Hometown quarterback lands South Carolina offer, but not as a QB
Spring Valley High School quarterback Dequandre “DQ” Smith picked up one of his biggest offers Monday.
South Carolina offered the junior signal caller on the first day schools are allowed direct contact with Class of 2022 recruits.
“This offer meant a lot to me. Growing up I knew a lot of Gamecock fans and I was going to games, and Sandstorm playing before the games was unreal,” Smith said.
Smith also has offers from Michigan and Florida Atlantic and said he has been getting interest from Coastal Carolina, Akron, Michigan State and East Carolina. He said South Carolina started recruiting him a couple of years ago, and new defensive coordinator Clayton White and defensive backs coach Torrian Gray have been talking to him recently.
The 6-foot-1 dual-threat quarterback has been a two-year starter for the Vikings.
Smith said the Gamecocks are recruiting him as a safety. He said they’ve seen characteristics in him they want to see in their defensive players.
“My toughness and the dog inside of me,” Smith said. “They said the way I play, I’m aggressive, coming downhill and trying to run people over. They like that in me. They said they like the toughness in me.”
He is yet to be ranked by 247Sports or Rivals, but that is likely to change.
Smith threw for 917 yards and eight touchdowns and also rushed for 207 yards in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. As a sophomore, Smith set several school records after passing for 2,317 yards and 30 TDs as the Vikings transitioned from flexbone to spread offense.
USC has no commitments for the 2022 class. They had one in QB Gunner Stockton, who decommitted and is now pledged to Georgia.
Smith is the latest in-state prospect to get a Gamecock offer. Others included Hilton Head Island’s Jaylen Sneed, Mauldin’s Jaydn Lucas, Greer’s Jaleel Skinner, Dutch Fork’s Antonio Williams, and Hammond’s Drew Bobo and CJ Stokes.
— Phil Kornblut contributed
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 6:51 PM.
