An unexpected flip occurred on Monday night, when 3-star guard Maurice Smith de-committed from Boston College and committed to Florida State.
Smith is an in-state talent that plays at Miami Central High School — home of former FSU greats like Dalvin Cook and Devonta Freeman. His recruitment started to escalate in the summer, when he began receiving attention from numerous Power 5 schools. Boston College brought him in for an official visit in June, and Smith publicly committed to the Eagles in July.
That changed in December. Both Florida State and Miami encouraged him to take visits to their campuses, and Florida State won out when Smith visited the weekend of the 15th. Florida State gave him an offer and convinced him to flip.
While Smith was not a top choice for the Seminoles, they still feel that he has potential down the road. He has solid quickness for his size and his technique is better than his ranking would suggest. Smith already has good size at 6-foot-2 and 276 pounds, and there is some flexibility with his future projection.
Depending on how he fills out and if he keeps growing, Smith could even play tackle. Florida State intends to start him on the interior. Supposedly it wants to try him out at center and see how he takes to the position.
Smith is ranked by the 247Sports Composite Ranking as the No. 56 guard and No. 1,076 overall player in the nation. His commitment puts the Florida State class at 12th nationally and second in the ACC.
He is the third offensive line commit of the cycle. 3-star JUCO tackle Jay Williams committed earlier on Monday as well. Florida State is still in contention for 4-star guard Will Putnam and 4-star JUCO guard Desmond Bland. There might also be another tackle on the board.
Clint Eiland is the Lead Writer for The Daily Nole. You can follow him on Twitter @ClintEiland.
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