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2025 Maurice Smith OL Florida State NFL Draft Report CFBALL

  • Position Offensive Line
  • Class Redshirt Senior
  • Ht./Wt. 6-3 / 298
  • Hometown Miami, FL.
  • Highschool Miami Central HS

Player Profile: 

Overall Grade: 85

Strengths:

  • Moves well vertically and laterally
  • Gap to gap range
  • Initial pop as a help blocker in pass protection
  • Awareness, quick to disengage and help from gap to gap
  • Fluid puller that takes good angles with adventageous leverage and engages lower half to bang at the point of attack
  • Consistent pad level, balance in lower half
  • Ability to pop with first hands, mirror and match

Weaknesses: 

  • Late to reset and get an inside grip
  • Inconsistent contact balance/anchor vs power rushers

Scouting Report: 

Smith is a longtime starter with good technique, pad level and reactive athleticism making him a sound pass protector and impactful down blocker in the run game. Smith is a fluid athlete with body control, good foot speed and hip flexibility, moving well in all directions. Smith is a technically refined pass protector with good instincts and reactive athleticism to get from gap to gap and help out his guards. Smith has the ability to pop with first hands versus an up field pass rusher and then mirror and match their secondary rush. His pad level is very consistent, forcing defenders to really get low in their bull rush if they want to create knockback. Smith quickly engages his hips and stays in phase versus a power rush. While Smith has active hands versus a secondary rush, he needs to be quicker to get an inside grip as his blocks get shed over time without it. Smith is a scheme versatile run blocker with good technique and athleticism to pull in space or get low and provide a pop and help as a down blocker on double teams. Smith stays in phase while pulling, moving well laterally, taking a good angle with advantageous leverage at the point of attack while getting his full frame on defenders to secure the block. Smith doesn’t have the best snap quickness as a down blocker but he does quickly engage his lower half, getting good pad level and producing enough power as an inside-outside down blocker on double teams to move defenders off their spot. Smith could polish up his drive once engaged with defenders to become a block finisher. Smith has the potential to be a low end starting at the next level as a scheme versatile center.

Scout: Andrew Bohovich

2023:

Started all 12 games he played…honorable mention All-ACC…All-ACC Academic Team…Bobby Bowden Leadership Award…started season-opening 45-24 victory vs. No. 5 LSU and final 11 games of season…helped Seminoles lead ACC in scoring offense, total touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, yards per completion, fewest interceptions thrown and fewest turnovers…protected ACC Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year Jordan Travis who led ACC in passing efficiency, yards per pass attempt and fewest interceptions while breaking FSU records for career total offense and career touchdown responsibility…Travis, who finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting, also ranked second in ACC in passing yards per game, completion percentage and yards per completion and third in total offense per game and point responsibility per game…opened holes for running back Trey Benson’s three rushing touchdowns in 24-15 victory at Florida…Benson’s rushing touchdowns total was most by FSU rusher at UF in series history…protected as Travis passed for season-high 360 yards in 24-7 win at Pitt despite missing two All-ACC receivers due to injury…blocked in 38-20 win vs. No. 16 Duke as Travis accounted for three touchdowns and broke FSU’s career touchdown responsibility record with go-ahead score in fourth quarter…helped FSU average 13.8 yards per completion while allowing only two sacks in 31-24 victory at Clemson that snapped Tigers’ 25-game home conference winning streak…in 39-17 win vs. Virginia Tech, blocked as running back Trey Benson rushed for 200 yards on only 11 carries, breaking FSU’s single-game school record with average of 18.2 yards per rush, and quarterback Jordan Travis completed 75 percent of his passes with two touchdown throws…protected Travis as he threw for a career-high four touchdowns and added one rushing score in season-opening 45-24 victory vs. No. 5 LSU…FSU’s points total vs. Tigers tied for most nationally vs. top-five opponent in season opener since 1936 (AP poll era), and Travis became only player nationally with at least four touchdown passes and at least one touchdown run against top-5 opponent since 2013.

