Warriors welcome Sale Sharks to Scotstoun for the opening game of their Challenge Cup campaign and Smith has handed Jare Oguntibeju a starting berth at lock.
The 22-year-old only made his pro debut in last week's win over Scarlets but Smith has put faith in Oguntibeju to start against the English Premiership side.
Having only started playing rugby at 17, the former Scotland U20 player is understandably still quite raw, but he has lots of potential.
Glasgow are short of second-row resources after the departure to Japan of Richie Gray but Smith has praised Oguntibeju for his hard work in recovering from recent injuries to put himself in the mix.
Speaking to Scotland Rugby News, Smith said: "He's a late arrival to the game, but he's learned, he's intelligent and he's trying to step up every day. That is a compliment as he's been hard at work. We showed him the road, brought him in for a training camp at the end of last season and immediately he said we need to work with him.
"Obviously, he's had a big toe injury and a big knee injury that we've now conditioned through the medical department to help improve that part. The strength and conditioning team have done a great job on him. I'm happy to see that he is also growing from a rugby perspective.
"It's going to be a big challenge for him as it is for everybody. Like I did with Gregor Hiddleston against Exeter last year and Alex Samuels and Max Williamson, when the time is right and there's enough players of quality around a young player like that, it allows us to bring these young people through."
After Gray's departure, it was reported Glasgow were keen to bring Scotland and Scarlets' forward Alex Craig to Scotstoun. However, Oguntibeju's emergence has prompted a change of plan.
"We had a specific person in mind and it didn't work out for now," said Smith. "With European competition, you must contract people for at least three months to have them part of the competition. So, we want the right person, not any person, to come into the environment - we're in an unfortunate position.
"At the moment, we have JP du Preez out, and you have Max Williamson out, and you have Gregor Brown. It's just an awkward period, so it does feel like our resources are not enough.
"But in a month's time, everybody will be back on their feet. And then a guy that we bring in might be at the back end of the queue, and we would not be able to keep the promises that were made to get the player in the building. So, for now, we're going to keep on looking for the right guy going forward.
"But we're not going to be hastily signing somebody just to fill a gap. I think Jare's embraced the responsibility and you've got guys like Ally Miller, Henco Venter and Jack Mann.
"They can all do a job for us in the meantime until we've recovered some of these other guys. So, I don't want to stress the finances unnecessarily, and at the same time, bring in a player that will sit in the back of the queue anyway."