On October 15, 2016, Smith took an unofficial visit to the Miami football program. January 24, 2017, Richt and former Miami offensive coordinator Thomas Brown visited Smith.
Alabama assistant Billy Napier who is now the head coach at Louisiana visited Smith six and 12 days earlier. Smith took his official visit to Alabama on January 20, 2017.
Legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban who had won five National Championships as of January 2017 and Napier visited Smith on January 25, 2017.
Smith signed his National Letter of Intent with Alabama on National Signing Day, February 1. Chris Hummer of 247Sports wonders how Alabama and Georgia had been different if Smith had signed with Georgia instead of Alabama.
Although Miami was a long shot, what if Smith had stuck with the commitment to Richt and flipped to the Miami football team. Miami would have had a tandem of Richards and Smith at WR in 2017.
After Kaaya left for the NFL following the 2016 season, the Miami passing game suffered. The Hurricanes were 27th in passing offense in 2016 to 54th in 2017 led by Malik Rosier at QB. Smith made little impact as a freshman in 2017 for Alabama with eight receptions for 160 yards and three touchdowns.