Calvary Day School football coach Mark Stroud expressed a sentiment he shares with some coaches – and it’s a problem other coaches wish they had.
The Cavaliers coaches are thinking of creative ways to get the football more often in the hands of their most dynamic offensive players. At Calvary, those are senior standouts Thomas Blackshear and Edward “Doopah” Coleman, who are primarily wide receivers.
“You may see them in the backfield some. You may see them taking direct snaps some,” Stroud said. “You may see them all kinds of different ways where they’re doing things that just might be a little unorthodox, but just make sure you get the ball (to them).
“At the end of the game, you don’t want to look up and say, ‘We didn’t let our best players carry the ball enough.’ ”
It’s that kind of good problem to have. Benedictine, Calvary, and Savannah Christian have their own dynamic duos that will keep their offensive coordinators delighted to draw up plays and keep opposing defensive coordinators up late trying to stop them – or at least hope to contain them.
Here’s a closer look at Benedictine’s Chris “Bubba” Frazier and Stanley Smart Jr.; Savannah Christian’s Zo Smalls and Kenry Wall; and Calvary’s Blackshear and Coleman.
Frazier and Smart
“Bubba” Frazier paid his dues as a freshman in the Cadets’ 2022 season, 
playing special teams and trying to use his speed to come from the edge and block kicks.
Frazier didn’t get a finger on any kicks, but he didn’t get his head kicked in, either.
“I just kept my head down,” he said, speaking figuratively of his freshman season, “and kept working and earned a spot on the team the next season.”
Oh, what a next season it was. Frazier not only got on the field more often, he was a revelation in 2023. The sophomore caught 53 passes for 753 yards (14.2 ypc) and four TDs, and also rushed 29 times for 316 yards and three more scores in 14 games.
“He’s ridiculously fast,” Cadets coach Danny Britt said. “He’s a legit 4.4 (40-yard dash) guy. Great explosion. Also an extremely hard worker. His route-running skills are very good. He works hard in the weight room, so he’s got strength. He does a really good job with the ball in his hands. A good return guy. He plays defense for us some, too. A very good cornerback.”
Frazier (about 5-foot-9, 165 pounds) said he has pretty good hands and considers his strengths to be his route running, speed and ability to separate from defenders.
He credits his parents for believing in him from an early age.
“They put time in me,” he said. “They support me with everything. My dad (Chris Frazier Sr.) is actually my football trainer. Me and him, we go to the field and get (the training) in.”
With two more seasons to go, he’s getting attention from college recruiters, including a scholarship offer in June from Georgia.
“Bubba’s a hard worker. He’s fast,” Stanley Smart Jr. said. “He’s going to get after it. He’s going to make the plays. He’s that guy.”
Smart probably will be “that guy” as well after a freshman season in 2023 when he played slotback and ran the ball sparingly (four carries for six yards) in a
senior-heavy running back rotation. Britt said that with the program’s numbers, freshmen don’t usually see the field, so it was meaningful that Smart played on special teams all season.
This season, the sophomore will be the primary running back, and Britt is confident the chiseled 5-10, 187-pounder is up to the task.
“He can definitely handle it,” Britt said. “He’s a smart kid, really intelligent, has good football knowledge and soaks it up well.”
Smart is big, strong and fast. He and Frazier were two legs of Benedictine’s GHSA Class 4A state championship 4x200 relay team. The 4x100 relay placed second at state, and the pair were two of the faster 100- and 200-meter sprinters at the meet.
Smart also is an elite junior-level performer with the Coastal Georgia Track Team and has won indoor and outdoor national championships for his age group.
“He’s a big kid and he can move,” Frazier said of Smart. “I think he’s going to fill some big shoes this year and do a great job at running back.”
Smalls and Wall
When it comes to great running backs, Savannah Christian coach Baker 
Woodward believes Harry “Zo” Smalls will “go down as one of the best backs in Savannah, for sure.”
Smalls literally doesn’t go down without difficulty, at the 5-9, 195-pound senior is the definition of a power back.
“He can make you miss. He can run you over,” said Woodward, noting Smalls’ muscular build. “He looks the part.
“He’s stayed the course and been so consistent. We have a lot of hard workers on our team,” the coach said. “The best way to describe him is he lives football -- all aspects of it.”
Woodward said Smalls is running even faster and smoother this summer, and Smalls concurred, saying his 40-yard time is 4.5 seconds.
The numbers from last season also were eye-catching as he rushed 265 times for 1,903 yards, a 7.2 yards-per-carry average, a 126.9 game average, nine 100-yard games and 33 of his 34 total touchdowns.
“It’s my mindset,” said Smalls, who has verbally committed to play for Charleston Southern next fall. “I’ve got to run as fast as I can. If you’re running fast, nobody wants to run and tackle someone running at full speed at them.”
His toughness showed even more in the playoffs, when he played despite hurting his right hand. Using his left hand as the primary hand to carry the ball, Smalls not only didn’t fumble, he ran for 214 yards and three scores in the GHSA Class 3A state semifinal victory over Carver-Columbus, then produced three more TDs in the championship game loss to Cedar Grove.
Smalls noted that he rested during regular-season victories when the Raiders were comfortably ahead. This season, “I want to get at least 2K, like 2,000 (rushing yards), he said.
“When Zo gets the ball, it’s like a big semi truck that’s running down(hill),” Kenry Wall said. “Zo’s a great player. When he gets the ball, he can make a lot of 
things happen.”
Making things happen also is Wall’s department. Though small in build at 5-7½ and 165 pounds, the speedy and elusive senior is dangerous all over the field as a receiver, runner, cornerback and kick and punt returner.
