Tennessee LHP Ryler Smart enters NCAA Transfer Portal

Tennessee left-handed pitcher Ryler Smart has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Smart only spent one season with the Volunteers.

Smart didn’t see any action for the Volunteers this season. He played high school baseball at Pearland (TX), where he was the No. 183 overall player and No. 25 LHP in the 2024 recruiting cycle, according to Perfect Game.

Ryler Smart is far from Tennessee’s only player to enter the transfer portal this offseason. Smart is the seventh pitcher on Tennessee’s roster form this past season to enter the portal and the program’s 11th transfer exit overall.

Most recently before Smart, fellow Tennessee LHP Dylan Loy announced his intention to transfer. Loy had spent two seasons with the program.

He made 33 appearances and one start this season at Tennessee. In 34 innings on the mound, Loy recorded a 3.97 ERA while tallying 36 strikeouts compared to just 11 walks. Loy held opponents to a .180 batting average.

Loy pitched in both games of the Fayetteville Regional. He held the mound for 2.1 innings against Arkansas, giving up two hits and one run.

In his freshman season last spring, Loy amassed 21 appearances and five starts. He posted a 2.37 ERA and 37 strikeouts, holding foes to a .194 batting average. For his efforts, he was named a 2024 NCBWA Freshman All-American Second-Team selection.

Dylan Loy played high school baseball at Pigeon Forge High School (TN). He was the No. 18 overall player and No. 8 left-handed pitcher in Tennessee in the 2023 recruiting cycle, according to Perfect Game.

Tennessee finished the 2025 campaign with a 46-19 overall record and a 16-14 mark in conference play. The Volunteers won the Knoxville Regional but couldn’t return to the College World Series this season after winning it all last year.

Despite Tennessee’s back-to-back losses against Arkansas in the Fayetteville Super Regional, Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello is proud of his team’s efforts this season. He also understands that Tennessee has a lot of work to do this offseason.

“Gotta go get guys,” Vitello said after Tennessee’s season-ending loss. “We’re very fortunate with quality, maybe not necessarily quantity. That ended up with Gavin [Kilen] and Fish [Andrew Fischer] and Liam [Doyle] and T -Frank [Tanner Franklin]. I think those were our four portal guys. Then, of course, we had the one kid signed in a draft. But last summer was tough.

“We weren’t on our campus. It just didn’t work out as well as we would want to… You always want to recruit better. So, that’s what’s going to go on this summer. And then I think when you have success, I don’t think you loosen the reins or loosen things you do.”