Deville Smith has received a waiver and will be eligible to play for Tennessee-Martin immediately this season, a source confirmed to NBCSports.
“I’m happy for Deville,” head coach Heath Schroyer said in a statement released by the program. “He has had to overcome a lot of adversity in his life and it’s always nice to see something good happen to a good kid.”
Smith spent last season playing for UNLV, where he averaged 9.7 points and started 18 games at the point as a junior. UT-Martin will be his fourth school in four years. As a freshman, he played on the same Mississippi State team as Rodney Hood, Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie before transferring to a junior college for the 2012-2013 season.
Smith will join a back court that adds JuCo all-american Alex Anderson and returns senior Marshun Newell and junior Dee Oldham. The Skyhawks went just 8-23 last season before undergoing a coaching change, bringing in the former UNLV associate head coach Schroyer.