Multiple other outlets confirmed the news.<\/p>\n
In Anwar Richardson\u2019s report, there\u2019s a possibility that the 6\u20191, 214-pounder could return to the Forty Acres, but for now, the Longhorns will be without the key linebacker depth provided by Smith, who was practicing well before the illness that caused him to lose some weight.<\/p>\n
A consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 350 player nationally and the No. 27 linebacker in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Smith was a late addition to the 2024 class for Texas after flipping from Texas A&M during the early signing period.<\/p>\n
Primarily a contributor on three special teams units as a freshman, Smith appeared in all 16 games for the Longhorns, notching 16 tackles (eight solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, a half sack, and an interception in the blowout win over Florida.<\/p>\n
Playing a larger role in the linebacker rotation as a sophomore, Smith played 450 snaps across 12 games, including his first career start in the Citrus Bowl win over Michigan. Smith\u2019s 60 tackles (39 solo) were good for fifth on the team, adding 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and two interceptions.<\/p>\n
Both interception came in a breakout performance against the Wolverines during which Smith led the team with nine tackles (eight solo), one tackle for a loss of three yards, and one quarterback hurry after starters Anthony Hill Jr. and Liona Lefau both opted out.<\/p>\n
The big-time effort by Smith appeared to position him as a potential starter this season, but Texas opted add experienced depth through the NCAA transfer portal by signing former Pitt standout Rasheem Biles and steady Florida State contributor Justin Cryer.<\/p>\n
With Smith\u2019s absence, the Longhorns will need someone to step up in the linebacker rotation. Michigan State transfer Darius Snow has plenty of experience after spending six years with the Spartans, and freshmen Tyler Atkinson and Kosi Okpala both have high upside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple other outlets confirmed the news. In Anwar Richardson\u2019s report, there\u2019s a possibility that the 6\u20191, 214-pounder could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,536,28],"class_list":["post-413326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}