One of my personal favorite tapes from my 2027 Illinois film grind goes to Oak Park–River Forest’s 5’11, 185 lb. athlete Liam Smith Liam Smith 5'11" | 190 lbs | RB Oak Park-River Forest | 2027 State IL . Easily one of the hardest hitters in the 2027 class, Smith opens his tape with a vicious and devastating collision on a dancing WR that sends the poor kid 5 yards backward and onto his facemask. The tape continues with big hits, physical dominance, and a player too good for the non-varsity ranks.

A RB/LB/SS who I could see playing RB or DB in college, if I had to make an early and hopefully educated guess, Smith reads, identifies, and triggers on the ball quickly and with disruptive effect, picking off passes on three-step drops and sniffing out screens, dumps, and runs to negate any kind of positive gain and shut down whole defensive series himself. Smith displays homerun speed at the top end and can finish big runs once he gets into space and the third level of a defense, owns good balance, and once he gets to the sideline non-varsity defenses had no chance. The 185 lb. two-way contributor ragdolls ball carriers as a RB/SS, effective blitzer who has productive play speed and range in run and pass defense, and overpowers would-be tacklers and has a rep of him stiff-arming two defenders at once in his freshman tape, as well as running through an attempted dogpile of defenders when he decides to drop his pads. I can’t wait to see our #4 ranked ATH at the varsity level and after an offseason in a high-quality Chicagoland high school program.