‘s Taylor Rooks, Smith said that he wanted to be a Wildcat after watching stars like Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns come through Calipari’s program. However, Kentucky was slow to recruit him, and he opted for Auburn, a school that spent more time making him feel wanted.
“When I grew up, I was always watching Kentucky, like Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk. All of those people, I was always watching them. That is where I wanted to go. When I was younger, I always said, ‘I want to go to Kentucky…’ “When I got older and teams started recruiting me, I had offers from Georgia, Auburn, LSU. When I started getting offers like that, I’m like, ‘Kentucky, where you at?’ They haven’t offered me yet but people telling me, ‘Blue Bloods come in late, they really don’t offer this early,’ and I’m like, ‘Why? What are y’all not seeing?’ So when my decision came it was like, I’m going to go for someone who saw my potential early and really, really want me.