Smael Mondon, one of the top linebackers in the class of 2021, released his top five schools Sunday afternoon, and Auburn is part of the all-SEC group that will battle it out for the coveted recruit.
Mondon has Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and LSU as his top schools and talked with 247Sports Steve Wiltfong about each one.
@PBJCreatives pic.twitter.com/jVjOlr0TkD
— Smael Mondon Jr (@SmaelJr) July 5, 2020
Auburn: “I just felt like it’s a good program for me. I felt like I fit in there. Whenever I visit Auburn it’s a place I can see it being my home. I feel like I have a good relationship with their coaching staff there. T-Will (Travis Williams) my position coach he’s a real genuine dude.”
Florida: “My relationship with Christian Robinson. I see the program trending upwards. With C-Rob he played the position that he coaches so that gives him a different understanding than a lot of coaches. T-Will is the only other one who played it, not saying you have to play the position to coach it but you have more insight into it.”
Georgia: “It’s my home state. The last couple years they’ve had a real solid defense and shows they put an emphasis on that. Coach (Kirby) Smart he’s like a regular guy, easy to talk to, you can sit down and talk to him like a regular person. You don’t want to feel like you’re talking to your boss even though that’s what he is. You can get comfortable with him. I like (Dan) Lanning too.”
LSU: “The culture at the program, they have a good team culture. Coach (Ed) O(rgeron) seems like a real personable coach and seems like he cares about all their players. I used to talk to their d-coordinator Dave Aranda and I started talking to Bo Pelini and there’s no drop off relationship wise.”
Tennessee: “Coach (Brian) Niedermeyer, they’ve been recruiting me the longest of any school. They were my second offer November of my sophomore year. I’ve been talking to Coach Niedermeyer since that spring. I’ve been up there three times. I’ve been up there enough times to be comfortable there and they’re building a good recruiting class and it shows the program is in the right direction. (Jeremy) Pruitt is a good coach, I’ve seen a lot of stuff he’s done at Alabama as the defensive coordinator.”
Georiga is seen as the favorite to land the 6-foot-3, 220 pound linebacker who is the No. 26 overall player, the No. 2 outside linebacker and the No. 3 player in the state of Georgia, per 247Sports Composite.