Trey Smith sends message back home to Tennessee after winning Super Bowl
Trey Smith didn’t have time to get emotional when the clock ticked to down to zero in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. The Kansas City Chief guard and former Tennessee football standout offensive lineman was too lost in the moment.
“Time stood still,” Smith said in the Chiefs locker room while celebrating the 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. “(I) was just running.”
Then he found his father and all the emotions of what had just been accomplished came bubbling to the surface.
“I got emotional when I saw my dad,” Smith said. “All the hard work, sacrifice, dedication. Taking it all the way back to like fifth and sixth grade, him driving me to practice, going to Subway before for a little Powerade.
“All those moments. Football camps in the summer, all the sacrifices he made for my life. To be able to look into his eyes and say ‘World champs, Dad,’ it’s icing on the cake.”
Former @Vol_Football lineman @treysmith just won a #SuperBowlLVII ring with the @Chiefs.
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) February 13, 2023
In the locker room after the game, the Humboldt, Tennessee, native thanked Tennesseans for their support.
🎥 pic.twitter.com/eYQnS38Xuz
Smith’s NFL career has been its own version of icing on the cake after his health scare during his time at Tennessee.
He was shutdown after the first seven games of his sophomore season in 2018 due to blood clots, putting his football future in question. He returned to the field with the Vols in 2019, earning First Team All-SEC honors after appearing in all 13 games, starting 12 at left guard.
He was a second-team All-American after his senior season in 2020, but his health history caused his draft stock to plummet.
Trey Smith became 40th Tennessee football player to win a Super Bowl
It wasn’t until the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, with the 226th overall pick, that Smith finally heard his name called by Kansas City. Over his first two seasons with the Chiefs, he’s started all 33 games he’s appeared in.
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Ironically, Smith was part of the ‘Big Orange Combine,’ a group of nine Tennessee students that worked Super Bowl LIV in Miami in February 2020, when the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, their first world championship since 1969.
“Words can’t describe how grateful I am,” Smith said. “Being told about four years ago you can’t play ball anymore. I was actually able to work the Super Bowl in 2019, in Miami, when the Chiefs won the first time.
“It’s crazy to get drafted to this team then in Year 2 here I am standing, a Super Bowl champ, a world champ. Just extremely blessed, fortunate. Thankful, man. Gratitude.”
Trey Smith was a five-star on and off the field during time at Tennessee
Smith, a product of University School of Jackson in Jackson, Tenn., was a five-star prospect I the 2017 recruiting cycle and picked Tennessee, his home-state school, over Alabama.
Off the field at Tennessee, he was given the Torchbearer Award in 2021, the highest honor given to a student. He was a two-time SEC Community Service Team honoree and won the 2019 Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year award.
After winning the Super Bowl, he didn’t forget where he came from.
“The state of Tennessee, the love,” Smith said, “Jackson, Tennessee, where I’m from. The people back home. The University of Tennessee, where I helped grow myself as a man. Extremely thankful for all the moments, all the people that touched me and impacted my life and got me to this moment, man. Can’t thank you guys enough.”
