BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Bruce Pearl was doing his round of one-on-one preseason interviews with Tennessee players the other day when he got to Tyler Smith.

The Volunteers’ coach expected the standard answer of family, English class or girl troubles to his standard question, “What are you worried about?”

“He said, ’I want to make my mark,”’ Pearl said Wednesday at Southeastern Conference media day. “I said, ’Tyler, we just won the league for the first time in 41 years. You don’t think you made your mark?’

“He said, ’No I haven’t.’ He’s hungry to make his mark on Ten...

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