MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Tykee Smith’s departure from the WVU football team, and the apparent timing of the decision, baffled fans and seemed like an odd move for an already established star.
Smith announced Wednesday, the same day the Mountaineers opened spring practice, he was leaving the program and entering the transfer portal. An All-American in 2020, he was going to lead a defense that was No. 1 nationally in pass defense and top 5 overall.
Smith officially entered the portal Friday and has already heard from coaches at Ohio State, Penn State, South Carolina, Central Florida, Mississippi State, Auburn, Notre Dame, Indiana, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Texas Tech and more, according to Mike Farrell of Rivals.com.
Another school is Houston and coach Dana Holgorsen, who Smith originally committed to at WVU.
Head coach Neal Brown explained the situation with Smith, and it wasn’t as abrupt as it appeared on the surface. Without going into exact reasons, it was something that was brewing for months.
“I want to start off and just address Tykee’s departure, a mutual separation, and it’s a lot like some relationships I’m sure everyone on here as been in,” Brown said Saturday. “It just gets to a point where it’s best for both parties, and that’s kind of where we were. Nothing negative to say about it. He had a really good two years here being productive on the field and I wish him the best.”
Smith missed the Liberty Bowl against Army and Brown said after the game Smith was involved in an accident during bowl prep and wasn’t with the team, but Brown didn’t elaborate further. He was coming off a regular season where he had 61 tackles, two interceptions and five passes defended.
In Smith’s place at Spear was Scottie Young, who sat out most of last season after coming from Arizona as a grad transfer, but was eligible for the bowl game, finishing with four tackles.
At Arizona, though, Young started all three years and played in 32 career games, finishing with 150 tackles, seven pass defenses and five interceptions. He doesn’t have the accolades Smith had, but Young is an experienced and more-than-suitable replacement at Spear.
Brown also noted that only one transfer from his team since the end of the season has caught him by surprise, and that was cornerback Dreshun Miller, who is now enrolled at Auburn.
The portal, as well as immediate eligible for football transfers, is part of the future not only college football but college athletics. Brown wasn’t going to use Smith’s departure to get on a soap box and complain — the Mountaineers have had their fair share of transfers, including this year.
Virginia Tech offensive lineman Doug Nester and Penn State linebacker Lance Dixon are now in the fold at WVU.
“I think there’s arguments on both sides for and against,” Brown said.”It’s made jobs for coaches harder, but we’re well-compensated and we’ll figure it out.
“I think we’ve gained more than we’ve lost We’ve got to continue to do a good job. We’ve got at least one that’s committed to join us. We’ve got three other spots that we hope to fill through the portal or late high school or junior college, so our class is still going to be worked on. We’ll need to address a couple spots at defensive back. We’ve done that at linebacker.”
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