Carde Smith, who received a scholarship offer from Tennessee during his junior season, is now prepared to examine the Vols more closely this coming weekend. The Williamson High School offensive lineman, rated as a four-star prospect for the Class of 2025, posted on his X account on Thursday, announcing that he will be visiting Tennessee on Saturday for the school’s first junior day.
In the post confirming his weekend travel plans, Smith—a Top247 prospect according to 247Sports’ rankings—tagged offensive line coach Glen Elarbee, recruiting intern Evan Davis from the Vols, wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope, offensive scouting coordinator Mack Scanlon, and senior offensive analyst Max Thurmond from Tennessee. Having joined the growing list of organisations after him over three months ago, this will be his first trip to Tennessee.
Smith wrote, “This Saturday, I’ll be at Tennessee.”
On October 16, the 6-foot-5, 285-pound Smith received a scholarship offer from Tennessee. Currently, he has offers from over ten universities, including Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Auburn, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.
According to 247Sports, he is the No. 21 offensive tackle in the 2025 class, the No. 15 junior from Alabama, and the No. 213 overall prospect. In the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, he is classified as a four-star recruit as well as the No. 220 overall player, No. 19 offensive tackle in the 2025 class, and No. 13 junior from Alabama.
Smith admitted to Christian Clemente of 247Sports in November that while he had always liked Alabama, he had “fallen in love with Auburn” as soon as he “got to high school.” He visited one of the Tigers’ camps in June, got an offer from them in September, and made more trips there in 2023. Tennessee and Auburn were in Smith’s “top two,” he informed Clemente at the time.
Brooks commented at the time about Smith, saying, “One of the first things noticeable about the Mobile (Ala.) Williamson standout is encouraging hand placement consistency.” “From what we’ve seen so far, he’s good at both pass protection and the run game with a higher floor. Smith shows drive-blocking tenacity and block-finishing skills, but he still needs to work on keeping his feet moving quickly when making contact.
“We need confirmed measurements for Smith, but he appears to wear his mass well and is listed in several locations in the 6-5, 300 neighbourhood. Smith appears to have tools, even though his hands appear to be ahead of his feet.”
Brooks said at the beginning of November that Smith “assembled some solid tape this fall.” At the time, Brooks continued, saying that Williamson “got competent efforts from (Smith) on the ground and in pass (protection).”
