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O C T O B E R 2 5 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 15 Rivals100 defensive end Tyreke Smith was one of the highest profile prospects in a large contingent of recruiting visitors at Penn State's White Out game last Saturday night. Smith had attended games in Happy Valley before, but maybe none quite like the win over Michigan. "It was definitely crazy," Smith said. "They sold it out, over-capacity, 110,000 people in there. It was a great atmosphere." It was an unofficial visit for Smith – he will take his official visit to University Park the weekend of Dec. 8 – and a chance for him to share the experience with his Cleve- land Heights (Ohio) High teammates. "I had taken some of my teammates, and for some of them it was their first big-time college game," Smith said. "I had been to Penn State multiple times, I know what to expect, I know the family-feel they give me. It's always good to get back down there. It was a good game to go see, a 'Col- lege GameDay' game, and so many fans." Saturday's visit was more about the game experience, while the December official visit will allow Smith to get more in-depth with the coaching staff. "They were preparing for a game, so I didn't get a lot of time [with the coaches], but I still got to spend time with the GAs," Smith said. "I did get to talk to Coach [James] Franklin. Me and my teammate, Zaire Webb, we talked briefly to him about how the season is going. He said to keep up the good work and he wanted to see our highlights." The unofficial visit to Penn State is sand- wiched between official visits to Alabama and Ohio State. His trip to Tuscaloosa the weekend previous was his first time on Al- abama's campus in the recruiting process. "[Alabama] was definitely way better than I expected it to be," Smith said. "It was my first time being in Alabama, the state. It was my first time meeting Coach [Nick] Saban and a lot of the coaching staff. We got to meet his wife, got to meet a lot of family and I got to meet a lot of alumni. Al- abama has a strong alumni base. It was just good to meet everybody face-to-face and it was just a great time." Earlier this season, Smith noted that schools like Ohio State, Penn State and USC were higher among his top five than Alabama and Oregon because he had yet to visit the latter two. Now that his visit to Tuscaloosa is complete, the Crimson Tide are batting closer to the top of the order. "They are definitely in the conversation at the top of my list," Smith said. "I talked to a lot of players out there like Terrell Lewis, Da'Shawn Hand, and they just told me it was definitely a great place to be. A lot of kids are scared to go there because they are such a powerhouse and don't think they are going to play, but the players just told me that was not the case. They play a lot of freshman and they have a good rotation. That definitely caught my attention. "Also, the academics advisors and busi- ness [department representative] was a great aspect to the visit. Me and my fam- ily talked to the lady for about 30, 40 minutes, and she gave us a plethora of in- formation to go through. It opened my eyes to many more programs I could take down there. It was just a great visit over- all." Following this weekend's official visit to Ohio State, Smith will officially visit Ore- gon the weekend of Nov. 24 before finaliz- ing his official visits in December with the trip back to Penn State. An earlier official visit was taken to USC the weekend of Sept. 16. He will announce his college se- lection in early January at the Under Ar- mour All-America Game. J O S H   H E L M H O L D T | R I V A L S . C O M R E C R U I T I N G Smith enjoys 'crazy' atmosphere at White Out game TYREKE SMITH Photo courtesy of Rivals.com

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