It takes a great deal of effort for a recruit to travel from the state of Washington to Tallahassee, Fla., so it stands to reason that five-star defensive end Sav'ell Smalls wanted to make sure he got everything he could out of his Florida State visit.

Smalls spent four days at FSU after making the cross-country trip last Wednesday night. And as he was preparing to leave on Sunday, the nation's No. 1-ranked weakside defensive end had nothing but good things to say about his visit.

"It's been really good," Smalls said. "I've got a chance to meet so many people from Tallahassee, and even people I knew that went to Florida State and their grand kids went to Florida State, and I see why."

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This actually wasn't Smalls' first trip to Tallahassee. He made his way to FSU in the spring of 2018 -- not long after Willie Taggart was hired as head coach -- and Smalls said it is obvious the Seminoles' program is now on much more solid footing.

"I think the timing was the thing," he said. "When I was last here, the staff was just coming in, and you could tell they were just starting. But now you can tell the players have bought into the culture, [they're] excited, and the program can only go up.

"For FSU, I can't see this team being 5-7 that long. The program is going up and has a chance to shoot like a rocket. It's going to be exciting to watch."