Smith a big target

Kaden Smith is 6-foot-5 and 235-pounds. He led Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus with 40 receptions for 640 yards and 8 touchdowns as a sophomore tight end in 2013, and he was named first-team all-district.

He started as a freshman on the Marcus football and basketball teams, and he received his first offer from Clemson in the spring of 2013. Since then he has received offers from Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Baylor with more sure to come.

It is safe to say recruiting is off to a fast start. It has been an exciting development for the entire family.

"It's been pretty amazing," Kaden Smith's father Mark Smith said. "I didn't expect this to all start so early, but I guess it has to. We look at kids around the country who get a lot of attention."

While Mr. Smith may not have expected the offers to come in this early, but around the time Kaden reached the sixth grade he did realize his son was a talent on the football field.

"Remember Tony Casillas, who played for the Cowboys? Tony lives here in town and he had a youth football program," Mr. Smith said. "Kaden started playing in that and it was the first time he played any kind of football. He never played flag or anything. Size-wise there was a huge separation from the rest of the kids, but he had the same speed as the little guys.

"Then in the seventh grade the coaches didn't want him to play seventh grade football so he skipped that and just played eighth grade twice. Then we were like…ok, this is not normal. Then he was already kind of growing into his body and then he took off in terms of his development and it's kind of just gone crazy since then.

"Chad Morris was the first one to come see him and talk to him, but when he started as a freshman at a 5A program here in Texas it was kind of confirmation for us that ok…this is going to get interesting."

After his freshman season, he attended the Army Combine in San Antonio, Texas, and quickly caught the attention of the Rivals.com staff in attendance. He was even named second-team all-combine ahead of four-star 2014 tight end Daniel Helm.

Smith then took to the road. He made his way to Alabama, Florida State, Clemson, Stanford, and Michigan.

As a near year begins, Smith plans to hit the road again. The schedule has not been completely set but he does plan to attend the Rivals Camp Series presented by Under Armour in Dallas and he also has an SEC stop in mind.

"I imagine I'll go to the Alabama spring game to see my sister," Smith said. "Besides that I'm not really sure."

There is one school to keep an eye on though. It is a program he already has high on his list of schools.

"Definitely Stanford does, that I don't have an offer from. They're a great school," Smith said. "They have a great education and Palo Alto is so nice. It's definitely far away from where my parents will be, but I think it will be worth it. They have a great football team and they use their tight ends in a bundle and they're just great all around."

While Smith has not received an offer from the Cardinal he has kept in close contact with coach David Shaw and assistant coach Tavita Pritchard.

It is still very early in the process and he is taking his time as he begins to look at his options and think about his future. He may not know where he wants to go at the time, but he does have an idea about what he is looking for in a future home.

"Definitely a great education because if you don't end up going to the pros you have to have something to fall back on," Smith said. "That's one reason why I like Stanford. Which, I understand you can turn any school's education into a great one it just depends on how hard you work."