JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — For the first time ever, overtime decided the Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. Even more history was made at Cherokee Lake when Andrew Blanton and Garrett Smith landed a 2-pound largemouth just five minutes into their sudden death fish-off with Carson Newman’s Andrew Turner and James Sumrell and became the first ever two-time College National Champions.

With a three-day total of 43 pounds, 3 ounces, plus their overtime largemouth, Blanton and Smith became the first team since the inception of the College Series to win multiple National Championships, doing so in back-to-back fashion after hoisting the trophies at Lake Hartwell in 2024.

Not only that, they join only a handful of anglers to qualify for the College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s multiple times.

“This means the world to me,” Smith said. “Last year was such an amazing experience, and we get to do it all again and it is going to be even better. We are going to enjoy this.”

Opening the tournament in sixth-place with 14-13, Blanton and Smith jumped into second-place on Day 2 with 15-12 before landing 12-10 on the final day, which included a dead-fish penalty that kept them from winning the tournament in regulation.

“We thought for sure that (penalty) cost us the tournament,” Blanton said.

Turner and Sumrell entered Championship Saturday in sixth-place, catching limits of 14-6 and 13-3 before landing 15-10 on Saturday, the biggest total of the day.

Deadlocked at 43-3 at the conclusion of weigh-in, both teams returned to the lake knowing the first team to catch a legal keeper bass would be declared the winner. Blanton and Smith’s primary areas were over 20 minutes away from takeoff at the TVA Cherokee Dam launch, so instead of wasting valuable time running, they made a very short run to the dam and found a promising rockpile using their forward-facing sonar.

“We stopped at the dam knowing they were probably going to catch one before (we made it to our best spot),” Blanton said. “Within five minutes, I saw some sitting on a perfect boulder. The first bass I threw to bit my jig.”

Once Smith netted the largemouth, which likely weighed about 2 1/2 pounds, they quickly confirmed it measured at least 15-inches before celebrating.

“It was insane,” Smith said. “The fish followed it down (perfectly). It is probably the happiest I’ve ever felt, even with everything that went on last year. It is a moment I will never forget.”

Blanton and Smith combined shallow and deep patterns to claim the victory this week. Up the river, the Lander duo targeted three stretches of banks grass located on inside channel swings during the morning hours with a True South V-Twin buzzbait paired with a Zoom Horny Toad. While there wasn’t much of it, Blanton said the baitfish in the area seemed to gravitate to those stretches of grass.

“It was always an early morning thing. After 9 o’clock it was done,” Blanton said. “We caught some flipping bushes too, but if it didn’t have the bank grass, we didn’t get a bite. When you are around good bank grass, you’ll shad flickering.”

As the day wore on, they moved back down the lake to fish isolated boulders and slate rock in 25 to 35 feet of water using a 3/4-ounce or 1/2-ounce Greenfish Tackle jig and a drop shot paired with a morning dawn Roboworm. While seemingly unimpressive in practice, those offshore areas proved to be valuable as they made several key culls in those areas each day. Shad also had to be present to generate bites.

The key to success, however, was making sure they managed their best areas correctly. Blanton and Smith did not fish their better areas on Day 2, electing to stay closer to takeoff instead, a decision that paid off with the biggest bag of the day.

“We knew this tournament would be about managing fish,” Blanton explained. “We ran up the river Day 1, but knew if we went up there the next day there would be no way to keep up on the third day. So we fished a bunch of new water on Day 2 and things fell our way.”

“We tried to fish some stuff towards the mouth of the river,” Smith said. “If we saw a pocket with bank grass, we would stop at the first little point, catch one and then move on to the next one.

“That offshore place yesterday was just perfect. Slate rock sticking up big time. You could see it on (FFS).”

On Championship Saturday, Blanton and Smith ran back up the river and managed to land four bass before switching to their offshore pattern.

“It was a lot slower up there today. The water had been dropping and we caught some shorts. We probably caught 15 or so up there, but only four keepers.”

One of those offshore areas produced a 3-pounder to fill out their limit. Then at the end of the day, they made two key culls, giving them enough to tie the Carson-Newman team and send the tournament to overtime.

While the fish-off was a disappointing result, Turner and Sumrell said they were happy just to be in position to claim the first-place prize.

“The fish-off was unreal,” Turner said. “Pretty stressful, but a fun experience. I didn’t know we had that much weight today and I didn’t expect to be that high-up the leaderboard. It was a good surprise and we are super blessed to come out with second-place.”

Going to school five minutes from the lake, Turner and Sumrell are familiar with which areas of the lake typically produce tournament wins. Those were the areas they focused their event around, with two patterns becoming the most productive. In the mornings, Turner said they started by throwing a topwater in shallow bays before moving into the middle of the creeks to target bass suspending under bait balls. Late in the day, they would move back towards the shallows and drag a jig and a big worm. A lot of their bigger bites came around wood or bank grass.

