Gamecock reunion? Shi Smith ‘very interested’ in playing with Deebo Samuel in NFL
The San Francisco 49ers have already taken former South Carolina Gamecocks in back-to-back NFL drafts. Shi Smith would like to make it three in a row.
Headed into Wednesday’s USC’s pro day, the star wide receiver said he would be “very, very interested” in heading to San Francisco in next month’s draft.
The main reason why is clear: He’d love to be teammates with Deebo Samuel once more.
While Smith and Samuel were separated by two years at South Carolina, they developed a tight bond during their time together on campus. They’ve kept that going even as Samuel has gone on to the NFL and developed into a starter early in his career.
“He kind of took me under his wing as his little bro,” Smith said. “Me and Deebo got a very good relationship. Talk to him like twice a week, almost every week, whether it’s about football, money, stuff like that.”
Samuel’s mentorship has “definitely prepared me for this moment,” Smith added.
Even from a skillset perspective, Smith likes to emulate what Samuel can do once he gets the ball in his hands, converting short passes into big gains with yards after the catch.
“That’s just like athletic ability,” Smith said. “Once I make the catch, all my athletic ability just kicks in, so we can compare there.”
Smith is hoping to become the third Gamecock wide receiver drafted in as many years, joining Samuel and Bryan Edwards, who was taken last year by the Las Vegas Raiders. While Smith and Edwards are a year closer in age, it’s been Samuel who’s been giving Smith more guidance on the pre-draft process.
“Me and Bryan, we got a good relationship. We don’t talk as much as me and Deebo,” Smith said. “But Deebo kind of helped me with just little things, just telling me about my attitude and stuff like that, I should work on that a little bit. And then just tips on football, what I need to improve on — releasing, blocking, stuff like that. So he was very helpful.”
Samuel is no stranger to trash talk himself, but his message to Smith, a noted connoisseur of chirping after plays, was to stay in control more.
“I just got a quick temper. So I get heated a little bit,” Smith said. “So that’s just one of the things I need to work on.”
Smith’s draft stock generally seems to put him as a third-day selection, somewhere between Rounds 4 to 7, but he already got a big boost after showing out well during the Senior Bowl week of practices. And during that week, he also happened to talk with scouts from the 49ers.
Headed into Wednesday’s pro day, he hoped to help himself again with another strong showing. In particular, he sounded confident when asked to predict what time he might run in the 40-yard dash, pegging somewhere between 4.39 and 4.41. That’s typically fast enough to rank near the top 10.
Shi Smith 2021 NFL pro day results
Smith ran the 40-yard dash in times of 4.43 and 4.47 seconds, according to Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, who was in attendance Wednesday.
NFL Draft: Gamecocks taken by San Francisco since 2010
2011: Chris Culliver, third round
2013: Marcus Lattimore, fourth round
2014: Bruce Ellington, fourth round
2015: Mike Davis, fourth round
2015: Busta Anderson, seventh round
2019: Deebo Samuel, second round
2020: Javon Kinlaw, first round
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 10:28 AM.
