Top Illinois LB talks camps

Highland Park, Ill. inside linebacker prospect Scott Smith (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) is touting a dozen scholarship offers so far this summer, and Smith has also been making the rounds on the college camp circuit and talks about his latest trips. In between his commitment to both his school's football and basketball camps, Smith has managed to see several schools up close.

“I've been on the road over the last few weeks," Scott Smith said. “I made unofficial visits to both Michigan State and Northwestern, and I also attended one-day camps at Notre Dame and Illinois."

Smith started things off in East Lansing, Michigan a few weeks back and talks about his unofficial visit to Michigan State.

"I tool the drive up to Michigan State a few weeks ago. I just wanted to check out the campus and the school overall. Michigan State has the best overall facilities that I've seen so far. They have everything you'd ever want from a Big Ten football perspective. The campus in East Lansing is also really nice, and I like the fact that everything seems within walking distance. I was able to visit with head coach John L. Smith and the rest of the coaches at Michigan State. I really enjoy talking to Coach Smith quite a bit, he seems like he's a players coach and he's a lot of fun to talk with."

Smith then took an unofficial visit to Northwestern University.

"I went up to Northwestern a week ago Friday. I was able to talk to several coaches, and Northwestern is recruiting me as a defensive end, which is slightly different than most schools, who are recruiting me as an inside linebacker. I like the fact that Northwestern is close to home, plus from an academic side Northwestern has so much to offer. I also like talking with head coach (Randy) Walker. He's been very straight-forward with my recruiting, and he's also a very honest and genuine guy."

Last week, Smith attended a one-day camp at Notre Dame.

"I had a good day I felt at Notre Dame, and I was able to test for the coaches and I thought I tested pretty well. I really like Notre Dame, from the campus to the tradition as well as from the educational standpoint as well, I'm just not sure where I stand with Notre Dame at this point. The coaches told me that I did well and that they would wait to make their evaluations until after the camps were over with."

Smith finally ended his camp tour with a stop last Sunday at the University of Illinois.

"I really had fun at Illinois, since I was able to get into shells at the camp. It felt good to be able to hit someone. I was also able to talk with Coach (Tommy) Thigpen, who's the linebackers coach as well as getting a chance to talk with head coach Ron Turner. I was able to talk with the coaches as well as with some of the other recruits, and overall it was a good day for me at Illinois."

Smith has also begun to think about narrowing down his favorite schools.

"I'm going to finish up my different camps soon, then I'm going to take some time and sit down with my Dad and we'll sort some things out. I'm hoping to have my Top 5 schools list by mid-July."

Scott Smith has scholarship offers from UCLA, Louisville, Arizona, Purdue, Michigan State, Duke, Northwestern, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Illinois, Indiana and Eastern Illinois.