Trey Smith has already received several accolades after the 2017 season. The true freshman was named a second-team All-SEC player by both the AP and Coaches selections and was named an SEC All-Freshman player last week as well.
But the young Vol just got snubbed by ESPN when they released their Freshman All-American team on Monday.
ESPN put out their Freshman All-American team, and three SEC players made the list. But Tennessee’s Trey Smith wasn’t one of them despite grading out consistently as one of the best freshmen in the country all season.
Pro Football Focus’ college division recently graded all the former five-star recruits from the 2017 recruiting class, and Smith earned their second-highest grade among all those former five-stars. Smith started all 12 games for the Vols this season and played primarily at guard. But he was asked to start at tackle down the stretch as the Vols dealt with a multitude of injuries on the offensive line, and he made a handful of starts at tackle and performed well there too.
Luckily for Smith, there are still other Freshman All-American teams to come out. The AP and Coaches teams will be released soon, as will the lists of other publications. But his exclusion from ESPN’s list is noteworthy and doesn’t reflect his strong play all season.
