4-star DL Nigel Smith II announces top 16 schools

Melissa (Texas) four-star defensive lineman Nigel Smith II revealed his top 16 schools on Tuesday night. They are Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Prairie View A&M, Georgia, Oregon, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU and Rutgers.

Smith is the No. 50 overall prospect and No. 7 defensive lineman in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 6 player in Texas.

Four-Star DL Nigel Smith has narrowed his 35+ offer list down to 1️⃣6️⃣ Schools!

The 6’5 255 DL from Melissa, TX is ranked as a Top 50 Player in the ‘24 Class (No. 6 DL)

Where Should He Go?👇🏽https://t.co/4mb7ZQUOnt pic.twitter.com/57ppJLzER5

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) February 8, 2023

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound defender has visited many of his finalists. He saw Oregon and Oklahoma on Jan. 21 and Jan. 28, respectively.

“Coach (Tony) Tuioti, he’s a very good coach,” Smith told On3’s Sam Spiegelman on Feb. 2 about Oregon. “While I was there, I got to watch a little bit of practice. One thing I liked is that Coach Tuioti and the D-line are doing the same thing we’re doing (at Melissa). When Coach Tuioti came to Melissa, he went over our defense and talked about how we ran it, and he really remembered that when he was explaining the Oregon defense to me.”

“Before we went down, Coach (Miguel) Chavis and (Todd) Bates sent over their defense,” he added about Oklahoma. “They had me send in my what defensive calls were and they compared them to what they call it. They said if I were to go there, they’d make a whole package of their calls, what I call them, and combine them. It was good to sit down and talk about that. We talked about that and as we got deeper, how they see me playing for them, what guys they see me playing like and I enjoyed being with coach (Brent Venables). Coach Chavis and Bates are mind-nixing.”

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, the Sooners have a commanding lead for his commitment at 76.2%.

Smith has an On3 NIL Valuation of $75K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.