Missouri forward Eddie Smajic took the first visit of his career over the weekend during Iowa State’s football game against Oklahoma State.
The 6-foot-6 forward in the 2026 class visited Ames over the weekend and says the Cyclones are extremely prevalent in his recruitment so far.
“I have been talking a lot of schools like Missouri, Northwestern and other power 5 (programs) around,” Smajic said. “Iowa State has been the hardest on me so far, for sure. I think I think I’ve talked to them every single week, sometimes even twice a week. It’s the relationship-building part of it that is really important to them, as well as me.”
The personal relationship side is something that is very important to Smajic.
“That’s probably the most important thing to me in this whole recruiting process,” Smajic said. “Like, there’s schools that offer kids and then you don’t hear from them for months. I want to go play for somebody who I know well. If I see (them) tomorrow, I want to feel like I have a connection with that type of person and I can talk to them.”
It’s extremely early in the recruiting calendar for Smajic, who is entering his sophomore year at Vianney High School in St. Louis.
However, as a program, Iowa State is somewhat selective on prospects it brings on campus.
“I took some pictures of me and my dad was taking pictures on the court and all that but I mean, the campus is amazing,” Smajic said. “Like, everything down to facilities to the student athlete center where they have the recovery rooms – everything was top notch.”
It’s too early to tell where Smajic might wind up in recruiting rankings, but Iowa State sure looks like it has an early in with this prospect.
“I like the whole college town feel to it,” Smajic said. “That was my first visit – and I told them, ‘it’s going to be hard to top this.’ I was talking to some of the players and they said you walk around and we’re like the NBA team here. Everyone just gravitates towards it.”
