Stanford lands NFL star’s son
E.J. Smith, with Hall of Fame dad, leads recruiting class
Stanford landed one of the biggest names on the opening day of the early National Letter of Intent signing period Wednesday.
With his Hall of Fame father Emmitt by his side, E.J. Smith announced his decision to play for the Cardinal — eschewing, among others, his dad’s alma mater, Florida.
E.J. Smith — who wore No. 22 (like his dad) while playing wide receiver and running back at Jesuit in Dallas — is ranked as the nation’s 96th overall recruit in the ESPN 300. Arrayed in front of him as he made his choice were hats from Georgia, Texas A&M and Ohio State, as well as Stanford and Florida.
“They just love my versatility and the way they use their running backs is something I focused on, and also the education played a major part in it, too,” Smith said in comments reported by ESPN, which carried his announcement. “It’s a great feeling because people
only know the athletic part of me, but they don’t know how much time I put in on the education side of it as well.”
Smith is not the first son of a Hall of Fame running back to attend Stanford. Barry J. Sanders — whose dad, Barry, is the fourthleading rusher in NFL history (Emmitt Smith is No. 1) — played for the Cardinal in 2013 through ’15 before transferring to Oklahoma State, where his dad won the Heisman Trophy in 1988.
Smith is also not the only member of the incoming class with ties to the NFL. Fivestar offensive tackle Myles Hinton (Georgia) is the 6foot7, 310pound son of seventime Pro Bowl guard Chris Hinton.
E.J. Smith is part of a 22player class for Stanford that PrepStar has ranked as No. 16 nationally. Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN all have the class in their top 25.
Cal’s 25player class — ranked 33rd in the country by 247Sports — is led by fourstar tight end D.J. Rogers (Eastside CatholicWashington) and 22 threestar recruits.
Among the threestar players are cornerback Dejuan Butler of Antioch and 67, 312pound offensive tackle Everett Johnson of Turlock (Stanislaus County).
The Bears’ class includes six athletes who play multiple positions and whose college position has not been determined, four cornerbacks, three tight ends, three defensive tackles, two wide receivers, running backs and linebackers, and one quarterback, offensive tackle and punter.
San Jose State announced the signing of 16 players. Ten are high school seniors, five are community college transfers and one — cornerback Kenyon Reed — is a transfer from Kansas State.
Among the community college transfers is Valley League Defensive Player of the Year Noah Wright, a 65, 330pound lineman who played at College of the Sequoias (Tulare County) this season.
Thirteen of the Stanford players are on offense, seven on defense and two are considered specialists.
In addition to Smith, Stanford added Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year Casey Filkins (running back, Lake Oswego), and fourstar receivers John Humphreys — who last week helped Corona del MarNeport Beach beat Serra for the state 1A title — and Bryce Farrell (Oaks ChristianWestlake Village).
A perennial producer of top tight ends, Stanford also signed fourstar tight ends Lukas Ungar (New Jersey) and Benjamin Yurosek (Bakersfield Christian). In addition to Hinton, the sixplayer offensiveline class includes fourstar linemen Connor McLaughlin (Florida), Drake Metcalf (state Open Division titlist St. John BoscoBellflower) and Levi Rogers (Washington).
Other top players include: fourstar defensive tackle Tobin Phillips (San Joaquin MemorialFresno), fourstar defensive backs Ayden Hector (Washington), Alaka’i Gilman (Hawaii), and Brandon Jones (NarbonneHarbor City) and the nation’s No. 1rated kicker, Joshua Karty (North Carolina).