The mornings were not particularly productive for the Carson-Newman duo the first two days, but that changed in a big way on Day 3.

“We knew we had some ground to make up, so we started in an area that we knew had big bass,” Sumrell said. “We caught a 5-pounder there the first day of the tournament and caught some 3-pounders there on Day 2. We had the majority of our weight in the first hour of the tournament.”

Carson-Newman’s Jacob Berryhill and Zach Knight finished third with a three-day total of 42-12 followed by Day 2 leaders Tripp Berklinsky and Bryce Dimauro from North Alabama in fourth with 41-11 and Day 1 leaders Luke Davis and Kaden Raichel from the University of Montevallo in fifth with 39-7.

While falling short of the victory at Cherokee, Berlinsky and Dimauro won the overall Team of the Year points race with 940 points. Montevallo’s Elisha Colley and Storm Clark finished second with 925 points, John Michael Ortman and Max Heaton from Emmanuel University finished third with 917 points.

The College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s field is now set. Official details will be released to the public at a later date. Dimauro and Berlinsky, Legends Trail Team of the Year Grant Pursifull and Ben Burns (Stephen F. Austin) and Lunkers Team of the Year Blake Wheat and Zach Helton (Carson-Newman) will join the Lander duo and compete for a chance to qualify for the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour as well as paid entry into the 2026 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN with full use of a Nitro Boat and Toyota Tundra.

Visit Jefferson County, Tennessee hosted the tournament.

2025 Bassmaster College Series Title Sponsor: Strike King

2025 Bassmaster College Series Presenting Sponsor: Bass Pro Shops

2025 Bassmaster College Series Platinum Sponsor: Progressive, Toyota
2025 Bassmaster College Series Premier Sponsors: Dakota Lithium, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2025 Bassmaster College Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Garmin, Lew’s, Lowrance, Triton Boats, VMC, Yokohama

2025 Bassmaster College Series Youth Sponsors: Seaguar, Shimano

 

About B.A.S.S.

B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting-edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series, St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series presented by SEVIIN, Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier Series presented by Lowrance, Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Strike King Bassmaster High School Series, Bassmaster Junior Series, Bassmaster Team Championship, Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series presented by Native Watercraft, Bassmaster College Kayak Series, Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.

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Media Contact: Mandy Pascal, Communications Manager, 334-414-8677, mpascal@bassmaster.com

 

2025 Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops 7/10-7/12
Cherokee Lake, Jefferson City  TN.
(BOATER) Standings Day 3

Angler                                       Club/School                       Pts

1.  Garrett Smith – Andrew Blanton               Lander University                   250
Day 1: 5   14-13     Day 2: 5   15-12     Day 3: 5   12-10   Total:  15  43-03
2.  Andrew Turner – James Sumrell                Carson-Newman University            249
Day 1: 5   14-06     Day 2: 5   13-03     Day 3: 5   15-10   Total:  15  43-03
3.  Jacob Berryhill – Zach Knight                Carson-Newman University            248
Day 1: 5   14-03     Day 2: 5   13-09     Day 3: 5   15-00   Total:  15  42-12
4.  Bryce Dimauro – Tripp Berlinsky              University of North Alabama         247
Day 1: 5   18-14     Day 2: 5   14-15     Day 3: 4   07-14   Total:  14  41-11
5.  Luke Davis – Kaden Raichel                   University of Montevallo            246
Day 1: 5   19-07     Day 2: 4   07-13     Day 3: 4   12-03   Total:  13  39-07
6.  Skyler Stevens – Grant McCraney              Faulkner University                 245
Day 1: 5   14-08     Day 2: 5   14-04     Day 3: 3   09-08   Total:  13  38-04
7.  Dayne Kobriger – Camden Kozikoski            Drury University                    244
Day 1: 5   11-07     Day 2: 5   14-04     Day 3: 5   11-11   Total:  15  37-06
8.  Brody Robison – Peyton Sorrow                University of Montevallo            243
Day 1: 5   11-12     Day 2: 5   13-15     Day 3: 5   10-09   Total:  15  36-04
9.  Phillip Herring – Parker O’Bryan             University of Montevallo            242
Day 1: 5   16-05     Day 2: 5   12-10     Day 3: 2   06-15   Total:  12  35-14
10. Easton Drennon – Chase McCarter              Carson-Newman University            241
Day 1: 5   12-06     Day 2: 5   14-11     Day 3: 2   06-00   Total:  12  33-01
11. Luke Wenger – Braxon Hightower               Dallas Baptist University           240
Day 1: 5   13-04     Day 2: 5   13-01     Day 3: 3   06-09   Total:  13  32-14
12. Zach Wolfe – Brayden Ruckman                 Carson-Newman University            239
Day 1: 5   13-05     Day 2: 5   12-04     Day 3: 0   00-00   Total:  10  25-09
———————————————————————–
Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
1        70       566      1378-12
2        57       490      1176-12
3         5        43       114-09
———————————-
132      1099      2670-01