One of 2025's quieter breakouts: 59 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions across 12 games as Texas' full-time LB1 — splash production in every column of the sheet, from a player who'd logged 16 tackles the year before. Smith's game travels because the takeaways do; six combined splash plays in one season is difference-maker behavior, not just volume tackling. However, at 6-1 and 205 pounds he's carrying safety weight at a linebacker job, and that frame is the entire NFL question — can he hold up taking on Power-4 climb blocks at that size, or does his pro future live in a hybrid space? A first-half targeting suspension against Texas A&M was the season's only blemish, and the early-declare chatter remains one conditional mention, not a movement. Fringe projection in the 2028 class with obvious room to climb if the production repeats at a heavier playing weight.