Take Two: Can Florida State lure five-star Smalls from West Coast?
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.
MORE TAKE TWO: How big are recent visits for Zachary Evans? | Does Clemson lead for five-star Jordan Burch? | Is Penn State the favorite to land RB Jalen Berger?
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THE STORYLINE
Sav’ell Smalls spent the weekend at Florida State as the Seminoles continue to be one of the favorites in his recruitment.
But the five-star defensive end from Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic is also difficult to read because he doesn’t talk much with the media.
Smalls released a top list back in February comprised of 12 schools but since that time he’s said Washington is out while the only schools in the West he can see himself attending Oregon and Washington State.
No matter what, the Seminoles have remained a serious player in his recruitment and this weekend’s trip to Tallahassee was definitely important. After his FSU visit, Smalls went to see Tennessee.
There are definitely some connections to FSU for Smalls since he loves the way coach Willie Taggart recruits and his former Seattle Garfield teammate, Tre’Shaun Harrison, is already on campus.
Could Taggart and the Florida State staff, after struggling on the field last season, go across the country to nab Smalls?
MORE FSU: Top recruit ever for each ACC team
FIRST TAKE: MICHAEL LANGSTON, WARCHANT.COM
“He seemed to like it the way he’s connecting with the coaches and being around the campus and watching the coaches coach for the Saturday Night Live event. You can tell he’s pretty engaging so everything seems to be pretty positive.
“He would be massive in this recruiting class. He’s probably the biggest recruit they’re recruiting because it signifies the direction they’re going and the fact that they can get somebody across the country who’s on the national scene, it shows them that there are people nationally that believe in the direction Taggart is trying to go and it’s going the right way. It solidifies that.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM
“If Florida State gets Smalls it would send a message and it’s definitely a good possibility. A lot of the top West Coast kids are looking East with UCLA and USC being down. You would expect teams like Clemson and Alabama to land kids from that region but for Florida State to send that message and steal a kid away from Washington would be important.
“Taggart needs big recruiting wins like that. He got Jaiden Woodbey from California a couple years ago and this would help cement Taggart’s ability to recruit nationally.”