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CBS: Tennessee football’s Trey Smith fifth-best SEC player

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: LaBryan Ray #89 of the Alabama Crimson Tide battles with Offensive lineman Trey Smith #73 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alabama won 58-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: LaBryan Ray #89 of the Alabama Crimson Tide battles with Offensive lineman Trey Smith #73 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alabama won 58-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Barrett Sallee has the Tennessee football Volunteers offensive lineman at No. 5 in the Southeastern Conference.

Not many players in recent Tennessee football history have entered their senior season with the hype offensive lineman Trey Smith has. However, his track record heading into the year backs up all of it.

CBS Sports Analyst Barrett Sallee ranked Smith No. 5 in his list of top 10 SEC players, the highest of any lineman. This is just another accolade for Smith, who has made multiple Preseason All-SEC and All-American teams heading into 2020.

Only seven teams had a top 10 player, with the Alabama Crimson Tide having three and the LSU Tigers having two. The Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Missouri Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs all had one along with Tennessee football. Here is what Sallee said about Smith.

"The big men need some love, and nobody deserves it more than the senior offensive guard Trey Smith. The 6-foot-6, 335-pounder didn’t allow a single sack last year and is the highest-rated interior run-blocker returning to the conference, according to Pro Football Focus. Smith will be the anchor of one of the most experienced offensive lines in the country in 2020. If Tennessee is going to get back into the SEC East championship discussion, it’s going to have to do so behind its best player."

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The data points Sallee brought up for Smith are good enough to show how great he is. However, what’s underrated is the fact that he doesn’t even have all the accolades he could have given what he has proven.

Smith earned First-Team All-SEC the only two full years he played, one of which was as a Freshman when he earned Freshman All-American. Those were also the two years he played at guard, showing why he’s got so much hype entering his senior year as a guard.

On top of that, all signs pointed to Smith earning All-SEC again in 2018, his sophomore year, when he was forced to play left tackle due to a shortage of depth. However, his season was cut short due to blood clots in his lungs.

Those blood clots kept Smith out of full offseason participation in 2018 and 2019, and he still managed to be this effective. He has been able to deal with them since then because of a program put together by an elite medical team, and they shouldn’t be a drawback in 2020.

As a result, Smith’s stock should shoot through the roof. This will be the first time he enters a season playing the same position in the same system he played in the year before and the first time he was fully healthy during the offseason to get in proper condition.

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Taking all this into account, there’s a reason Tennessee football fans were thrilled with Smith’s decision to return for his senior season when he could have been a high NFL Draft pick. His potential this season, assuming it happens, is through the roof. That’s why analysts like Sallee are so high on him.

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