Tennessee football's Trey Smith is the Knox News Sportsperson of the Year

Trey Smith latched on to a new favorite Bible verse during the past year.

1 Corinthians 15:58 became the Tennessee junior offensive lineman’s guide as he dealt with a recurrence of blood clots in his lungs that cut short his sophomore season. That preceded an offseason of uncertainty as Smith wondered whether he ever would play football again.

As Smith endured sleepless and tearful nights and worried about his football future, he tried to keep that verse in mind.

The King James iteration reads: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Smith translates it like this: Don’t be discouraged by what’s going on now because the Lord is going to bless you in the end.

“That’s just the verse I live by,” Smith said.

Smith returned to the field in August and played at an elite level this season while following a specialized practice plan. The left guard earned first-team All-SEC honors from the Associated Press and coaches and helped the Vols (7-5) earn a bowl bid for the first time since the 2016 season.

For his courage, leadership and penchant for off-the-field service, Smith has been selected as the Knox News Sportsperson of the Year.

Trey Smith steadily regained his form

Smith was diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs in February 2018 after he struggled to get through an offseason workout. He missed spring practice but returned to start the first seven games of his sophomore season, only to have the issue return.

Last winter, he’d wake up early for conditioning, not knowing whether it would pay off in the form of a return this season.

“It’s a tough thing, man,” Smith said. “I had to stomach going back home, still working out on my off time on breaks – really not changing anything I do, with hopes of this season panning out. It’s a tough process.”

He continued to be limited to off-the-field conditioning during the spring before returning to practice in August. He got the medical green light to play just more than a week before the season opener, but it didn’t mark a return to business as usual.

Smith is following a specialized medical plan that limits his practice participation. He’s had just two full-contact practices all season.

“Initially, there was a lot more fear, a lot more doubt, because obviously it hadn’t been done,” Smith said. “Going through a health thing, I’m really doing something that has never been done. So just having doubt in the back of my mind, but just praying and believing in God – I believe in having faith – and then over time, getting comfortable in the system.”

Smith grew accustomed to his practice routine, but it hampered his performance early in the season.

Smith said it’s challenging to play as violently as he wants because he hasn’t had full-contact practice repetitions to repeatedly work on coming off the snap aggressively. 

“Sometimes, I feel that’s a detriment to my game, where a lot of times if I probably had practice, I would be killing people a lot more,” he said. “I think the hardest thing, it’s not really the speed of the game; it’s an adjustment after the snap. So, when the ball snaps, yeah, I’m getting off. I’m hitting the dude. But it’s like, what do I do right after that in order to win my rep? A lot of that is hand placement and contact that I can’t actually work.”

Smith started to find a rhythm during the fourth game of the season, against Florida. Two games later, in the Vols’ 20-10 victory over Mississippi State, he really began to click.

The victory over the Bulldogs began a stretch of six wins in seven games that sent the Vols to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee will play Indiana (8-4) on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Not only is Smith the team's top lineman, but he also brings an emotional spark and the leadership of a three-year starter.

“It’s an inspiration seeing a guy work that hard, knowing everything he’s got going on,” said freshman left tackle Wanya Morris, who starts alongside Smith. “It makes you want to work harder.”

A mind for service

Smith wanted to find a good cause to fill his time and use his platform when he was sidelined toward the end of last season. He reached out to Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries about getting involved in the organization’s annual “Coats for the Cold” collection.

For the past two years, Smith promoted the coat drive on social media and helped with collection.

"I think he realizes the measure of a life is not just what happens on that football field, but what you do with your life when you walk off that football field. I just believe that that is truly a deep part of him," said Karen Bowdle, KARM's director of communications and public relations and who is Smith's point of contact for the coat drive.

Those needing a coat could redeem a voucher at a KARM store for a free one. KARM distributed 6,790 coats locally in 2018 before collecting 9,208 this year, with 8,414 distributed locally and 794 donated to Appalachia Mission of Hope.

One of the coats distributed this year came from a U.S. soldier based in South Korea who donated after seeing Smith's promotion of the coat drive on Twitter.

“We were all just touched deeply by that," Bowdle said. "That shows the respect that Trey has garnered across the world.”

Along with helping KARM, Smith also has volunteered at dinners to feed the homeless that were organized by former UT offensive lineman Drew Richmond.

“I’ve been given a lot of stuff in life, in my opinion,” Smith said, “and I like to give back any opportunity I can. … If I can impact people in a small way in my life – at least a person a day – I’m doing something right.”

Smith is one of three finalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year, awarded to a player who shows leadership through courage, integrity and sportsmanship, on and off the field. The winner will be announced in February.

Trey Smith’s outlook on the future

Before the blood clots first flared up, Smith seemed destined to become a first-round NFL Draft pick. The former ESPN No. 1-ranked recruit from the University School of Jackson was a Freshman All-America selection.

Smith will decide after the bowl game whether to return for his senior year or head to the NFL. He’s proved he can navigate his medical condition and perform at a high level.

“It taught you how to fight back in life a little bit,” Smith said. “Just think about it. I don’t think there’s much in life that can really faze me at this point in terms of adversity.

“It’s just like, ‘OK, let’s go to work and see what happens.’ ”

Blake Toppmeyer covers University of Tennessee football. Email him at blake.toppmeyer@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Current subscribers can click here to join Blake's FREE text group offering updates and analysis on Vols football.