On a team in need of playmakers, ‘stud’ Shi Smith carries Gamecocks’ receiver group
For South Carolina’s first offensive play of the season Saturday against Tennessee, new starting quarterback Collin Hill stood tall, set his feet and tried to get the ball to senior wide receiver Shi Smith on a slant route. The pass fell incomplete, but the tone was set: Smith would be far and away Hill’s top option all night.
Hill targeted Smith 14 times for the game. He caught 10 of those passes for 140 yards and a touchdown, the best game of his USC career outside of last year’s matchup with Tennessee, when he caught 11 balls for 156 yards.
“We came in all week talking about it,” Smith said of his high number of targets. “Just give me the ball early and just let me get started.”
Those 10 passes included a pair of 20-yard gains on the game’s first drive, leading to a quick score, as well as a 29-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to draw Carolina within a touchdown of the Volunteers. Slicing through the defense on a variety of quick slants, Smith accounted for nearly half of the team’s receiving yards in the game and 40% of its receptions in the 31-27 loss.
“He’s a stud,” Hill said after the game. “I told him I was coming to him early and was gonna try and get him going, and I thought we did that. You know, I think his plays speaks for itself. The dude can make plays and he did that tonight.”
Even when Smith was off the field Saturday, fans took notice. Early in the fourth quarter and trailing by a field goal, South Carolina drove inside the Volunteers’ 15-yard line. After a second-down run, Smith started jawing with a Vol defender after a second-down pass fell incomplete. As he appeared to get emotional, he was taken out of the game — on the next play, Hill was sacked and the Gamecocks had to settle for a field goal instead of trying to take the lead.
On social media, questions of why Smith left the game popped up. Afterward, Muschamp said the choice to remove his top receiver was strategic given how many snaps he had already played.
“He was gassed as much as anything, and so we had subbed because of the play that we had called in that situation and felt good about the call,” Muschamp said.
Still, Smith’s performance was one of the most positive developments in the season opener as the Gamecocks face a critical shortage of proven playmakers. After mostly acting as the second or third option to the likes of Deebo Samuel and Bryan Edwards the past two seasons, Smith looked more than comfortable shouldering the bulk of work.
“I mean, it’s a great feeling,” Smith said, “because I’m a competitive guy. I love having the ball in my hands, and I love making plays.”
Playing in the shadow of Edwards last year, Smith’s numbers dropped slightly from the career highs he posted as a sophomore. But his confidence in himself never wavered, he said, and Saturday’s performance put him among the SEC’s early receiving leaders.
Behind Smith, the Gamecocks don’t have much in the way of depth at receiver, seemingly making his productivity even more important. Sophomore Xavier Legette was the only other South Carolina receiver to catch a pass Saturday, as he nabbed a 42-yard deep ball and a screen for no gain. How much that unequal share of targets will continue forward is unclear.
“I think that’s kind of the flow of the game,” Muschamp said. “Obviously Shi had the hot hand, and then we had some things designed to go to him.”
