It's judgment day for Tennessee basketball signee Ramar Smith.

UT coach Bruce Pearl said Smith has been told he will learn today if the NCAA Clearinghouse grants him academic eligibility, thereby paving his way to enroll in classes at UT as a scholarship student.

"We finally know Ramar will get word from the powers that be if he has qualified,'' Pearl said Tuesday on the Sports Page, the News-Sentinel's radio show. "I'm still hopeful, but we've been in school almost one week.''

Smith has been admitted to UT, but ultimately it's up to the SAT testing agency to determine if the standardized test Smith took in June is valid.

"It's been a real challenging process, having gone through this with Ramar,'' Pearl said. "But it's brought me closer to him. I'm going to keep the faith.''

Smith, from Detroit's Martin Luther King High School, is projected to compete for the starting point guard position should he become academically eligible.

If Smith's not eligible, he could decide to enroll in prep school, a junior college or play professionally overseas.

Pearl said the Vols would likely start team drills Oct. 13 with a point-guard-by-committee rotation that would start out with freshman Marques Johnson, junior Jordan Howell, senior Dane Bradshaw and freshman Josh Tabb.