Three early frontrunners listed by four-star California QB Akili Smith Jr.
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG
BRADENTON, Fla. – Recruiting battles are being waged for Akili Smith Jr. (6-5, 208). The prized four-star 2025 recruit out of San Diego’s Lincoln High School (Cali.) has 17 offers already on the table with three teams tabbed as early frontrunners.
The early favorites were listed by Smith, “Michigan, Oregon, and Florida; it is a watery top three right now. It is still early for me honestly right now.”
The fight for Smith’s signature is one several west coast teams are willing to make.
“Fresno State, Jeff Tedford, San Diego State, I just went on a visit, they are in my hometown, Arizona has been keeping in touch, and Washington,” Smith said.
Smith broke down the three current frontrunners and his interest in each.
Michigan: “Coach (Kirk) Campbell (QB) keeping in touch with me. He came to my school a couple of times to talk to me about some stuff and to watch me throw. He’s been keeping in touch with me a lot.”
Florida: “I visited, I think, last April. I was with coach (Ryan) O’Hara (OA). He was showing me around, and we went over some film of Anthony Richardson; he was just drafted by the Colts. He was showing me what he instilled in Anthony Richardson to make him great. It was a pretty good visit.
“The relationship is good. He is teaching me a lot of stuff – fronts, coverages, everything. He is teaching me stuff I can use during my high school career.”
Oregon: “The relationship is obviously good because of my dad, Akili Smith, he was at Oregon. He played for Oregon for two years. He’s always had me around Oregon, having Oregon stuff, and watching Oregon. The relationship is good. With the coaches now, I have been talking to coach (Will) Stein (OC/QB) and coach (Jordan) Salkin (OA); I’m building a good relationship with them. I am talking to them regularly.
A big opportunity for one of the three to gain some ground is coming up.
“I am planning to go to Michigan July 29-30,” Smith stated.
Asked what is important for him to do and/or learn while on the Ann Arbor trip, Smith replied, “I want to meet coach (Jim) Harbaugh and see what he is talking about. He has a lot of experience with football, he’s been around football for a very long time; I want to see what that is like. I want to see what their coaches are like, and the people are like around there.”
The trio of programs are likely to see Smith at some point during their 2023 season.
“I definitely want to go up for a Ducks’ game, a Florida game, and maybe a Michigan game too,” Smith said.
Extending into late June, teams were still finding Smith with new offers from Illinois and Maryland.