“If we need a big play, just give it to Kenry,” Smalls said. “Just throw it to him. He can try to make a play.”
Wall has proven himself with clutch plays over his career, from a playoff game-clinching interception as a sophomore to playoff game-extending and clinching scores as a receiver.
“Once I get the ball out in space, I’ll make some moves and you’ll see me in the end zone,” said Wall, a sprinter and jumper during track season.
As a junior in 2023, Wall had 19 receptions for 500 yards (26.3 ypc) and five TDs, and 111 carries for 1,116 yards and 15 TDs.
“He’s a great player and a great kid. We’ve got to find more ways to give him ball,” Woodward said “We’ve got special plays for him. He’s very dynamic.”
Smalls, also a standout lacrosse player in the spring as well as doing shot put on the track team, and Wall have been impactful players. Woodward expected as much after seeing them play for the SCPS middle school team.
“We knew then they were going to be really special players for us,” Woodward said. “Both of them have been starting games since their freshmen year. It’s great to have two guys that can run the ball, catch the ball and are really dynamic players.”
Blackshear and Coleman
College recruiters from Power 5 conferences have been drawn to Calvary Day for years, and the seniors this season are headed by Blackshear, who already has committed to Georgia, and Coleman, who has his pick of big-time programs.
Both players were limited last season by injuries and missed many games, but that didn’t curtail their recruitment.
“They both had some nagging injuries,” Stroud said. “I think Doopah had a little bit longer nagging injury, but nothing significant that’s going to carry over to the season. I think they’ll be ready to rock ’n’ roll.”
When healthy, they rocked and the team rolled. Blackshear had 27 receptions for 551 yards (20.4 yards per catch) and five touchdowns in eight games.
“Thomas is just very, very talented,” Stroud said. “He’s one of the unique guys that just doesn’t slow down when he runs, with cuts and the movements you have to make to be a great receiver or a great guy when the ball gets in his hands.
“I think the thing that separates him is he’s just really, really tough,” the coach continued. “He’s very, very physical. He’s a great competitor. He’s relentless. He’s got those qualities that set guys apart. Some guys may have some of the same genetic makeup that he has. I think the thing that sets him apart outside of all of his athleticism is his just absolute toughness and relentlessness as a player.”
The 6-foot-1, 197-pound Blackshear is ranked in 247Sports’s composite rankings as of Aug. 1 as a four-star prospect, the No. 317 player in the Class of 2025, the No. 46 wide receiver in the country and the No. 41 player in Georgia.
No wonder that he has scholarship offers from Georgia and many other college programs, including Florida State, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech.
“People think Thomas is just a deep-threat wide receiver, but he can do anything,” Coleman said. “He can play running back as well. You’ll see both of 
us in the backfield at the same time. He’s a very great route runner. He’s an elite (pass) catcher. He can make you miss or run through you or jump over you. He’s amazing.”
Coleman also has the ability to amaze; it’s his availability that was an issue last season because of injury.
The 5-11, 188-pounder played in only five full games as a wide receiver, running back and kick returner and still recorded 29 catches for 340 yards and two TDs, and rushed 18 times for 147 yards (8.2 ypc) and four TDs.
Coleman, who was healthy for the playoffs, said a big goal is to have an entire healthy year. He also would like to tally at least 1,500 all-purpose yards and return both a kick and a punt for touchdowns.
“I’m also going to play a little defense, so I’m going to catch a pick,” said Coleman, noting that he’s even a backup holder.
That versatility has Stroud excited to have Coleman playing several positions.
“Doopah is a very, very strong guy. He’s very physical,” said Stroud, noting the senior can run inside and outside and has great ball skills.
“If you look at him, he looks like a running back more than he does a receiver,” the coach said. “We play him at inside slot. We’ll play him also a lot at running back as well. His strength and his ball skills are the big deal with him.”
It’s also a big deal to college recruiters. “I can play anywhere,” Coleman said. “If they want to put me at tight end, I’d do that, too.”
Coleman said at the time he was interviewed that his top schools are Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, South Carolina and LSU.
The 247Sports compositive as of Aug. 1 has Coleman as a three-star recruit ranked 786th in the country, 121st at wide receiver and 89th in the state.
Special category: Smalls and Smart, redux
Stanley Smart Jr. followed in the football steps of his father, Stanley Smart Sr.
Zo Smalls, likewise, became a running back like his father, Harry “Bo” Smalls.
“Dad was a power back,” Zo said. “He wasn’t as fast as me. He was way bigger than me. He was like 5-10, like 205, 210.”
Here’s the kicker, to turn a phrase. According to their sons, their dads each graduated in 1989 – Smart from Beach and Smalls from Savannah High.
They played against each other in football as rivals.
“They were friends, but on the field they were trying to take each other’s head off,” Stanley Jr. said.
“They’re really good friends now. They’ve been really good friends ever since. I think they played Little League together, too, so they’ve been friends for as long as they can remember.”
Zo is two grades ahead of Stanley Jr., so they haven’t played football against each other. Benedictine and Savannah Christian don’t play each other this season.
Stanley has three seasons to try to replicate his father’s achievement as winner of the Michael Finocchiaro Memorial Outstanding Football Player Award, given to the top high school player in Savannah. His father won in 1988.
“It’s kind of hard trying to live up to that, and I’m trying to chase one, too,” Stanley Jr. said.
As far as bragging rights between the elder Smalls and Smart?
“Every time they played each other, apparently, they both had at least 150 yards or at least always had a good game,” Stanley Jr. said, “so I couldn’t tell you.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy Benedicitne, Calvary, Savannah Christian Athletics Department
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