All signs point to South Carolina getting back a top skill player this week
Shi Smith is a star receiver on a South Carolina football team playing out a lost season. His coach, Will Muschamp, has been fired, and the regular season finale will be a chilly trip to Lexington, Kentucky.
But Smith’s interim coach, Mike Bobo, says he still wants to play, and he’s getting closer to making that a reality.
Smith suffered a concussion more than two weeks ago against Missouri. It caused him to miss the Georgia game, and he’s still in concussion protocol. But Smith has practiced the past two days, non-contact, and Bobo is sounding optimistic.
“I think all signs point to go for him and we’re pleased with him,” Bobo said Wednesday during the SEC weekly teleconference. “He came out Monday, said, ‘I’m going,’ I hope he gets cleared. He’s been out there for practice for two days and been moving around and looks good. I’m excited for Shi, his last regular season game, to get him back in offense and hopefully add some explosive plays Saturday.”
Without Smith, the Gamecocks were robbed of their most consistent presence in the passing game. The senior slot receiver carried the team through the air at points and has yet to play when true freshman Luke Doty was fully at the helm of the offense.
This season, Smith leads the team with 77 targets, 54 catches, 605 yards and four touchdowns. Bobo at points has commented that it’s the first year he’s run that much passing game through the slot receiver, in part because of inconsistency on the outside.
The recruiting plan
Bobo on Wednesday got into the plans for the 10 players currently committed in the 2021 recruiting class. The school is closing in on the start of the early signing period, and might be closing in on a new coaching hire.
If that hire happens soon, some of that falls to the new coach. If not, the school plans to honor the old staff’s offers.
The class has lost six recruits since the Muschamp firing.
“We’re honoring the guys that are committed to us,” Bobo said. “And encouraging those guys to stay committed to the program and administration. You know you chose South Carolina for a lot of reasons.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 12:28 PM.
