Jake Bentley sees OrTre Smith play beyond his age: ‘He looked like a grown man’

As South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley tried to describe the touchdown catch OrTre Smith hauled in against Louisiana Tech, his face showed something just short of awe.

He’d been asked if Smith and his fellow receiver Shi Smith had played so well it was hard to remember they’re still true freshmen. The way Bentley put it, that certainly wasn’t a freshman play.

“When OrTre caught it, when OrTre caught the touchdown, he looked like a grown man,” Bentley said. “The way he just ran through both the guys. Oh my gosh. It’s just great to see them out there just having fun. Great guys for us that work their tails of for us and guys that we need to not play like freshmen. “

Bentley credited that to their preparation. Both dig into their playbooks, doing their part, and the people around them prepared them for early action.

Shi Smith got the earliest action, starting the season opener. The 5-foot-10, 179-pounder has been the team’s top receiver in the slot, and while his totals of nine catches and 84 yards are modest, they still have him as the team’s No. 4 pass catcher behind Bryan Edwards, tight end Hayden Hurst and the now-injured Deebo Samuel.

That injury played a role in why OrTre Smith was in position to catch that score. The 6-foot-4, 219-pound Wando High School product had missed much of spring, and was fighting for time on the outside with a few others when Edwards and Samuel weren’t on the field (this was not that often). But Samuel breaking a bone in his leg meant OrTre Smith started against Louisiana Tech, and he played the second-most snaps of any receiver and has three catches for 45 yards and two scores since the injury.

Will Muschamp wasn’t having any of this forgetting-they’re-freshmen thing. To him, they’re ballplayers, and if they staff puts them out there, that doesn’t matter.

“They’re expected to play well when they get on the field,” Muschamp said. “We don’t accept anything but that. I’m never going to pat them on the shoulder and say, ‘It’s OK, you’re a freshman.’ That’s not part of the deal.

“We wouldn’t put them out there if we thought they didn’t play well.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2017 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Jake Bentley sees OrTre Smith play beyond his age: ‘He looked like a grown man’."