Rice ATH Commit Aiden Smalls Flips His Commitment to NC State

FLIP ALERT!

Rice 2026 3-star wide receiver/athlete Aiden Smalls (6’1″/175) flipped his commitment to NC State this evening.

After a lot of thought and prayer, I’ve decided to decommit from Rice University and flip my commitment to NC State.

Being recruited by a program that saw my talent early—back in 9th grade—and never stopped believing in me means everything. That kind of loyalty goes a long way… pic.twitter.com/HXYV4XtDJC

— Aiden Smalls (@AidenSmalls2026) July 8, 2025

Smalls originally verbally committed to the Owls back on April 25.

He then took an official visit to Rice on June 13 and followed that up with a visit to NC State on June 20.

The Wolfpack was the second Division I team to offer Smalls, doing so on September 8, 2023.

Smalls also held offers from Boston College, Duke, Virginia Tech, App State, ECU, Liberty, James Madison, Coastal Carolina, and others.

This past fall, he threw for 1,948 yards (60.7%) and 24 touchdowns (7 interceptions) at quarterback and rushed for 1,006 yards (6.7 YPC) and 12 touchdowns, totaling 2,962 yards and 36 touchdowns overall for Clayton, right down the road.

ON3 ranks Smalls as the No. 37 overall player in the state of North Carolina in the 2026 recruiting class.

Smalls is the 16th member of the Wolfpack’s 2026 Football Recruiting class.