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‘Comfort level’ on Rocky Top led Javonte Smith to Tennessee orange

On3 imageby:Austin Price•07/08/25•

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Jackson, Tennessee athlete Javonte Smith visited Knoxville the last weekend before the dead period. He left town and knew he wanted to wear orange. So what put Tennessee over the top?


“Honestly, just hanging around with the coaches, hanging with the staff, they just made me feel at home, made me feel that peace,” Smith said. “I mean no other school made me feel like that so I thought that was where I could just better my career, better my life and help me fit in more and me be more comfortable. You know I was the most comfortable at Tennessee than any of those other visits.”

He spent plenty of time talking to Tim Banks and Willie Martinez but the person he clicked with quickly was coach Earnest Thomas III. Coach ET as he is known is a younger coach who continues to make a name for himself.


“I’ll probably say coach ET, the assistant DB coach,” Smith said about his favorite relationship on staff. “He still got a lot of young blood in him, he is just a funny guy and we just clicked automatically. Me and him just click off the rip soon as we met and had a conversation about five to ten minutes and then when he went over my player development it just I just felt like I could get along with him a lot and we can match energy.”

The one that also stood out as Tennessee recruited him was Josh Heupel and his will to win and compete.


“Coach Heupel is a very funny guy, very competitive,” Smith said. “I got that competitiveness in me because I play three sports so him just being competitive just show me a lot about who he is as a person and as a coach.”

Smith plays three sports for Jackson Northside. He plays football, basketball and baseball. He loves being active and competing himself.

“Honestly, I grew up playing baseball so baseball, that’s always been my heart being on that diamond,” Smith said. “Then I started playing basketball in eighth grade and I met my basketball guys and I just went into high school like I’m just continue to play basketball with my guys. And then football I started playing in middle school. I honestly played in eighth grade because I had free will to hit anybody. Then as I got older it just became I really like this and then I just fell in love with it last year and I was like maybe I can go somewhere with this so I took it seriously.”

Besides playing three sports, he also works at Chuck E. Cheese. He does his part for he and his family. Now he will play college football in the revenue sharing era where he will make money to play the sport he loves. It’s something he never even thought about just a few years ago.


“Unexpected honestly,“ Smith said. “I feel very grateful honestly, being able to just put myself in a position to not only better my life but to better my family, better my future wife, future kids. I just feel very grateful to have that opportunity and I will take every slight little bit of step to take advantage of the opportunity that I can.”

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