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Ortre Smith and Shi Smith give South Carolina an dynamic pair of freshman receivers

The two best prep prospects in the state of South Carolina have made their way to Columbia

Student Sports

Welcome to The Final Cockdown’s Wide Receiver week! We go down the depth chart and take a look at who will be catching touchdowns from Jake Bentley this year. Here’s a list of who you can expect to read about in the coming days:

Bryan Edwards | Deebo Samuel | Terry Googer | Dreak Davis & Korey Banks | Chad Terrell | Chavis Dawkins | Ortre Smith & Shi Smith


Per 247Sports, the top two recruits in the state of South Carolina in 2017 were Ortre Smith and Shi Smith — a pair of wide receiver who played their prep ball three hours from each other on opposite sides of the state. Shi from Union, a remote town in the upstate, and Ortre from Mount Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston.

#18 Ortre Smith

Freshman / 6’4’’ / 229 / Mount Pleasant, S.C. / Wando

Ortre was an early enrollee after missing part of his senior year due to an ankle injury, but even with that was a finalist for South Carolina’s Mr. Football award and was named “Back of the year” by the SCFCA. He was the No. 1 prep prospect out of the state and is South Carolina’s largest wide receiver as an 18 year-old.

2016 stats: 37 catches, 448 yards, two TDs; 29 tackles, INT

Recruitment: Four-star recruit; Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, West Virginia and South Carolina. Committed to SC on Sept. 11, 2016.

Selected highlight: Here are a couple of nice grabs Ortre made before he got hurt

#11 Shi Smith

Freshman / 5’10’’ / 181 / Union, S.C. / Union

Even as Ortre enrolled earlier, Shi committed to the Gamecocks back in June of 2016. Funny as it is, a staffer at a Clemson camp told Shi to switch from quarterback to wide receiver — now the South Carolina Gamecocks will reap the benefits of his talents. As a body mold, Shi is the polar opposite of Ortre — small, shifty and quick.

2016 stats: N/A

Recruitment: Four-star recruit; Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, North Carolina, NC State, Tennessee and South Carolina. Committed to SC on Jun. 11, 2016.

Selected highlight: Shi is an incredibly versatile player, so check out the kind of range he has here