Shi Smith makes big plays, talks plenty of trash vs. Auburn: ‘I bring that fire’
It’s become a recurring theme this season for South Carolina football: Senior wideout Shi Smith is in on a play, usually making a catch as the team’s leading receiver. Then the whistle blows and the trash talk begins.
Fans, analysts and observers have all noticed it through four games; Smith seems to engage in more after-the-play conversations with opponents than most.
While it’s getting noted more frequently this season, it’s nothing new, Smith said after a particularly smack talk-filled game against Auburn in which he caught eight passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. The Gamecocks won 30-22.
“That’s just how I play, man. I come with a little fire with me,” Smith said. “That’s just how I play, and I’m pretty sure the coaches on the other side are telling them to do it just to get into my head, because they just know I bring that fire. That’s just how I play, so I’m cool with it.”
Against the Tigers, it was particularly pronounced, as Smith battled and chirped at the secondary all afternoon long, even after dropping a few passes early. Afterward, he admitted that some of the talk might have gotten to him a little.
“I gotta keep my composure a little bit more. I’ve been working on that. But it’s just ... I play with fire, that’s just in my game,” Smith said. “But it definitely takes you out of your game. The couple drops I had, it was because they were in my head. But just come back, keep making plays.”
Make plays, he did, especially as the game wore on — Smith lit up social media not once but twice on Saturday, first on a 10-yard touchdown in the third quarter where the 5-foot-10 out-leaped his defender, drawing comparisons to NFL great Randy Moss. Then, in the fourth quarter, he tipped a ball back up to himself while falling down along the sideline, converting a third down for a big gain.
“It’s expected of me. Making plays downfield, that’s something that we gotta get better at as an offense. And I mean, the coaches are telling me at practice, that’s something that we gotta get better at, and I’m just buying into it, and I’m doing it,” Smith said.
Through four games, Smith has carried the Gamecock passing game, accounting for more than 40% of the team’s receptions. His 34 catches for 347 yards and three scores are all more than the next two top receivers combined.
So while coach Will Muschamp obviously wouldn’t like any dead ball penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct — something Smith has managed to avoid thus far — he’s not going to rein in his star wideout too much.
“He’s a great competitor, and most guys that I’ve been around that are great competitors and really good football players, they get after it, and he does as well,” Muschamp said. “And I do think it’s a fine line, but I’d much rather be saying ‘whoa’ than ‘giddy up.’ If I’m trying to tell a guy ‘giddy up’ at this point, then we have a problem. So I want a guy that’s competitive, I want a guy that’s a competitive, composed football player. And ... he and I have this conversation a lot: ‘When you’re really composed, man, you’re hard to deal with, because you still have your competitive edge and you still have your competitive nature.’”
And Muschamp, no stranger himself to fiery behavior, certainly doesn’t want Smith to change who he is.
“If we had 110 Shi Smiths, I’d be happy,” he said.
