3rd-team: Will Smith
One of the most successful JUCO transfers in Texas Tech football history, Will Smith was the man in the middle of the Red Raider defense from 2012-13. In those two years, he made 175 tackles with 4.5 being sacks.
It was his senior season when he really exploded. With 120 tackles (10.5 for loss), the California native was the leader of one of the best Red Raider defenses in the last decade. And with 14 tackles in his final game at Tech, he won defensive MVP honors at the 2013 Holiday Bowl as Tech upset No. 14 Arizona State.
What’s amazing is that he was so lightly recruited out of high school that he had to go to Northwood University in Michigan to start his college career. But after one year, he returned to his native Southern California to play for Riverside Community College.
He was still rather overlooked when he signed with the Red Raiders in the 2012 class. He went on to earn All-Conference recognition in both of his years at Tech while finishing third in the Big 12 in tackles as a senior.
Conventional wisdom suggests that JUCO players take a year to figure out life at the FBS level and they often arrive behind their teammates physically due to the suspect nature of most JUCO strength and nutrition programs. That was the case with Smith, who had only 55 tackles as a junior before becoming a tackling machine as a senior.