Damonte Smith
Damonte Smith
Wins his gap play after play. Damonte Smith has been at Middle Tennessee through two head coaches in four seasons. In 2025 the league put his name on paper for the first time: All-Conference USA. The receipt: 5 tackles, 1.5 TFL against Delaware — Week 9, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
- positional archetype classification
- head-coach lineage
- recognition record
- game log
Career Arc
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Conference USA
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Rick Stockstill → Derek Mason. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Derek Mason
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 3 · RecognizedR09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
All-Conference HM / 2nd team. Conference recognition has started.
Recognition
Production
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Conference USA
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Middle Tennessee | 33 | 21 | 11.0 | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | Middle Tennessee | 25 | 10 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Middle Tennessee | 7 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Middle Tennessee | 13 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| Career | 78 | 38 | 17.0 | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | -- |
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2025
W 14–13
at Nevada
1 TOT · 1 SOLO · 1 TFL
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 1 on the road.
How he plays
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
CFB Index positional classification
2026 Outlook
Middle Tennessee
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Nose tackle · Middle Tennessee
Returning around him
- 1 Middle Tennessee player drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: +1 net (19 in / 18 out)
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Middle Tennessee · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #110 · 2026 recruiting class #119
DNA match
Player DNA
Two-Gap Base
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Jaxon Player’s 2021 season.
Matches Jaxon on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Lawrence Johnson's senior season at Auburn (2023).
Matches Lawrence on
Differs from Lawrence on