Munford (Ala.) High School football coach
Michael Easley believes there’s plenty to like about
Sylvester Smith both on and off the field. Despite a junior season that didn’t go according to plan, Smith has a skill set and track record that have made him a highly ranked prospect and have helped him pick up scholarship offers from at least 30 schools over the past two years.
Easley said Smith, a four-star Class of 2023 safety who announced his commitment to Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon, also is “a good kid” who has been “fun to coach” at Munford. Easley said Smith is a “very versatile player” who should give the Vols plenty of options in the secondary, although he thinks safety is Smith’s “best spot.”
“Going to be a guy that can play a lot of different spots for them, especially the way colleges have to play with, really, five DBs on the field — a lot of times six, too — just to match what offenses are doing nowadays, spreading people out,” Easley said of Smith, who’s ranked the No. 147 overall prospect and No. 11 safety in the 2023 class and the No. 13 junior from Alabama, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
“He’s going to be a guy that can sit back there and play your normal, what a lot of people think of as a safety. And he’s also going to be a guy that can be able to roll down and play some nickel, fit up on the run, be able to cover backs out of the backfield and stuff like that. But just very versatile.
“He’s going to be fast enough to play man. He’s got good ball skills. Can play the middle of the field — cover guy — but also a guy that can roll down there and fit the run. … I think they’re going to really like his skill set.”
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Smith primarily has played safety to this point in his high school career. Easley said Smith’s skill set and build make him a natural fit there.
“He’s an instinctual player,” Easley said. “He’s a very instinctual player. He’s got very good ball skills. Sees stuff quick, reacts quick, so I definitely think safety is his best spot. Today, with the way they’re playing nickel backs and moving them around, and now defenses having to do so much to give offenses different looks, you better have some versatile DBs on the field.”
Easley said Smith “actually got up last year over 200 pounds” last year at one point and was slowed by an ankle injury for most of his junior season. But Easley said Smith has “kind of trimmed back down a little bit” and is “around 190, 192 right now,” and he’s “moving very good.”
That’s just one of the reasons Easley said he believes Smith’s “best ball’s ahead of him.”
“A lot of people didn’t realize this, but he turned his ankle early in the year this year — early in the second ballgame of the year — and tried to battle through it all year long and never really was healthy,” Easley said. “But, I mean, he’s getting back to full speed now. I watched him run, doing a workout on the track and doing our speed work and stuff, and he looks like his old self now the way he’s moving.
“He just needs to keep working hard and have a strong finish in the classroom, and the on-field stuff, football stuff will take care of itself.”
Going into his senior year, Smith simply needs “to continue to gain strength,” Easley said, and make up for some of the lost time and COVID-19 restrictions that affected Munford the past two years.
Smith plans to arrive at Tennessee in January as an early enrollee. Easley said Smith is already taking senior-level classes and plans to complete some additional courses this summer that will put him on track to graduate in December.
“He’s doing a good job in the weight room,” Easley said. “I think the biggest thing (for him to do) is just preparing himself. What he’ll do at the college level is a good bit different than what we’re asking him to do. We play him at safety, but we play so much man and walk him up so much.
“What he’ll do will just be so different, so that’s another reason I’m glad he’s going to be able to get there in January and be able to go through spring practice instead of getting there in June or July and being very green that freshman year.”
Off the field, Easley said, Smith will be a good fit for the Vols, too.
“The kid’s got a good heart,” Easley said. “I won’t go into detail on some of the stuff he’s done before, just because it was personal stuff. He didn’t do it to get any attention. But I’ve seen him and I’ve had teachers come to me before and tell me stuff he’s done that — it’s kind of that stuff, when-nobody’s-looking type stuff — and they were very proud of him. Defending a handicapped kid or doing something like that, where kids were making fun of him or something.
“He’s a good kid. … I think his best ball’s ahead of him, and I’ve told everybody that. I think he’ll thrive at the college level because he won’t have to worry about doing anything but what that routine is, and that’s the great thing about college ball.”
While Early Signing Day for the 2023 class is still nearly eight months away, Easley said he views Smith’s commitment to Tennessee as “a good decision.”
“I’m happy for him,” Easley said. “I know it’s still a long way ‘til signing day. I know how things get. But I think he’s made a good decision. I think he made a good decision for himself, and I think it’s a good fit.”
