During the 2018 season, Smokey X presided over two upset wins under first-year head football coach Jeremy Pruitt. The Vols defeated No. 21 Auburn 30-24 in an away match, and the next month they beat No. 12 Kentucky 24-7 at home. Smokey X debuted in 2013, along with head coach Butch Jones, when the Vols played the Dish Orange and White Game. The howls of Smokey X have spurred the Vols to victories in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl, the 2016 Outback Bowl, and the 2016 Music City Bowl. He is the first of a new bloodline, Tennessee born and bred, and the bluetick coonhound became Tennessee’s state dog in 2019.