JT Smith is the fastest man in D1, but isn’t allowed to prove it at the NCAAs
J.T. Smith is the fastest man in college, but most people would not have anyway to watch him run. He competes for Texas A&M Commerce University. At the USA championships in the 100 meter dash, he was there in the final, finishing fifth. He was the only college runner to make the final at all. In 2022 he was actually a Division 2 sprinter, but he still ran past everybody that lined up against him, and won the D2 NCAA championship in the 100 meter dash. Fortunately for him, his college turned D1 in 2023. That means that he is now a Division 1 sprinter, with a chance to prove himself amongst the nation’s best. However, he is not allowed to run in the NCAA championships for D1. The truth is that JT Smith was never supposed to be this good, because nobody thought a runner at Texas A&M Commerce would turn out to be the fastest in the nation. But JT Smith has proved it both on the clock, and anytime they actually let him race against the best. So the real question, is why we never got to see what he could actually do, on the biggest stage that college has to offer.
JT Smith’s rise to become an NCAA champion
JT Smith was originally a football player in high school who also ran track. At the high school level he proved that he belonged in Division 1. He ran 10.67 and 21.27 to earn a spot of Milesplit’s First Team National Elite list. But nobody noticed, because JT Smith ended up at Tyler Junior College playing football, which doesn’t even have a track team. Had he run track at that level, there’s no doubt that he would have been recruited into D1, but instead he ended up at Division 2 Texas A&M Commerce University where he would eventually find his way back to the track.
JT played football for Commerce, but he wasn’t a star on the field for a team that was as average as you can get in D2. Thing were different on the track because the moment he began to race, he proved to be something special. He only ran outdoors in 2021 and finished 5th at the D2 NCAA meet in the 100 meter dash, which is not bad for someone who hasn’t run for almost several years. In 2022 he finished up his final football season, and went third indoors in the 60 meter dash for D2, but won the 100 meter dash. That proved that he was the fastest man in D2. Before his final track season, Texas A&M Commerce was asked to join Division 1, an invitation they were happy to accept. But the rules suggest, that their football team, and every other sports team that they have are not allowed to compete in any D1 NCAA championship events for the next four years, which includes JT Smith.
JT Smith is the fastest man in college
None of this would have mattered, if JT wasn’t so good. In fact, he wasn’t supposed to be when he was running in D2. Inn 2023 he took it up a notch proving to be one of the fastest men, in any division to run the 60 meter dash, and the 100 meter dash. For the entire indoor season, he proved himself as a lock to make the finals at the D1 NCAA meet. A competition he is not allowed to run in. As a consolation prize his college paid to send him to the USA Indoor Championships, running against the pros. When he did, he ran the fastest time in the prelims beating everyone including Noah Lyles. And then he went on to win the entire meet in 6.53 seconds. That is a time that would have put him second at the NCAA indoor meet, if they let him run.
Outdoors was the exact same story, where JT went on to win almost every race that he entered in the 100 meter dash. Of course it wouldn’t matter because he knew he was not eligible for the NCAA championships. He ran a wind aided 9.92, ranking second in the nation to only Terrence Jones who ran 9.91. Ironically Terrence didn’t even make the final at the NCAAs himself. The only time JT Smith would ever get to prove how good he actually is was at the USA championships, this time for the Outdoor season. Running with the pros he beat Courtney Lindsey who was actually the D1 champion, and everyone else in college. Which makes him the only current college athlete to make the final at all. In the final itself he finished fifth overall which means he beat several pros, including Terrance Laird, and Trayvon Bromell to do it.
The Bottom Line
It is unsure what the future of JT Smith’s track career will look like. However, we have a pretty good idea of all he has accomplished to this point. He is a football player, who was honestly always better at track and field than he was on the field to begin with. He ignored the sport for a while, so we didn’t even know to look for him. Even when he came back to it, they didn’t let him run with the best, anyway. So fans really weren’t paying attention. But now JT Smith has our attention, and he’s running really fast in order to keep it. America has a lot of talented sprinters for him to compete with, but at least now as he turns pro, they’ll finally let him race against them, all of the time. So it seems that nobody who lines up next to him, will be overlooking him anymore.
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