A Cincinnati Bearcats helmet lays on the turf during a spring practice at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Thursday, March 24, 2022. Cincinnati Bearcats Spring Practice Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cincinnati Bearcats Football Adds Fourth Commitment in 2027 Class

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bearcats on SI
By Russell Heltman | Last updated Apr 2, 2026 6:35 AM ET

The Bearcats landed a third offensive line commitment in the Class of 2027 on Wednesday night. Warren (Ohio) mauler Zay'Vion Smith is rolling with UC for his college home.

Smith is unranked and picked the Bearcats over fifteen other schools, including Iowa State, Marshall, Connecticut, Youngstown State, and more.

The 6-5, 260-pound talent is not ranked on a major service and will now get molded by UC offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator Nic Cardwell.

Another Talent In The Fold

Star guard Evan Tengesdahl discussed Cardwell's new role with me after one of UC's 2026 spring practices.

"I think he's doing a tremendous job taking on another role. Nothing's really changed," Tengesdahl said about his O-Line coach. "We still have the same amount of meetings as we had before, just kind of added some more unit meetings, more of the offense is together type of thing. We're doing a bunch of meetings together as a whole offense, kind of watching film that way. So it's a little different, but we also do our separate position meetings.

"So, having the big offensive meetings. Everyone's seeing, everybody's grades, everybody's practicing. You can, kind of, you can coach other guys in different position groups. So it's just, I think it's kind of him, him and coach Thomas getting that role. I think it's kind of just benefited the offense more. We're getting closer to a more tight-knit offense."

Cardwell and his whole group are trying to protect projected starting QB JC French IV as much as possible this coming season.

UC head coach Scott Satterfield had great things to say about French during UC's Pro Day.

"Last Friday was 15-15, and 11-11 in drills," Satterfield said. "Hard to get any better than that. So excited for him to continue to grow within our offense. But it was fun for him (to throw during Pro Day), because he didn't know these guys, obviously, and you come out here, that's a hard thing to do as a quarterback, and come out here and throw routes to these guys you don't even know. But for him to be able to do that, he had shown some good accuracy, catchable balls. And I think he's got an opportunity to have an outstanding season."

The Bearcats now have four players in the 2026 class, which is poised to stay in the top-50 nationally on 247Sports.