Take Two: Will Emmitt Smith's son continue tradition at Florida?

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

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 a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

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Emmitt Smith is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, a three-time Super Bowl champion and for recruiting purposes played at Florida.

That’s important because his son, EJ Smith, is a four-star all-purpose back in the 2020 class who’s ranked second at his position and No. 62 nationally. The Gators are definitely one of the contenders in his recruitment but Stanford has caught his attention and Texas A&M is up there with his sister, Rheagen, on the A&M soccer team. Also, Texas recently offered.

Rated as the sixth-best prospect in the Texas state rankings, Smith is a special recruit who has shined on the biggest stages in high school football. A lot of top national programs are pursuing him.

Will he follow his father and play at Florida or will he chart his own path like many others whose fathers had tremendous NFL careers?

“He’s definitely high up on Florida’s board. He’s really reserved but at the same time he’s maintained the stance that he’s very interested. I don’t think his decision is going to be influenced by his dad. I do know Florida is sitting in a good spot with him. Florida is high on his list and there’s mutual interest but I don’t expect him to pick Florida anytime soon. The kid hasn’t responded much to interviews at all and the mutual interest is high but Demarkcus Bowman is the top running back target in this class.

“I think Florida is going to take two running backs in this class and he would definitely be on the list for sure. I would put Florida high on his list but I don’t expect him to commit anywhere soon.”

“I would think he’s going to Florida. He’s wearing No. 22, it’s his dad’s number, his dad has a tremendous affinity for Florida and I don’t think it would be too much pressure. There is such a distance between them. We talked about this with Barry Sanders and his son (Barry) and whether he should go to Oklahoma State or not and he decided to go on his own path to Stanford.

“Nobody expects Emmitt’s son to be better than Emmitt. In fact, I can’t remember the last time a son was better than a very famous father. Florida is the team to beat and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up there.”