FARRAGUT, Tenn. — After a dramatic end to a partially played basketball game at William Blount last Tuesday, Farragut senior Isaiah Smith said the video of him getting slammed on his back has been used to troll him online and over the phone.
“I would wake up like every single day and have like 10 text messages from random people I've never seen,” Smith said.
"Imagine actually thinking you were good enough to get a D1 offer with how bad you are at basketball," one anonymous message said.
Smith also received messages from people impersonating college coaches and direct messages on Instagram including remixes of him landing on his back.
Smith threw an elbow at a William Blount player just before he was slammed on his back, according to TSSAA.
Smith was given a technical foul, ejected from the game and suspended for the rest of his final season as a Farragut Admiral.
Suspended teammates watched from the stands as Bearden sealed their hopes for a shot at the state title last Friday.
Smith said he is bombarded day and night with DMs, texts and phone calls adding insult to injury.
“They were like, ‘How does it feel? Knowing it's your fault,'” Smith said. “Everybody's just saying it’s my fault. When in reality, I'll look at and tell anyone to their face that I did not mean to hurt anyone. I was just playing basketball.”
Isaiah’s mom, Renee Lane, said he is taking it better than she would but is still worried about him and his teammates.
“They do act like they're okay,” Lane said. “And I don't know that parents are aware of what they're getting.”
Farragut High School counselors said they are prepared to help students facing online hate.
“If somebody starts believing that message then that's not a good place to be,” Knox County’s Social Emotional Learning Counselor Andi Tenry said.
In addition to teaching effective coping skills, she said her job is to listen to students who need someone to talk to.
“Sometimes that seems like nothing, but having someone to talk to and have somebody say, ‘I care about you, I want to make sure you're okay, I know it must be hard.’ Sometimes that makes a difference in that kid's day,” she said.
Smith said Farragut had his back since the night he landed on it at William Blount High School.
“The administration, the teachers and the kids — everyone at Farragut has been a blessing,” he said. “It's outside of Farragut, [it's] people that were not actually involved in the game that has kind of made it the way it is now.”
Smith said it was his dream to play in a state championship game, but now that he’s facing his reality he wants his bullies to do the same.
“I think people need to start learning that it's just a sport,” Smith said. “It's just a game.”
Now that the Farragut senior’s high school career is officially over, he is exploring walk-on options for college basketball.