Illinois Football: Illini pick up huge transfer in Derrick Smith
The Illinois football team received a big transfer on Friday night.
Derrick Smith announced on Twitter that he will be attending the University of Illinois. This is a huge transfer pickup for the Orange and Blue and one that will pay dividends in the near future.
Coming out of Trinity Christian Academy in Orange Park, Florida, Smith was a 6-foot-3, 190-pound safety. He was rated as a three-star recruit who was the No. 840 player in the class of 2017 and the No. 110 player in the state of Florida.
The Miami Hurricanes were the lucky recipient of this talented defensive back. Smith committed to Miami over a variety of other programs which included Mississippi State, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia Tech.
I will be attending the university of Illinois I want to thank @Coach lovie smith and @coach keynodo Hudson for the opportunity 🙏🏾
— derrick smith (@derrick8179) August 23, 2019
Smith started playing for Miami immediately. He was thrown into the fire day one. As a true freshman, he played in every game for the Hurricanes and finished the season with 13 tackles and one tackle for loss. Last season wasn’t much different. Smith played in 12 games and had 11 tackles.
Back on August 14, it was first announced that Smith had entered his name into the transfer portal. He was officially looking for a new home to build a career. A top list quickly emerged for Smith as Florida, Nebraska, Texas and Illinois were named.
After a short recruiting process, Smith made his decision on Friday night, and he picked the Illini. This is a great pickup for Illinois on multiple fronts. While it is sad that Smith has to sit out this season, he should be ready to go next year and the year after. So, I consider him a part of the class of 2020.
Illinois is going to need safety help in 2020 as well. Longtime Illini safety Stanley Green will be departing after the upcoming season leaving a hole in the secondary. In addition to Green leaving, Tony Adams will be a senior in 2020 and will need a replacement in 2021. Illinois does have Sydney Brown as well, but we were going to still need more safety help. Snagging Smith will help fill a huge void.
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Lovie Smith continued to build this Illinois program on Friday night. Getting a player like Smith who has experience and was a solid recruit will only help the team in the future. I can’t wait to see how this team continues to build.