Safety Smith enters transfer portal

Miami Hurricanes junior safety Derrick Smith announced he has left the football program and entered his name into the transfer portal.

After missing Tuesday’s practice due to a personal matter, according to a UM spokesperson, Smith, one of several safeties who was competing for playing time this training camp, declared his intentions on Twitter late Tuesday night.

“To the Miami Nation effective today, I would like to inform you, I am no longer on the University of Miami football team. I would truly like to thank the Coaches Mark Richt, Manny Diaz, Ephraim Banda, and my recruiting Coach Todd Hartley for the opportunity and the experience. I will always love Miami Nation. My name is in the portal and I am open for recruitment,” Smith tweeted.

Smith, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound Jacksonville Trinity Christian product, played in 25 of the Hurricanes’ 26 games over the past two seasons, mostly on special teams, and totaled 24 tackles.

Smith was working to be one of the contributors on the back end of Miami’s defense in training camp after Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine moved on to the NFL.He appeared to be coming along early in camp.

“He’s looking really good,” senior striker Romeo Finley said of Smith on July 30. “Right now, to me, he’s the most improved.

“He’s had a turnover every practice and I told him, since he didn’t get one yesterday, I told him to get two today and he got three. He just keeps getting better.”

Palm Beach Gardens grads junior Amari Carter and sophomore Gurvan Hall, redshirt senior Robert Knowles, true freshman out of Chaminade-Madonna Keontra Smith and USC transfer Bubba Bolden, who began practicing with the team Friday, are the remaining Hurricanes safeties on scholarship.