2022:

Started season’s final 12 games at center…honorable mention All-ACC…Phil Steele third-team All-ACC…ACC Honor Roll…Don Powell Award recipient…named ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week after 38-3 win at Syracuse…also earned ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week following 45-38 victory vs. Florida…blocked for offense that led country with average of 7.46 plays of at least 20 yards per game and tied for national lead with eight touchdown drives of at least 90 yards…ranked second nationally with explosive play differential of +7.41, bolstered by 17.15 percent explosive play rate on offense that was country’s third-best rate…helped Seminoles lead ACC in third-down offense, yards gained per pass, yards gained per play, yards gained per rush, total offense per game, yards per completion, rushing offense per game and scoring offense per game…FSU was one of two offenses nationally, and only one in ACC, to average at least 270 passing yards (270.2) and at least 210 rushing yards (214.1) per game…helped protect quarterback Jordan Travis, who was PFF’s highest-graded quarterback nationally and ACC’s highest-graded offensive player…Travis led ACC in yards per play, yards per pass attempt, yards per completion and pass efficiency rating…paved way for running back Trey Benson to lead ACC with average of 6.43 yards per rush…opened lanes as FSU topped 200 rushing yards in seven straight games, tying school record…helped Seminoles score five rushing touchdowns in 45-38 win vs. Florida, highest single-game total by Gators opponent since 1997…blocked for third game in school history with 375-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver while piling up 642 yards of total offense in 41-16 win vs. Georgia Tech…helped FSU rush for 206 yards vs. No. 4 Clemson, which entered game allowing average of 62.2 rushing yards per game…blocked as FSU produced 125-yard rusher and receiver for first time since 2015 in 35-31 victory at Louisville.
 

2021:

Appeared in nine games with eight starts at center…blocked for offensive line that helped FSU convert 32 consecutive Red Zone trips into points, the longest active streak nationally to end 2021 and second-longest by any program at any point of season…Red Zone scoring streak was longest by Seminoles since 2014…helped Florida State rank first in ACC and sixth in America with Red Zone touchdown percentage of 73.8…FSU’s Red Zone scoring percentage of 90.5 ranked third in ACC and 15th among all FBS schools…Seminoles ranked fourth in ACC with average of 4.78 yards per rush…FSU’s three touchdowns of at least 75 yards tied for eighth-highest total nationally…blocked for six 200-yard rushing games and seven games with 100-yard rusher…helped pave the way for four consecutive games with at least 200 yards rushing, FSU’s longest streak since 2010…protected quarterback Jordan Travis who was one of four in ACC to pass for at least 1,500 yards and rush for at least 500 yards…Travis passed for career-high 274 yards and had career-best 336 yards of total offense in 31-28 victory vs. Miami…blocked as FSU had five different players score a rushing touchdown for the first time since 2013 in 59-3 win vs. UMass…586 yards of total offense and 365 rushing yards vs. UMass were both highest for FSU since 2016.
 

2020:

Played in eight games with seven starts at center…Rivals Freshman All-American…Seminole Scholar…started at North Carolina State, part of offensive line that featured four freshmen…was first time FSU started four freshmen on offensive line since 2011 Champs Sports Bowl…blocked for Florida State offense that averaged 199.9 rushing yards per game, program’s highest since 2016, and 5.11 yards per rush, FSU’s highest season average since 2015…FSU ranked fourth in ACC in yards per carry and fifth in rushing yards per game…yards-per-rush average ranked 23rd nationally, 16th among teams with at least 350 carries…rushing yards-per-game average ranked 20th nationally among teams that played at least nine games…cleared way for Seminoles to pass for 268 yards and gain 263 rushing yards in 41-24 win vs. Jacksonville State, Florida State’s first game with at least 250 yards rushing and passing since 2016…Seminoles scored touchdowns on five straight drives vs. Gamecocks, FSU’s longest touchdown streak since 2017…helped Florida State top 400 yards of total offense in three straight ACC games – at No. 5 Notre Dame, vs. No. 5 North Carolina and at Louisville – for first time since 2016…432 yards in 31-28 victory vs. Tar Heels was FSU’s highest total vs. top-10 opponent since 2016…helped Seminoles convert five fourth-down attempts at North Carolina State, most by an ACC team in 2020 and tied for second-highest single-game total nationally.
 

2019:

Appeared in four games with two starts…one of six true freshmen to start at least one game for FSU…started at left guard in 38-31 victory at Boston College…blocked for offense that averaged 9.2 yards per play and had three offensive touchdowns of at least 60 yards for only the second time in program history…yards-per-play average was highest for FSU since 2013…started at left guard in Sun Bowl vs. Arizona State…also saw action in 35-17 win vs. Syracuse and at No. 8 Florida…redshirted 2019 season.
 

BEFORE FSU:

Three-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals…listed as nation’s 28th-best offensive guard and 98th overall prospect out of Florida by Rivals…helped Miami Central to 11-3 record and appearance in FHSAA 6A regional final as a senior…blocked for offense that rushed for 3,072 yards and 32 touchdowns, averaging 219.4 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry on the ground…protected for passing attack that threw for 2,363 yards on 146 completions and 25 touchdowns while averaging 16.2 yards per catch…competed in The Opening Miami Regional in 2018…picked Florida State over Miami and Boston College.

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