Strong body of work

He was a slim soccer player. He liked football, but when a time came for him to choose either competitive soccer or football, Smith chose the former.

His decision, however, left him longing for the gridiron.

"During the football season I would dress up in my football pads," said Smith. "So, I missed it a lot. That was the first time I realized that football was going to be my sport."

With a rekindled love affair with football, Smith didn't just set out to play. He planned to get the best out of himself, transforming his body from slender to Schwarzenegger.

The Catholic High School senior's rise, from a skinny kid with talent to a sought-after college recruit, didn't come on natural ability alone.

It came with difficult, disciplined training.

The Early Years

Steven J. Smith said his son has always been well built.

"Ralph Parton coached a little baseball team when Harrison was 5 years old called the Mudcats, and (Harrison) was hitting home runs over the fence back then," said Smith, a plastic surgeon. "He's always been strong and stout."

Harrison Smith's youth league football days featured even more highlights.

"He used to score about 25 touchdowns a year," Steven Smith said. "He was always a really good football player. He did well at soccer, too. He's always been an athlete that whatever he played he was good at. It just came natural to him."

Harrison Smith wasn't born with toughness. He developed it, though, at an early age. Older brother Garrett, five years Harrison's senior, and his friends made sure of that.

"Harrison was always trying to hang out with Garrett's friends," Steven Smith said. "So they were always roughing him up and abusing him, rolling him up in the carpets and fighting with him. They always were working on him. So I think that helped him deal a little bit."

The Genesis

Smith began taking football seriously around eighth grade. He understood then that he needed to get bigger and faster.

His football coach, former University of Tennessee standout and Minnesota Vikings star Tim Irwin, who worked as a football agent, gave him some advice: See Charles Petrone.

"That's where he sent all his guys," Smith said. "(Irwin) said he's the best guy around. That's why I started going to him."

Petrone assessed Smith's physical makeup from the start, looking for any signs of hope.

"He had some good muscle fibers," Petrone said. "I identified some things early. He had big wrists, big elbows. I talked to his dad and got some family history on him. He had high triceps, and he had fast-twitch muscle fiber.

"That young kid had signs of becoming a good athlete."

Smith's tricep muscles foreshadowed his future position at Catholic. According to Petrone, a high tricep is a fast-twitch muscle characteristic that most defensive backs have, like the ones he identified in former UT standout Gibril Wilson, a starting safety with the New York Giants.

Still, what impressed Petrone the most was how big Smith's bones were.

"He hates to hear that," Petrone said. "He doesn't want someone to make him a tight end or a linebacker. He wants to play safety. His bones are so big (though). His bones are the same size now as they were in eighth grade. That's why I could see he had something special."

Birth Of Bonecrusher

Catholic coach Mark Pemberton never thought of Smith as a star, not when he was a ninth grader anyway.

"He wasn't even on the map as a freshman," Pemberton said. "He was a good little athlete. He wasn't very big. He was sort of slender."

Smith weighed about 160 pounds in the ninth grade. Not too small, but not big enough to be an impact player.

Smith stayed the course with Petrone and by his sophomore year he was ready.

"He grew a lot and worked out a lot between his freshman and sophomore year," Pemberton said. "He gained some size and ended up starting for us in the secondary as a sophomore."

Smith bulked up even more and used his junior year to make a name for himself. An assistant coach gave Smith the moniker "Bonecrusher" for the punishing hits he served with his new body.

That was the year Pemberton's eyes opened.

"Last year, he just bolted onto the scene -- game after game of big games," Pemberton said.

Including one at Austin-East, Catholic's opponent tonight, where Smith intercepted two passes -- returning one 80 yards for a score -- and caught a touchdown pass in a 21-0 win.

Smith's body was pushed to its limit that night. The two-way player vomited on the field in the first half yet still played effectively the rest of the game.

"We've seen that from him more than once," Pemberton said. "He's the type of kid that plays hard."

Harrison's father wasn't shocked by it.

"Usually when you get cramps or get sick, you usually don't do well after that or play at all," he said. "He always responds well to pressure and stress. The tougher the times get, the better he does. He's always been that way."

No Krispy Kreme

It's common for rising seniors to attend camps around the country, in hopes of impressing college scouts. Smith did so this past spring and summer.

And he worked with Petrone for six months to prepare.

"He trains through basketball season, and in the summer he turns it up," Petrone said. "When he has an event, he turns it up. ... We've put together a nutrition thing for him that his mom and dad try to help him adhere to -- keep him off the Krispy Kremes. He really watches what he eats for a high school kid. He's really into it."

At the camp, Petrone continued coaching Smith.

"We're down in Georgia for the 40 (yard dash). I was over beyond the tape, where the coaches aren't supposed to be," Petrone said. "I said, 'Harrison, drop your knee level down. Your shin angle is too high. Drop that down and you'll break 4.4.' ''

Petrone said Smith nonchalantly gave him a nod, went out and did as he was instructed. Smith ran a 4.38, turned to Petrone, gave him a thumbs up and said, "I did it."

"He didn't even think it was a big deal," Petrone said. "He was just like, 'Cool. Whatever. Next.'

"He has the knack. You tell him one thing and he picks it up. Picks it up! Nineteen out of 20 kids you don't get that out of."

The Revelation

After last Friday's win at Sequoyah, Smith didn't rest his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame.

He was up early Saturday for a three-hour workout. Such is the life of a highly touted college recruit.

Smith still doesn't know which college he will attend, but he's remaining focused no matter what people are telling him.

He's heard advice from everyone, from his brother Garrett to NFL quarterback Chad Pennington. He's heard it from Chip Howard, his guitar teacher who used to play football for UT.

Smith, who has said UT and Notre Dame are his top choices, is highly aware of the situation at hand. But he has learned it's not life or death.

"Getting a scholarship anywhere to play is a good thing," he said. "It's tough to go wrong."

Pemberton said all the scholarship offers and all the recognition Smith gets, Smith deserves.

"Everybody that asks me about him, I tell them it's not just natural ability," Pemberton said. "It's because the kid's worked his tail off to get to this point.

"He has paid the price to get there."