UT’s Jacques Smith, who attended Ooltewah High School, sits on the sidelines during the spring Orange and White game at Neyland Stadium.KNOXVILLE – The offseason surgeries on both of his feet were a concern for his coach, but Jacques Smith thinks they made him faster and better in his quest to be a full-time defensive end for the University of Tennessee.
Coming off a solid spring practice with a promising future ahead of him, the former Ooltewah star decided to have precautionary surgery on his left foot just weeks after a procedure to fix a broken bone in his right foot. The dual operations may have saved him from possible future disaster.
“I think I’m actually a little bit quicker,” Smith said after the Volunteers’ first practice of preseason camp Tuesday. “The ligaments in my ankles and things, I’ve strengthened them a lot more than before. I don’t know, I feel a half-step faster.
“It was [tough], but for me, I had accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in the spring. I just didn’t get the bonus of playing in the [Orange and White] game. I worked hard all throughout the summer, and I stayed in shape and I didn’t miss a thing.”
UT coach Derek Dooley feared the surgeries might sap some of the pass-rush specialist’s explosiveness.