Every year, a young Ramar Smith would get a new Nerf hoop for his birthday or Christmas.

"He would try everything with it -- dunking, shooting, all sorts of crazy things,'' said Smith's mother, Sheila Peoples. "He always had a lot of energy the way he'd jump around. Sometimes, he'd jump off the couch and dunk the ball.

"I just let him go; I figured he'd just burn that energy off.''

She figured wrong.

Smith, a freshman guard on Tennessee's basketball team, is still running, dunking, shooting and doing all sorts of crazy things with a basketball -- minus the couch.

"Ramar could be one of the best guards to come through here, ever,'' UT junior guard Jordan Howell said. "Ramar is talented. He's got to be out there somewhere on the floor for us.''

High praise, especially when one considers Howell is one of the players Smith is competing with for the starting point guard position.

The more competition Smith has, the better off Tennessee will be, according to Smith's AAU and high school head coaches.

"Ramar will be better at the next level than high school,'' said Durand "Speedy" Walker, head coach of The Family, Smith's AAU team. "After his sophomore year of high school, he wasn't challenged or motivated to work hard. I wish he could have forgone his senior year of high school and gone straight to college.

"He has phenomenal hands, great feet, he can change directions with the ball and get to the rim,'' he said. "There's no telling how good he can be, because he hasn't really been in an atmosphere that's challenged him.''

Until now.

Smith knows he must work every day to please his coaches and impress his teammates, a couple of whom have received similar acclaim.

Like Duke Crews, for example.

Crews, a 6-foot-7, 230-pounder, has known Smith since the two competed in 14-and-under AAU basketball.

"You want to know what makes Ramar so good?'' Crews said. "He competes, man, he just competes. He's just always been that way.''

Smith, who admits he lost focus on and off the court in high school, said he's approaching college with a different attitude.

"There's no next level after this -- it's the NBA,'' said Smith, who at 6-1, 195 pounds has a 39-inch vertical leap. "I really have something to work hard for right now.

"I have coaches and teammates to push me hard and work me out every day.''

As for high school basketball, Smith said it just didn't excite him.

Benny White, who coached Smith at Detroit's Martin Luther King High School, doesn't fault Smith.

"I don't think he put it down with all the ability he had because of his vision; he was ahead of where he was at with high school,'' White said. "I know he didn't accomplish what his ability could have given him.

"Ramar will do whatever he puts his mind to.''

White said there are only a couple of areas where Smith needs work.

"His jump shot is the only thing he needs to show he can do to get in the elite class,'' White said. "Fundamentally he may need a little work, because sometimes he got bored with high school ball.''

Smith is anything but boring when it comes to the Vols' pickup games.

He scores from all over the court, and at times no one can stop him. He's just as impressive on the defensive end, where he has stolen the ball from most all of his teammates.

"Did you see the show he put on last Saturday?'' Steven Pearl said. "It was ridiculous.''

Smith, who also considered Connecticut, Illinois and Arkansas, said Knoxville is the perfect place for him.

"Knoxville is a whole different planet than where I come from,'' said Smith, who grew up in the Mt. Clemens area of Detroit. "I really love Knoxville. I'd love to move my family down here.

"The people, the weather, football games, everything in Knoxville just makes me love it.''

Smith's AAU coach, Walker, promises Knoxville will love Smith, too.

"There's no one who knows Ramar that doesn't love him,'' Walker said. "This is great for him. He needs to be understood and challenged, and (UT assistant coach) Tony Jones and (UT coach) Bruce Pearl understand him.

"You just wait, it won't be long before you'll see him do something you've never seen done before, and you'll wonder, 'How did he do that?' ''

It all started with a Nerf hoop, a couch and an understanding mother.