Smith working tirelessly for Mt. Lebanon’s success
Mt. Lebanon football coach Greg Perry doesn’t know when Patrick Smith sleeps.
“At 6 a.m. he’s running sprints. At 7, he’s lifting weights. At 10, he’s practicing with us,” Perry said. “He’s such a tireless worker. There’s no time off for him.”
Smith is a “throw back”, a rare three-sport athlete, competing in the highest classification of the WPIAL. He runs track in the spring and plays basketball in the winter. He plays and hones his football skills as a quarterback and linebacker all year round.
“There’s an aura around him,” Perry said. “Kids look up to him. He’s a leader.”
This autumn, the Blue Devils are looking to Smith to guide them to success.
In his first year playing within Perry’s system, a system that produced prolific passer like former NFL quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, as well as Bill Stull, Shane Patterson, Matt Rodgers, Luke Brumbaugh, Anthony Doria and Alex Smith, Smith completed 132 aerials for 1,610 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,091 yards and 15 more scores.
“Patrick will still be a dual threat. He would have it no other way,” Perry said. “He’s shown development and has progressed and is more comfortable with the offense. Being a quarterback here, you have to make calls and he’s more relaxed and he’s going to make good decisions.”
Recently, Smith made his college choice. He picked Penn over Cornell, Brown and Columbia. He will apply his 4.8 GPA to his studies in finance while playing linebacker for the Quakers.
“Academics were a key factor. I’ll get a good education but I also loved the coaches. They have so much energy. They were always texting and keeping in contact with me,” Smith said.
Smith sees a pathway to the NFL through Penn and hopes to emulate another well-known graduate. Justin Watson of South Fayette excelled as a wide receiver for the Quakers and has already won three Super Bowl rings playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs before being dealt to the Houston Texans.
“Playing in the NFL has always been a dream,” said Smith, who had an uncle (Jim) sign as a free agent with the Steelers before being cut in 1982. “You get there by going as hard as you can. I could see doing what (Watson) did and I feel as if my parents keep me on track of that vision by every day making sure I put the workouts in and by keeping me on task.”
Dr. Patrick Smith played football at Mt. Lebanon in the 1980s along with his other brothers, Dan, Bobby and Matt, before competing at Villanova. A renowned orthopedic surgeon, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 1997 and completed the Pitt Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program in 2003.
Smith credits his dad and uncles for instilling the love of the game in him.
“They say that football it’s you and all your friends out there,” said the 18-year-old son of Georgia Smith. “It’s just a brawl against another guy and all their friends. Everyone is trying to see who’s better.
“That’s what I like best about the game. Being with my teammates. I love them and being around them. It’s so much fun.”
Football started to become fun for Smith in the seventh grade because he could play the position he wanted. Prior to that, Smith dabbled in baseball, like his older brother Jack, who pitches at Harvard. He also participated in basketball and track like his sisters, Patrice, a recent Columbia graduate, Gina and Jennifer, who run for Villanova, and Emily, a rising sophomore who also competes in tennis.
Smith noted that in the younger football leagues he was not allowed to play a skill position because he exceeded the weight limitations. He would have had to play on the line.
“I didn’t want to be a lineman,” he said adamantly. “In seventh grade, they let me be a quarterback.”
Calling the signals appeals to Smith but he has a penchant for defense. He was an at-large first-team all-conference performer last fall for the Blue Devils.
“I like being in charge and a leader,” Smith said. “I feel being a quarterback makes my boys benefit the best. It’s how I help them and the team.
“I like defense just fine too. The adrenaline you get when you make a hit,” he continued. “It clears your head.”
Smith is clear on what he hopes to accomplish during the 2025 campaign. He is working closely with Coach Perry to ensure the Blue Devils turn around last year’s 3-8 season. The pair along with the wide receivers have held morning sessions throughout the summer to go over plays and reads so that everybody is on the same page and knows what they should be doing.
“I’m staying as connected with Coach Perry as I can,” Smith said. “As a team, we want to win the conference, WPIAL and go to states.”
To achieve those lofty goals Smith added that he “had to be a better quarterback, make better reads and have better decision making. Everyday I also have to go as hard as I can for the team. We need to be there for each other.”
Patrick Smith
Bio box
Who is he: Mt. Lebanon rising senior, who will quarterback the football team and anchor the defense at linebacker.
Age: 18
Parents: Patrick and Georgia
Birthdate: July 8
Siblings: Patrice, Jack, Gina, Jennifer, Emily
GPA: 4.8
Sports: Football, basketball, track
Activities: National Honor Society, Principal’s Advisory Council, Link Crew, Flag football referee, volunteer at St. Bernard’s Church Fish Fry.
College choice: University of Pennsylvania
Major: Finance
Food: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
Read: Great Gatsby.
Color: Green
Music: “I’m getting into the 70s because my parents were getting tired of listening to my rap music. I really like Billy Joel’s song “Vienna”.
Athlete: Josh Allen. “He’s fun to watch.”
People might be surprised to know this about you: “I played the violin, bass, trumpet, baritone and tuba from sixth through eighth grade. I can play a little piano, too. I don’t own any of those instruments though.
Person with whom you would like to have dinner and why? Jesus Christ. “Because he would teach me a lot and I could ask him a lot of questions. I think I would have a pretty impactful conversation with him.”
Life lesson sports has taught you: “If you are not going 100 percent, then you might as well not do it. I feel like my parents mentioned it when I was 7 or 8 but I learned it when I actually saw a change when I tried harder and saw results.”