The transfer of Mississippi State point guard Deivon Smith to Georgia Tech became official Monday with the announcement that he had signed grant-in-aid papers.
Smith, who was a four-star prospect coming out of Grayson High in 2020, announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on March 31 and on April 14 announced that he was transferring to Tech.
Smith played one season at Mississippi State and will have four seasons of eligibility due to the NCAA’s granting all fall- and winter-sports athletes an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. He’ll be able to compete in the 2021-22 season, as the NCAA has passed legislation granting all Division I athletes the ability to transfer once and not have to sit out a year.
“We’re excited to have Deivon join our Georgia Tech family,” coach Josh Pastner said of Smith in a statement. “We’re looking forward to him being a great player here at Georgia Tech. He’s a really good athlete, and a really good guard rebounder, and he’s been around winning his entire life. We’re excited to continue to develop his skill set.”
Smith, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds, averaged 5.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 22.5 minutes per game this past season at Mississippi State. He continues Pastner’s pattern of landing transfers from out-of-state schools who grew up in metro Atlanta, following James Banks, Jordan Usher, Bubba Parham and Kyle Sturdivant.
