BRADENTON, Fla. — The first stop on The Clemson Insider’s Tour of Champions is at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Following Thursday’s practice the nation’s No. 1 2018 defensive player, Xavier Thomas, did an exclusive interview for TCI with the nation’s No. 1 2019 defensive player.

As you can tell from this interview the Tigers are very much in the mix for the current Georgia commit.

“I talk to Coach (Brent) Venables. Me and Coach Venables are real close together and even Coach (Todd) Bates. Hopefully one day I can be with them, Mike Jones and Xavier Thomas at Clemson,” Smith told Xavier Thomas.

Watch TCI’s exclusive interview on TCITV: