5-star OL Trey Smith commits to Tennessee over Ole Miss

After a whirlwind of late speculation thanks to in-home visits, five-star offensive tackle Trey Smith finally cleared the air and announced on ESPNU Tuesday afternoon that he is committed to Tennessee.

The country’s No. 5 offensive tackle prospect had been to Ole Miss for official and unofficial visits several times and was offered by the Rebels back when he was a freshman, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Butch Jones and the in-state Volunteers. Smith, who also had Alabama and Ohio State hats on the table, took an official visit to Knoxville last weekend.

Ole Miss was once thought to be the front-runner, but things may have turned after Jones hired Trey’s sister onto the Vols football program operations staff. SEC Country claims that in June, Tennessee “hosted a satellite camp in Jackson just to get face time with Smith for a day.”

The loss of Smith is a blow for the Rebels, though they have enough young tackle talent to absorb it in 2017. Former five-star Greg Little should hold down the left tackle spot while former four-star Alex Givens will be on the right. The interior will be shored up by former four-stars Javon Patterson, Rod Taylor, Bryce Mathews and returning starter Sean Rawlings.

Don’t get it twisted, though; Ole Miss really wanted Trey Smith and he would’ve been an immediate contributor in the trenches.