{"id":62962,"date":"2024-07-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=62962"},"modified":"2024-07-28T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T17:00:00","slug":"coveted-dl-darrion-smith-details-return-visit-to-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/coveted-dl-darrion-smith-details-return-visit-to-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"Coveted DL Darrion Smith details return visit to Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 St. Frances Academy (Md.) defensive lineman Darrion Smith<\/a><\/strong> returned to Tennessee on Saturday for the Vols \u2018Big Orange Kickoff\u2019. Following the outing, Smith broke down the visit with Volquest.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to take an actual visit before our season starts because I will be locking in at that point and won\u2019t be taking too many more visits,\u201d Smith said of why he decided to return to Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Not much has changed on the recruiting front for Smith since he was last in town. He remains focused on Ohio State and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Those are still the top two,\u201d Smith said of this.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, he was able to see a different side of the Tennessee program.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u201dIt was more family-oriented stuff and less football,\u201d Smith said of what he saw during Saturday\u2019s visit. \u201cIt was more getting to know the coaches and the culture and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pitch from Tennessee was simple, but Smith says he is still working through the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just want me to commit, but I am still getting to know the coaches more,\u201d Smith said of what the pitch was from the Tennessee coaches.<\/p>\n

Smith has built strong relationships with Rodney Garner and Robert Ayers during the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a great guy, and he has been to the league,\u201d Smith said of what stands out about Ayers. \u201cHe has been where I am now, so I can pick his brain a little.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been doing this since before I was thought of,\u201d Smith said of Garner. \u201cHe is one of the GOATs. It definitely is (something that appeals about Tennessee).\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the final visit Smith plans to take ahead of his senior season, and he hopes to make a decision ahead of the start of his senior campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am probably going to announce before the season or right at the beginning,\u201d he said of this. \u201cI will probably take my OVs during the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith says he does not yet have a choice made, and he plans to tkae more time to sit down with his family and decide.<\/p>\n

I am still going to do a little more talking with my family, and then figure out where I want to go from there,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt is more so looking at less football and stuff on the school side. Life outside of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one thing that stands out about Tennessee is the people around Josh Heupel\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like how all of the coaches are family-oriented people and they are player coaches and care about their players,\u201d Smith said of this.<\/p>\n

The post Coveted DL Darrion Smith details return visit to Tennessee<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 St. Frances Academy (Md.) defensive lineman Darrion Smith returned to Tennessee on Saturday for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62984,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62962\/revisions\/62984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}