Hours after visiting Auburn, safety Sylvester Smith de-commits from Tennessee
Just hours after making a Saturday unofficial visit to Auburn, 4-star safety Sylvester Smith of Munford (Ala.) has de-committed from Tennessee. He announced this move on his Instagram account.
Now, the Tigers have become the team to watch, sources tell Auburn Live.
Smith is the No. 17 safety and No. 245 overall recruit nationally in the On3 Consensus. He visited Auburn with his girlfriend and was on campus for just a few hours.
In his de-commitment post, Smith wrote the following: “First and foremost, I want to thank the University of Tennessee for welcoming me with open arms. I want to thank coaches HYP, Banks and Nez for spending the time and effort to recruit me. With that being said, I must do what is best for me and my family and de-commit from the University of Tennessee. Thank you Tennessee, and Tennessee fans.”
The previous Auburn staff offered Smith in 2021.
On Monday of this 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.
Earlier this week, Volquest, On3’s Tennessee site, reported Smith said he was locked in with the Vols.
“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.”
Smith has an On3 NIL Valuation of $31K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.
