Hapeville Charter DB Chris Smith continues to be impressed by Georgia

Chris Smith made the trip from Hapeville Charter to Buford to showcase his talents at The Opening Atlanta Regional, and had better results than many might have expected.

Smith came up with multiple interceptions at the cornerback position, making his presence known among hundreds of priority prospects for programs around the nation. Due to his efforts, Smith received the MVP award at the defensive back position and believes he will receive one of the last invitations to compete at The Opening Finals in Beaverton, Oregon.

“It really means a lot,” Smith said. “With all of those great players out there, it’s great for me to be recognized as one of the best.”

Before the festivities began, Smith was able to give a brief update on his recruitment, which was boosted greatly after his junior campaign came to an end. The three-star currently holds 27 offers, most of which are from Power 5 programs.

Smith is set to make a tour of Big Ten programs — Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State — from March 28-30. But being out of the Atlanta area, he has focused a lot of his interest on SEC programs, where Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have stood out.

Georgia has been persistent in recruiting Smith. He visited campus for Junior Day on Feb. 18, and plans to make it back to Athens before the summer, potentially for the G-Day game on April 22. Although he has only visited the program a few times, the Bulldogs stand near the top.

“They’ve been a childhood favorite of mine,” Smith said. “When I go up there, I always have a good time and they show lots of love. I’ve been in great relationships with the coaches, mainly (defensive coordinator) Mel Tucker.”

Georgia has had success with landing defensive backs under the new coaching regime as both Tucker and head coach Kirby Smart played the position throughout their careers. The Bulldogs added seven athletes in the class of 2017 to their defensive backfield, which includes Smith’s former teammate William Poole III. Hapeville Charter defensive coordinator Kevin Pope sees a connection between Smith and the aforementioned coaches.

That may be because of the correlation between Tucker’s vision and Smith’s goals. The second-year defensive coordinator’s message to the up-and-coming prospect was one that stood out.

“He told me that he wanted Georgia to be a place where defensive backs come to get to the (NFL) and that stood out to me a lot,” Smith said. “That’s a big goal of mine, I’m not doing this for any reason. I’m trying to go to the NFL, trying to be successful.”

Poole committed to Georgia on Apr. 16, 2016 and stayed true to his pledge until National Signing Day, becoming one of the leaders for the class. Now, with the Bulldogs having one of his former teammates on their radar, Poole is subtly recruiting Smith.

Smith hasn’t yet made up his mind on when he may commit as he said it could fall anywhere between the summer to signing day, “if it needs to go that far.” He will narrow down his list of offers in either April or May, so the dialogue between the former backfield mates may continue.

“He likes the love and the campus up there,” Smith said. “He doesn’t press me or anything, but he does tell me about the school a lot.”

The addition of Poole opened up an opportunity for Georgia to continue to recruit prospects out of Hapeville Charter. Along with Smith, Georgia is also interested in weakside defensive end Kingsley Enagbare, and it’s starting to become a trend with the South Atlanta program.

“It’s pretty cool, I like what they’re doing,” Smith said. “They’re showing a lot of love to us, and if they can start to build a pipeline with Hapeville, that’d be pretty great.”

Smith’s recruitment isn’t as publicized as Poole’s may have been, but his statistics show that his lengthy list of offers is justified. In addition to posting solid numbers Sunday, Smith collected 54 tackles, seven pass break-ups and five interceptions during a playoff run for the Hornets.

The recruiting ratings may be a bit lower as Smith is ranked as the 36th-overall cornerback and the 41st-overall prospect in Georgia, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. That may not be the case for long, if you ask his coaches.

“I definitely think he’s underrated,” Pope said. “Due to his hard work and dedication to his craft, I feel people will start noticing that he’s one of the best in the country. He has great tenacity when he breaks on the ball. His foot speed and ability to transition with fluid hips is a rarity at his age.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2017 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Hapeville Charter DB Chris Smith continues to be impressed by Georgia."