When Lindsey NeSmith came to Tennessee in 2009, she didn’t know anyone.

All she knew was that she had a love for UT athletics.

Though NeSmith grew up in Atlanta, her dad was a UT alumnus and encouraged her to pursue a passion for the orange and white. NeSmith truly bleeds orange.

When it came time to choose a college, there was no hesitation.

“I’ve been a Vol fan my entire life,” she said. “I have pictures of me in little Tennessee shorts and checkered shirts. My dad went to school here so I’ve wanted to come here my entire life. It was kind of a given that I was going to come to UT.”

What NeSmith didn’t know was what her time at UT would look like. Her major and extracurricular activities were wide open spaces in her mind. The sports broadcasting major said while she always loved sports and broadcast video, she didn’t really consider the major until her senior year of high school.

“I always loved it, but didn’t really think about it as a major until my mom told me that I could get in-state tuition for UT if I majored in sports broadcasting,” she said.

“I guess it was the end of my senior year that I realized it was possible and then midway through my sophomore year (in college) I realized I could see myself doing this, that I liked it.”

So NeSmith pursued sports journalism as a career option. She headed to Knoxville as a freshman with no idea what the next few years would hold.

“I didn’t know anyone when I came to UT, so I knew that I needed to get plugged in somewhere and I wanted to get to know people,” she said.

NeSmith began a college life filled with extracurricular activities. From joining the leadership team with her campus ministry to co-producing a sports show with The Volunteer Channel, NeSmith filled every waking hour of her time at UT.

“That’s when I joined Volunteers for Christ. It’s been a huge role in shaping my college career as far as who I hang out with and who I know and who I feel like I’ve become,” she said. “I did TVC and I was so nervous because everyone was so intimidating. I didn’t know anything. I was assigned to do a tour of Neyland (Stadium) and I had never used a camera before and I was so nervous and then, a few years down the road, I was producing a show.”

Now, NeSmith works with UT’s athletics broadcasting to produce content for utsports.com. She said she enjoys this most because she has more opportunities to be creative and work with a less structured mindset.

“With athletics, we get to use all this equipment, we get to learn and we get to make things look cool. They kind of model my favorite show on ESPN (E:60),” she said. “They have a cool feel, good stories and fun music, and it’s what I would want to do. It’s cool to be around talented people and learn from them.

“Working with athletics has changed the course of what I thought I wanted to do,” she said. “I thought I would do reporting or just different things, but I just love working there and the relationships you build with the athletes because you’re working with the university. It’s a different feel.”

In the span of three and a half years, NeSmith volunteered at TVC, co-produced “Sports Mecca” (a show on TVC), interned at WVLT, shot and edited a show for WVLT, work with UT’s athletics broadcasting, interned at ESPN and was an active participant with her campus ministry, VFC.

“It’s just cool to see the journey from freshman year to now,” NeSmith said.

Looking back, NeSmith said she feels like the luckiest student on campus.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better college experience,” she said. “From meeting friends who are gonna be friends for life, growing as a person, getting plugged in at VFC and growing spiritually, finding a passion for my career and going to a big SEC school, all across the board, I just feel like I have had a killer college experience.”

As NeSmith prepares for graduation in May, she said she hopes to work for a university, doing exactly what she does here. While she said she can get nervous about moving on from the comforts of college, NeSmith said she’s ready to learn and grow as a professional in her field.

“I think I’m gonna learn a lot on the job and I’m gonna make mistakes, but think I’ve done enough and put in enough time and experience,” she said. “I’ve prepared myself the best that I could with all the activities and extracurriculars that I’ve done.”