Smith admitted, eyeing future

Rivals100 tight end and longtime Stanford commit Kaden Smith has had a busy few months on the football field. He was a standout at The Opening prospect showcase over summer, and has been busy gaining yards and scoring touchdowns in bunches in leading his high school team to a 4-0 start to the season.

All the while, Smith had also been working toward another goal - gaining admission to Stanford University. And on Wednesday night, he received the phone call he had long anticipated.

"I submitted my application a while ago and I finally got a call from Coach Shaw telling me that I was accepted into Stanford," Smith said. "And I was just so excited. I've been waiting for it for a while and it's great news. I'm a little more stress free now. I get to relax, focus on even more football."

"I was just so excited hearing that. I've been working hard for it for a while."

Smith, who committed to Stanford during a campus visit in April, has stayed in touch with several Cardinal assistants - and a number of the program's other 2016 verbal commits.

"Coach-wise I talk to Coach Pritchard and Coach Turner a lot," Smith said. "I talk to them a few times a week over message and then a phone call every couple of weeks. Recruit-wise I pretty much talk to all of the commits and a couple of the other recruits in a group message. I pretty much know those guys already, I feel like."

Smith has also been keeping tabs on his future team's on-field performance. He watched the Cardinal's win over USC and liked what he saw from the program's tight ends. Though he had reason to believe at least some of that production was forthcoming - he touched base with his area recruiter, Tavita Pritchard, who encouraged Smith to keep a particularly close eye on his future position group.

"He told me that they were going to throw to the tight end the first play," Smith said. "He told me to keep an eye out for that.

"I was very impressed (with the way the tight ends played). I watched Hooper and Schultz. They played fantastic. I watched Hooper mosh two guys near the end zone. And I really liked the abundance of throws they were getting."

While Smith will begin his Stanford career in less than a year, he's still quite focused on his high school team and concluding his prep career on a high note. He's already caught 27 passes for 417 yards and six touchdowns - those stats account for nearly 60 percent of his team's receiving yards.

In contrast, Smith had 29 catches for 429 yards and zero touchdowns in all of 2014.

"I just have a lot of drive to win this year," Smith said. "I've never wanted to win this bad before. My whole goal right now is to make the playoffs - I don't have a set goal of this many touchdowns. I just kind of tell everyone that I'll score as much as it takes to win the game. It feels good to step up this year ad be a big part of the offense, especially passing right now. We play the No. 4 team in the nation (today). I'm excited - we get a big test and go out and play a great team."

Smith, who has already been to Stanford on numerous occasions, would like to return to The Farm at some point during the college football season - probably during its latter stages - to take in a game. He'll then likely take his official visit to Stanford for the program's big recruiting weekend in January.

He's currently uncertain if he'll visit other programs before Signing Day.

"No other trips to other schools planned right now," Smith said.

"I don't know if I'll take officials anywhere else yet."

Either way, Smith feels relatively secure in his Stanford commitment, particularly after being admitted to the school.

"(I feel) very good (about my Stanford commitment)," Smith said. "That phone call with Coach Shaw last night helped. They keep using their tight ends, we have a great recruiting class this year, they have great kids there now. And so I feel pretty strong about my commitment."