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Tennessee's Travis Smith, Jaedon Harmon make donation to Knoxville community center with NIL dollars

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz07/23/25NickSchultz_7
Tennessee's Travis Smith, Jaedon Harmon make donation to Knoxville community center with NIL dollars
Screenshot from video courtesy of Travis Smith

This fall, Travis Smith and Jaedon Harmon will look to make their mark on the Tennessee program as true freshman. But they’re already impacting the community before their first snaps.

Smith and Harmon donated $10,000 of their NIL dollars – $5,000 each – to a Knoxville community center this week. They visited the Wesley House Community Center, presenting the organization with a commemorative check and posing for pictures with the children.

Harmon said the Vols previously took a trip to the community center, which inspired him to find a way to give back. He also put things into perspective based on his situation ahead of his freshman season at Tennessee.

“I just think about where I came from and seeing these kids and when we came here last time, we were talking about some kids didn’t know if they were going to eat that day,” Harmon said, via WBIR-TV. “I think about how I wake up every day and get to play football. Some days, I’m tired and don’t want to do it.

“But then, you’ve got to think about kids who, they don’t know if they’re going to have something to eat or what they’re going to eat that next day. I’m blessed enough to wake up and play football for Tennessee every day and give back to these kids.”

From Smith’s standpoint, he wanted to find ways to give back as he gets ready to start his college career. That was one of the values instilled in him as he grew up in Atlanta, especially when he saw a different way of life than the one he saw at that age.

“I never grew up in nothing like this,” Smith said. “I was in a great home, had a great village around me that taught me the ethics of giving back to people and being a servant. Just having that village around me, picking me up, it instilled in me it’s okay to give back.”

Travis Smith and Jaedon Harmon both arrived at Tennessee this offseason as four-star recruits from the 2025 cycle. Smith was the No. 83 overall player and 10th-ranked wide receiver from the 2026 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. Harmon was the No. 200 overall player and No. 19-ranked linebacker from the class.

Tennessee is in the midst of its final preparations before training camp officially gets underway next week. The Volunteers will take the field for their first practice July 30.