'27 OL Zay'vion Smith Commits To The University of Cincinnati

While this time of the year is usually relatively slow for high school football news, that couldn’t be any further from the truth right now at Warren G. Harding.  There’s a lot of momentum right now at 860 Elm Road in Warren as several young men are currently being scouted by quality NCAA football programs.

Today, junior offensive lineman Zay’vion Smith gave his verbal commitment to the University of Cincinnati.  

His other offers included Akron, Army, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Iowa State, Kent State, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Navy, Ohio University, UConn, Wayne State, and Youngstown State.

While athletes emerging out of Harding into the college football level is nothing new, head coach Matt Richardson knows that this is only the beginning stages of the 6-foot-5, 260-pound lineman’s development. 

“This past season was just Zay’vion’s second year ever playing football,” he said.  “I’m so proud of the way that he’s drastically improved from his experience and growth from the year before.  Not just on offense, but he also added defense to his resume.”

Smith’s contributions on defense included 30 tackles (12 for a loss), three sacks, one forced fumble, and a blocked extra point.  he's excited about the opportunity to play at the next level.

"I'm going to push myself everyday to improve," Smith said. "My goal is to compete at a high level and do whatever it takes for my team to succeed."

Richardson is always excited to see the young men that he coached move on to bigger and better things at the next level.  He’ll be quick to let everyone know that they need to watch out for what the future holds for Smith.

“Cincinnati should expect to get a high character, hard working student-athlete that was built on ‘TUFF STREET!’  He is a work in progress, but the sky is the limit for him.”

While Smith still has another year left of competing at the high school level, he believes that he has the foundation to build himself successful into an imapct players early on.

"UC can expect to get someone who is determined, competitive, and ready to work," Smith added. "I'm not afraid of hard work, so my goal is to come in and contribute right away."

Smith’s commitment to Cincinnati is an exclamation point on what has already been a momentous week for Harding’s student athletes.  This week alone, sophomore linebacker/edge rusher Asa Burch added scholarship offers from both Penn State and Missouri with more potentially on the way in the upcoming weeks. 

Burch also holds offers from Akron and Wayne State.

“Our program has always produced Division I talent,” Richardson added.  “We are working towards getting the program back to where it’s just another day at Harding.” 

Smith is set to be the first Bearcat from Harding since Anthony Hoke and Delbert Ferguson both signed with Cincinnati in 2004.  To date, Hoke remains their single-season record holder for sacks (13.0 in 2007).