Kansas LB has a top 6

Overland Park (Kan.) St. Thomas Aquinas three-star linebacker Brian Smith did all he could this summer to get a look at schools that were on top of his list.

After picking up scholarship offers from teams like Arizona State, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech and getting heavy interest from Michigan and Notre Dame, Smith says he's starting to get to the point where he's thinking about narrowing things down.

"I don't have any visits planned as of yet, but I definitely want to go on some official visits," Smith, who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, said. "If it takes one, it takes one. If it takes five, it takes five. I'll pretty much know once I get that game day experience from whatever college I want to go to.

"I could say the top six is, in no order, K-State, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, and Michigan State. Things have been pretty slow the past few weeks, and I've been laying low. I actually just got off the phone with coach Raheem Morris from K-State. He was telling me about the scholarship status."

Smith did camp this summer at Michigan, Notre Dame and Kansas State. He also took in an unofficial visit to Iowa. The visits have started to give him an idea of what he's looking for in the perfect school.

"A player-coach relationship will be important to me, because those are the guys I'm going to have to see every day and play for," Smith said. "You always have to get along with the coach. And then I'll probably look at the opportunity.

"I hate just sitting there. I want to get out there and contribute as fast as possible. I'll put my work in in the summer, but I want to contribute as much as possible early. When I step on the field, there's just a whole new energy that comes to the defense. I let them know, hey its game time, let's get out there and do this."