32-year-old Navy serviceman joins Vanderbilt as walk-on

Vanderbilt’s Tommy Smith is not the first graduate student to walk on to a college football team. But his story becomes extraordinary when you add in the fact that he is a 32-year-old Navy serviceman. 

Smith just began school at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management as part of a civilian postgraduate program and figured he would use his remaining year of NCAA eligibility and return to the gridiron.

“Honestly, when I started making calls about it, I wanted to say in every conversation with coaches, ‘Don’t laugh at me, but …’ ” Smith said, per The Washington Post.

In 2010, he walked on at Notre Dame in his sophomore year, fulfilling a dream that he had since he was 4 years old. His mom swam at Notre Dame, and his grandfather also walked on to the Irish football team. 

After graduating from Notre Dame, Smith worked full-time for Navy ROTC and attended dive school in Panama City, Fla. He then became an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer after a year at Eglin Air Force Base in nearby Valparaiso.

Smith and his wife, Allison, have a 2-year-old son and a 7-week-old daughter. Like Smith, Allison is also on active duty status in the Navy and was a college athlete. She swam for Navy.

“She’s the real badass,” Smith said. “She’s the rock of our family when we need it. There are only 24 hours in the day and I’m gone a lot, but she helps me to not worry about things when I can’t be at home but then also enables me to come right back in when I am home and feel like a part of the family.”

Smith is listed as a tight end on Vanderbilt’s roster, but he did not see action in Vanderbilt’s Week 1 loss to East Tennessee State. The Notre Dame website listed Smith as a safety.

9-11 remembrance uniforms will be worn across the nation this weekend

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks, football teams all over the country will sport patriotic red, white and blue uniforms. 

The Florida Gators announced this morning their helmets for this weekend’s contest against USF will feature a patriotic tribute to the victims of the attacks, and head coach Dan Mullen will sport American flag Air Jordan 12 shoes.

When they take on UMass on Saturday, Boston College will wear their Red Bandana uniforms in honor of Eagles lacrosse player Welles Crowther who died in the World Trade Center South Tower. The Eagles will wear the uniforms Nov. 5 as well for their annual Red Bandana Game.

Rutgers tweeted a video of the uniforms they will wear Saturday against Syracuse in honor of their 37 alumni who died in the attacks. 

We will never forget the 37 Rutgers alumni and all those who lost their lives in the September 11th attacks. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/1XY2rY65JE

— Rutgers Football (@RFootball) September 9, 2021

While they are not directly related to 9-11, Navy and Air Force will both don special uniforms when they square off in Annapolis on Saturday.  The Midshipmen will honor the United States Marine Corps, while the Falcons uniforms are modeled after the B-52s used in Operation Linebacker II in Vietnam.