Tennessee signee Tyler Smith will not play for Tennessee next year or any university for that matter. Smith, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound small forward from Giles Co. High School in Pulaski, Tenn., told Rivals.com tonight that he will instead go to prep school and reopen his recruitment although Tennessee will not release him from his Letter of Intent.

"It was nothing against Coach Pearl," said Smith, the No. 34 ranked player in the Rivals150. "I want to go to prep school and reopen my recruitment. I just feel that this is the best decision right now.

"I just want to get out there and improve and get in the weight room. We don't really have much of one at my high school, and I didn't really get to play against the best competition. I want a chance to play against top competition night in and night out and get better."

Smith, who said he has no idea at this point where he might attend prep school, did say that he would still consider attending Tennessee after his year at prep school.

Based on the feelings of his father Billy Smith, it is certainly a longshot that Smith would ever play at Tennessee for Coach Pearl.

"Coach Pearl told Tyler during our first meeting that if he was not happy with how I recruit or with my staff, then he would release him and let him play somewhere else. After that I called Mike Hamilton [Tennessee Athletic Director] and said that we wanted a release and he could write in it that Tyler could not attend a SEC school, and we would give Coach Pearl a chance to recruit Tyler. Hamilton said he wouldn't do that until we talked to Coach Pearl again.

"So we met with Coach Pearl this afternoon, and Tyler told him it was nothing against him but that he wanted to prep and play AAU ball and that it would be nice if he recruited him if he thought he was good enough to play for him at Tennessee.

"Coach Pearl told him that he did say he would release him, but now he had to look after the interest of the other Tennessee players."

Much speculation has centered around the relationship between the Smith's and former Tennessee assistant coach Chuck Benson, who was not retained by Coach Pearl. Billy Smith was adamant about the fact the Coach Benson's fate has nothing to do with Tyler Smith's decision and provided insight into the importance of a player's relationship with his head coach.

"This is totally about the relationship with the head coach," he said. "Chuck Benson couldn't play Tyler. This has nothing to do with Chuck Benson.

"It is not my position that you send a kid to a university. You send a kid to play for a coach. You want him to know the coach, to learn the coach. He has to respond to the coach like he's a father figure.

"We don't know Coach Pearl. That's the bottom line. He's talked to me twice, and that's it."

It has been a rocky recruiting road for Coach Pearl, since he took over as Tennessee's head coach. The Volunteers lost one of their top targets Jamont Gordon to Mississippi State, and now it appears that they will lose their other top target to prep school.

Always a tough defender, rebounder and scorer around the basket, Smith made huge strides in improving his perimeter skills during his senior season. Smith is now adept at attacking the basket with either hand and can keep the defense honest with his ability to knock down a three-pointer. Smith, being a tireless worker on his game, should further improve his ball handling and develop a midrange pull up with another year of work. He should have a number of options available to him with the reopening of his recruitment.