4-star safety Sylvester Smith commits to Auburn

When the weekend began, 4-star safety Sylvester Smith of Munford (Ala.) was a Tennessee commit.
Now, he’s Auburn bound.
A visit Saturday to the Plains changed everything.
Just hours after that visit ended, Smith de-committed from Tennessee. Sunday morning, he committed to Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers.
“In the beginning of all this, I grew up an Auburn fan, grew up with Auburn my dream school,” Smith told On3’s Chad Simmons.
This is a huge pickup for Auburn.
Smith is the No. 17 safety and No. 245 overall recruit nationally in the On3 Consensus.
He becomes commitment No. 14 for the Tigers.
The previous Auburn coaching staff offered Smith in 2021.
On Monday of last week, the Tigers re-offered. When reached Saturday morning, Smith told Auburn Live he had been communicating with Auburn “for about two weeks” and mostly with secondary coach Zac Etheridge.
Early last week, Volquest, On3’s Tennessee site, reported Smith said he was locked in with the Vols.
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“Everything is going good with my commitment from Tennessee,” Smith told On3. “I plan to stay strong and sign with Tennessee. Auburn has contacted me and we’ve talked and little things like that – but it hasn’t been anything major. Some members of the new staff have reached out, but there hasn’t been any major movements or anything. I’m still committed to Tennessee and taking it day by day.”
He added, “I don’t really even pay attention to it anymore. If I get a call, I’m picking my phone up. Whoever it is, I’m talking to them to be a good person. But that’s about it.”
Then he visited Auburn on Saturday.
“Going down there, I pretty much had it in back of my mind thinking there’s a really good chance that this does go good and there is really big chance they may be my last day committed to Tennessee,” Smith said.