Last season was tough for Corzavius Smart. After a promising sophomore year at Forest Park, the 2021 recruit was injured and sidelined for the season. As a result, he never really got much momentum with his recruitment over the last year. Fast forward to this fall, where Smart is now on Westlake, a powerhouse program that is one of the top 5 teams in 6-A.

Even though he is splitting snaps, Smart has put together a solid season with 448 yards, 51 carries, and 3 touchdowns – that’s a whopping 8.7 yards per carry. Westlake is playing some serious opponents too. Just like last week in their important showdown against Lovejoy; a matchup that saw a lopsided victory in favor of the Lions, and Smart played a huge role too breaking off a long run that had GPB broadcaster Matt Stewart animated like a Saturday morning.

Taking a quick handoff, Smart bounced out right to the perimeter where a Lovejoy defender quickly greeted him. There was an attempted tackle, but Smart stiff-armed the defender into oblivion instead. At this point, the 6’1″ 210 lbs. running back had really picked up steam. Several more Lovejoy players attempted tackles, grabbing at whatever they could get a hold of, including Smart’s pants, but all attempts were promptly pushed to the ground and wardrobe malfunctions were rectified mid-stride. Before you knew it, Smart was in the endzone, and a few days later he was in our Week 11 Top Plays.

It’s been a long road for Smart, but he took this last year as an opportunity to improve.

“The offseason was great. Due to the season being pushed back, I had more time to perfect my craft. I personally think I improved my speed and my catching,” he said.

Smart has always impressed with an explosive athletic profile and the frame to continue to add weight. He’s a powerful runner who gets behind his pads and shows pretty good balance absorbing contact and getting additional yardage.

Smart really does a good job of squaring up his pads, and doesn’t mess around with much juking. Instead, he is grinding out tough yardage and bruising the defense with nasty stiff-arms like the other night. 

“What I think separates my game from others is my ‘dog’ mentality. When I’m on the field I think as if nobody can tackle me if I run like how I know I can.”

The senior models his game appropriately after one of the toughest running backs in the world, Derrick Henry. “I model my game after Derrick Henry. I think he’s a very great running back,” he said.

On the recruiting front Smart is hearing from colleges every day and described everything is going “well” on that front. From a scouting perspective, the constant college interest is warranted, the senior has the athletic profile that D1 colleges should be all about at the running back position, and there is little doubt the sculpted back will be over 220 at the next level.

Westlake has come on strong during the 2nd half stretch of the season, and looks like they will be one of the favorites going into the 6-A playoffs. For Smart, he has that noise on mute and is focused.

“My goals for the remainder of the season are to remain focused and stay consistent. Keep getting better every day on and off the field.”

Last week’s game against Lovejoy was televised for Westlake, and if we were a betting man, this will not be their last televised game of the year on GPB. We will let your imagination run wild with that prediction, but the point being is that this Lions team is primed to make a strong push into the playoffs, and we think Smart could really end up being an X-factor for their ground attack.

Obviously, a strong offensive output in the playoffs will only continue to fume Smart’s recruiting flames, so be sure to stop by @RecruitGeorgia on Twitter to hear the latest on the senior and see his latest film.

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