Two weeks ago, SEC Media Days included some of the biggest names in college football.

Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow took part, as did five league coaches with national titles. Yet Vanderbilt sixth-year receiver George Smith may have had the best story of them all.

A two-star prospect out of Pembroke Pines, Fla., Smith signed with the Commodores in 2003 and redshirted that season. Midway through the 2004 spring practice, he felt a sharp pain in his neck one night and took some Tylenol, and that’s when his adventure began.

“I woke up next day and did my normal routine of grabbing some orange juice on the way to class,” Smith said. “I got all the way to class and couldn’t realize if the cup was cold or warm. I had that tingly feeling, like when your foot falls asleep, and I felt it all the way to practice. I went to the trainers, but the numbness never went away.”

Spring break interrupted Vanderbilt’s practice, and Smith went home to Florida. By then, the numbness had spread throughout the left side of his body, and he was admitted to a hospital.

Smith was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disorder that resulted in an inflammation of his spinal cord and shut down his nervous system. He spent five weeks in ICU, lost 30 pounds and began mental preparation for life after football.

“I looked at him on the respirator. I look back and I am surprised and extremely grateful that he’s where he is right now,” Commodores coach Bobby Johnson said. “It took an awful lot of dedication by him and perseverance and faith, but George is that kind of guy. Once they said that they could make him better, I knew he could do it.”

Doctors treated Smith’s condition with plasmapheresis, filtering his blood every two to three days. He began moving his fingers and hands and taught himself how to talk and walk again.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, nearly 70 percent of people affected by transverse myelitis are physically hindered, but Smith was back at Vandy late that summer. His spinal cord remained slightly swollen, so he was unable to take a hit and received a medical redshirt.

Smith was cleared to play in 2005 and caught his first career touchdown pass against Richmond. That night, while trying to break up a fight in a campus dorm, he was shot in the arm.

The bullet did not strike any arteries, but there are still fragments from the incident. Smith had 287 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 2005, 313 yards and three scores in 2006 and 397 yards and three scores with a career-high 32 catches last season.

Vandy has won 14 times the past three seasons, including games at Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina. The Commodores have been given little chance to equal last season’s 5-7 finish because only three starters return offensively, and none of them are Earl Bennett.

Yet overlooking the Commodores has become dangerous, as has overlooking Smith.

“I don’t take any day for granted, and I don’t take any play for granted,” he said. “My whole outlook on life now has completely changed. When you have bad days, I’m like ‘Hey, I’ve been through worse.’

“I think that’s made me a stronger person and a player.”

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