some on here. Kind of like when you would throw out your ridiculous theories on why TN paid off the the title IX, or when you try to say Alexis Johnson wasn’t charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. As far as “that’s what a Vol fan does”, it’s true go back and look at the comment section after the SC, Texas am, or vandy loss. Instead of congratulating the teams for the win, with the exception of a few, you guys has a complete meltdown and immediately came up with excuses, i.e. Injuries, blaming Jalen Hurd, calling for Butch to be fired, etc. in true typical “champion of life style”. In other words the actions of the majority of Vol fans on here show that your fanbase in general likes to talk trash and make bets that they are not man enough to honor.
But y’all still suck….
“[Tennessee] gets all these good players and I don’t know what happens to them!” Steve Spurrier (slightly modified)
They spank that puppy dog’s ass!!!
UGA has no room to talk. You guys have done the least with more than any team I’ve seen. You guys had the 6th ranked talented team in the nation this year and had a worse season than UT.
Just a few more bricks?