ND visit gives Cali ATH a lot to think about

Quite a few players made the trek from California to South Bend this past weekend including the No. 1 player in the country, Jimmy Clausen. Another player from the state making his official visit was Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft athlete Malcolm Smith. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder enjoyed his first official at Notre Dame.

"The visit went good," he said. "I learned a lot and saw the tradition at Notre Dame. I got there on Saturday morning and I went to the game, met the players, took a tour of the school and met with recruits and coaches. On the visit, I was also able to spend time with my host, Maurice Crum. He gave me a good idea about everything and told me the truth about the coaches.

"I hadn't been to any other schools, but I liked the demeanor of the coaches at Notre Dame. Coach Weis is definitely a different kind of coach. Some coaches speak down on other programs, but he wasn't trying to do that or sell his program. He basically said they'll get their guys either way. I did get a little one-on-one time with coach Weis and he was cool. He didn't put any pressure on me and actually didn't talk much about football which was cool."

Though the Irish lost, the four-star prospect enjoyed the game.

"Of course they lost and that was kind of a downer, but Michigan is a very good team and very impressive," he stated. "Notre Dame just had their defense on the field too long and that was a problem. The fans were very exciting and I liked the tradition I saw there.

"On the field, I watched the linebackers. They are pretty quick and run a good rotation of guys. They try to get more players on the field which was nice to see and I thought they looked pretty good."

The visit wasn't a perfect one for Smith, but he claims no one will be.

"I don't know what I'd rate the trip, maybe around a nine," he said. "It wasn't perfect because they lost, but I don't think any place is. No one will be perfect unless I decide to commit on the spot. I can say the visit did give me a lot to think about."

The No. 8 athlete in the country plans to take a break from recruiting for a couple months.

"I think I'm going to head back home for a while," he said. "I'll probably take more visits at the end of the season or after. Right now I'm looking at going to California, Penn State and Arizona possibly since I like them, but I would say no school leads at this time."