By Hale McGranahan.

Last fall, Shenika Brown and her son, five-star linebacker Rahshaun ‘Shaq’ Smith, visited Clemson for the Syracuse game.

It was Clemson trip No. 2 for Smith, who’s ranked by Rivals a the No. 1 outside linebacker in the class of 2016. For Brown, it was the first and only college visit she went on with her son.

Smith returned in late January for the Elite Junior Day.

The Tigers’ courtship came to an end when he committed to Clemson last Thursday night while home near Baltimore on spring break from the IMG Academy.

Brown spoke with TheClemsonInsider earlier this week about the decision.

What did that mean for you and your family to have him make his dream come true and to commit to play college football?

Brown: The family is very excited for him. We always rooted for him to follow his dream and Clemson was a great school. Clemson, actually, was the only school that I visited, did the visit with Shaq. And I fell in love with it. It’s family-oriented. For me, that was one of my main things. It was very important that they recruited us as a family. That stood out, because he’s very close-knit with the family, so Clemson played a big part in the family role for me and I fell in love with it, from that aspect.

Why was it that was the only trip you went on? Was that just how things worked out?

Brown: Yes, it was just kind of how things worked out. I work in an emergency room, so I am always at work. It was a timing thing. When he decided that he would go down, I just happened to be off for the weekend. ‘OK, well, I’ll take this visit with you.’

He wanted me to visit other schools with him. And he got to do a lot of visits by going to summer camps, he did a lot of travel with the Next Level Nation workout group that he’s with. They did a lot of traveling and he got to see a lot of schools that way.

When he first went to Clemson, how soon did he start talking about it and telling you about that visit? Did he share anything with you that you can remember after that first trip back in the summer?

Brown: He called me and told me — I always check on him after every camp and ask him how he did. So, when he was at Clemson, ‘How did you like it? How do you feel like you performed?’

He said he felt like he did well and he definitely had a connection with coach (Brent Venables) and he got to see some of the campus. So he let me know then that this was a place I definitely want to come back and visit, and hopefully get an offer from there. At the camp, he didn’t have an offer, when he first visited the camp, so it was one of the places that he liked and wanted to get an offer from.

For you, you kind of already mentioned it, but when you went down there for the game last fall, what did you like about what you got to see and experience while y’all were down there?

Brown: The campus is very — I fell in love with the campus — it’s very beautiful. The community is very close-knit, and one of the most important things for me wherever he goes to school, I don’t want him to have a lot of outside distractions. By it being in the type of community or whatever it’s in, there’s only really school there for him to do. That was very impressive to me. I love the campus. That connection with coach (Mike) Reed and his family and also coach V.

Meeting the president (Jim Clements) was impressive to me also. That was very impressive to find out that he was from Baltimore. That was very impressive to me.

The decision, when exactly did he reach that and decide that Clemson was going to be the place that he was going to commit to? How long before did he reach that decision?

Brown: He was still kind of up in the air, I want to say until he came home (on spring break). Clemson was always one of the schools that he always talked about a lot. I was just, ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do? You have to spend four years there.’

I gave him different angles to look at it from. God-forbid, but what happens if you get injured and you can’t play football? Can you see yourself just going to the school? If you have a degree from Clemson, how do you feel about that? Where is that going to take you in life? I just wanted him to look at it from all aspects, so he didn’t tell me until he came home from spring break.

He said, ‘Mom, I’m sure this is where I want to go. This is what I want to do.’