Happy 4th of July! We are down to 58 days until the official kick-off of the 2024 UCLA Bruins football season. Today, we want to feature Gary Smith III, the big defensive lineman from Tennessee.
The redshirt senior from Shelbyville Central High School in Tennessee enrolled at UCLA during the spring of 2022. Last season, Smith III played in 10 games and came away with 21 tackles, including 2 sacks. He had four tackles in games against Arizona and Utah last season.
He transferred from Duke and played in 19 games before coming over to the Bruins. During the Fall of 2022 and winter of 2023, he was named to the UCLA Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. The Sociology Major is the nephew of Conswella Johnson, who was a two-time all-SEC basketball player at Auburn.
A season ago, the guys at the Bruin Insider show featured Smith III ahead of the game against Utah. Check that out here:
Gary Smith III (@whynotgs3) joined the Bruin Insider Show ahead of @uclafootball's game against Utah. 📻
Listen to the latest episode ⤵️
🎧: https://t.co/EGgbWXcXBD pic.twitter.com/DsxmxeGqko— UCLA Athletics (@UCLAAthletics) September 20, 2023
Smith was injured during spring practice, but coach DeShaun Foster expects him to be fully ready to go later this month when the team strikes up their pre-season training.
One of the more refreshing aspects that UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster has done on his own since taking over is his transparency and enlightening us in the media on injuries we’ve previously been unclear about aside from being unavailable to practice. Foster on DL Gary Smith III: pic.twitter.com/IkSx4Obr1m
— Tracy McDannald 📎 (@Tracy_McDannald) April 23, 2024
Smith is projected to be along with Jay Toia and Siale Taupaki as the nose tackles for the Bruins.