Smith has ND in his top two after official

Notre Dame had quite a few visitors this weekend for their big victory over Penn State. One of the players that made the trip to South Bend is Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic athlete Harrison Smith.

"I liked my trip there a lot," he said. "I got there on Friday afternoon and watched the end of their walkthrough practice. Then I went to the pep rally and ate with the coaches at night. On Saturday, I woke up and ate breakfast with coach Weis and then went over to the game. Afterwards, I ate with the coaches again and spent some time with my host Kyle McCarthy. Kyle basically told me what he liked about the school and said the coaches are very honest with you. Finally, on Sunday I have breakfast and then went to an academic meeting with one of the professors and said goodbye to the coaches."

During his visit, the four-star prospect spent a lot of time with the coaches.

"I had a good time with coach Weis," he said. "I never got one-on-one time, but the thing I liked about him was that he was very genuine and that made me feel comfortable. I liked that a lot. I also talked with coach Minter and Lewis. They basically explained what they do with the safeties."

Of course no visit to South Bend is complete without taking in an Irish game.

"The visit was amazing and I did think they'd beat them, but not like that," he stated. "The safeties played really good and coach Lewis told me to watch for some things and showed me how I'd play if I went there. Aside from that, the atmosphere in the student section was ridiculous and pretty electric. I really enjoyed my visit there and liked it a lot. It was great."

With a visit to Notre Dame behind him, Smith feels one more visit may be enough to make a decision.

"Notre Dame is definitely not behind anybody and I was really impressed with everything I saw up there. I think I'm close to committing, but I wasn't going to do it up there," he said. "I do still want to take a visit real soon, possibly in the next couple weeks to Tennessee to compare the schools. I would say those two schools are definitely at the top for me, but I think it could be very tough for someone to beat Notre Dame."

The No. 23 athlete in the country has an official visit scheduled to Stanford for November 3rd. Is he looking at taking that visit?

"If I wait, I will take the visit there, but if my mind is made up and I decide I don't think I can go and spend their money. That just doesn't seem right. I would also say that Auburn is still in the mix, but they are on the outside looking in."