’30 lineman is long, tall, thick, explosive, and athletic…and a Male Bulldog?
James “LJ” Smith is a 6’4,” 292-pound freak of nature for a kid entering the 9th grade. Some of the kids from his middle school will matriculate to one of the prestigious private schools in Louisville while others will attend some of the more traditional, Louisville, public school stalwarts and powers. It appears like LJ may be headed to Male High where it is anticipated he will play both basketball and football. When it comes to young bigs you won’t find any ’30s in the Bluegrass who move like LJ, has LJ’s power, strength, feet, or explosion, can “sink” like LJ, or has his frame and length. In other words, this may be the best combination lineman (OL/DL) in the ’30 class. He certainly is among the biggest. He is quite an athlete.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Big Ass Fans from Lexington, Kentucky has a simple corporate goal. The company is “creating a more comfortable world,” one fan at a time.
The logo is the rear of a donkey (Fanny) swishing its tail back and forth. The trademarked logo is among Kentucky’s more celebrated and well known corporate identities across the commonwealth and has come to represent commitment to quality, cutting-edge innovation, and product reliability.
Big Ass Fans is so much more than just a gigantic fan. It is gigantic quality, gigantic performance, and a gigantic commitment to reliability and innovation. Its size is far from the only selling point about our product.
Our product is a Kentucky Comfort Creator. These days, isn’t that exactly what Kentucky needs?
This week our feature is about James “LJ” Smith, IV. Smith played in middle school for Jefferson County Traditional Middle School (JCTMS) and was a star in basketball and football. He appears headed to Male High where he will play both sports there.
“Fanny” is among Kentucky’s more celebrated and well known corporate logos…
Friday Night Fletch, “KPGFootball”
Louisville, KY: The first thing to notice about James “LJ” Smith, IV is his 6’4,” 292-pound frame. There may be other high school players who also play where he projects who have similar frames. However, how many of those guys are in the 3030-graduating class? Not many, we would wager.
We don’t know whether to refer to this kid as “LJ” or “Smith.” He is readily referenced as either. Smith is well known within the Derby City football and basketball communities.
Smith is an accomplished athlete. There aren’t too many 300-pound bigs across Kentucky who can run up and down the floor and do the things we have seen from him as a basketball player on the middle school level.
Make no mistake, he is a division 1, FBS-level, football guy. He may be that level in basketball too before he is done growing, but if he never grows another inch, he’s a solid Power 4 guy if he continues to work and continues to physically develop along his present arch.
Playing for JCTMS this past season, in nine (9) games, the big DL had 40-tackles, a FR, a defensive “scoop and score,” 22-pass pressures, and three (3) sacks. That is right productive. Don’t act like he was getting blocked by fewer than three (3) or so opposing linemen every single play.
The team finished 7-2. They didn’t do as well as they would have hoped; but, they certainly got fine play from the big man upfront.
Smith made the full accouterment of middle school, postseason all-star teams. Smith will camp and combine with all the prestigious services running such camps for the purpose of identifying top 3030-prospects across the south and nation.
We don’t know much about the young man’s grades. There are no standardized test scores to analyze as he hasn’t matriculated far enough academically to have been administered any of those tests.
We can tell you the prospect reports carrying a very respectable 3.0 average at JCTMS. We can tell you all the prestigious academic high schools in the Louisville area are willing to wager he will do just fine with their college preparatory curricula.
If you look at Smith’s frame, the kid has extremely long arms. That means he has enough length in his frame to slide outside and protect against the upfield edge rush or slide inside and block along the interior with his extraordinary “sink” and ability to lower his pad-level.
Not a lot of 6’4,” 292-pound rising 9th graders in Kentucky who are this kind of athlete
Friday Night Fletch
We aren’t sure the kid has completed his physical development. Smith was just an eighth grader this past season. Lots of “bigs” fully bloom later than other positions.
Smith is a guy whose youth prevented his getting the publicity he normally would have garnered had he been playing HS ball a year ago with similar production numbers. Smith is a skilled lineman who moves his feet well, plays over an ample anchor, plays with plenty of “bend” and leverage, and places both his feet and hands well throughout engagement.
Smith is a quality, young “big.” His 9th grade playing time will show the commonwealth everything about Smith we already know.
Look for this prospect to “break out” over his freshman year. This will be a guy about whom we will be talking plenty as the 2026 season arrives.
Congratulations to James “LJ” Smith, IV on being this week’s Big Ass Fans feature. We know a big-timer when we are seeing one!
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball; reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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