Football is not Derrell Smith-Porter’s favorite topic of conversation. The 23-year-old would much rather discuss the finer points of chess, the benefits of meditation and opportunities for a lawyer to work in the entertainment industry. He will likely grow tired of talking long before getting to football.
Smith-Porter is spending his last year of eligibility at UC Davis and making his presence felt on the defensive line. He entered the transfer portal after three seasons at Dartmouth, where he was an All-Ivy League selection in 2024, even though he was contemplating whether he should play again.
“I didn’t think I would play football another year,” Smith-Porter said. “I thought my last year at Dartmouth was all I had left in me.”
The 6-foot-2, 285-pound defensive tackle is playing one last season and doing it quite well. He ranks ninth for the Aggies in tackles with 16 and has half a sack from sharing one with Jacob Psyk, a graduate transfer from Harvard who has 21 tackles and 4.5 sacks. The Aggies value brains as much as brawn.
The sixth-ranked Aggies will need both Saturday when they host No. 14 Northern Arizona. The Aggies are 2-0 and tied for first place in the Big Sky Conference with No. 5 Montana State and No. 4 Montana. The Lumberjacks are 1-1 after a 34-10 loss to Montana State last Saturday.
UC Davis does not cut corners by admitting athletes with marginal high school grades for the sake of winning. Smith-Porter could not be marginal in school because his mother, Denita Smith, would not stand for it. She checked his homework each day to ensure he knew what he needed to know.
Smith had little cause for concern because her son realized the importance of an education as a youngster. “I’ve always been big on academics. I was a really smart kid,” said Smith-Porter, whose next stop will likely be law school. “If I got less than an A, I’d throw a tantrum. I’d get really upset.”
His heart was set on going to Brown University after graduating from Penn Hill High in Pittsburgh in 2021. The Bears did not make an offer, however. Dartmouth’s offer was contingent on Smith-Porter spending a year at Worcester Academy, a prep school, to become eligible for admission.
Smith-Porter earned a degree in Film and Media Studies at Dartmouth with thoughts of pursuing a career behind the scenes in entertainment. He figured a master’s in management would look good on his resume and UC Davis offered him an opportunity to earn it by playing for the Aggies in 2025.
The offer was not made until the third and final day of his recruiting visit, however. Smith-Porter had flashbacks of his trip to Brown and feared that traveling to UC Davis would be nothing more than another “huge waste of time.” Mediation was of little help because “they had me on my toes.”
His practice of meditation is similar to pressing the pause button on a remote control. Smith-Porter uses it to give his brain a break from football scouting reports and master’s classes. “There’s no phone and no music,” Smith-Porter said. “It clears your mind and really grounds you.”
Smith-Porter plays chess nearly as fervently as football. He began playing chess during his sophomore year at Dartmouth and was instantly hooked. An app allows him to play anytime and anywhere. He tests his skill against players around the world and has climbed to an Elo rating of 1,500.
Points are earned by defeating players with higher ratings. Smith-Porter will earn the rating of expert at 2,000, National Master at 2,200, International Master at 2,400 and Grandmaster at 2,500. There are fewer than 2,200 Grandmasters around the world since the rating system began in 1950.
Joining that club is Smith-Porter’s goal even though he has not had as much time for chess at UC Davis. Dartmouth travels by bus with three trips of more than 250 miles, so Smith-Porter passed the time by playing chess. UC Davis has had its one bus ride this season by going 305 miles to Cal Poly last week.
UC Davis takes charter flights and has flown 3,835 miles for three games this season. Upcoming flights to Northern Colorado, Idaho and Montana State will cover 2,920, boosting the season total to 6,775. Smith-Porter is not fond of flying, so he may need to meditate before boarding the plane.
