Gamecocks A Contender For Michael Smith
One of the biggest responsibilities a major college football recruiting staff must address every single year is identifying future talent at positions of need, and in today's day and age, with the transfer portal, that need can matriculate on short notice.
The South Carolina Gamecocks could soon partly find themselves in this predicament at the tight end position, as Austin Stogner and Nate Adkins are both graduate transfers, while Jaheim Bell and Traevon Kenion are both draft-eligible juniors.
With the high volume of upperclassmen at the tight end position, the Gamecocks have already nabbed two tight end commitments from Connor Cox and Kamron Sandlin in the 2023 class and are in pursuit of multiple 2024 tight end prospects, like Calvary Day High School's Michael Smith.
While Smith doesn't have to make his college decision in the near future, the Gamecocks have clearly made their presence felt in his recruitment, to the point where Michael included the Gamecocks in his top 8 list he posted on Twitter Monday evening.
Based on his list, it's clear that Smith is one of the better tight-end prospects for his class, and his film from his ongoing junior season only further backs up this notion.
Difficult To Bring Down
The main thing that sticks out to me from Smith's junior season film is just how gifted he is as an athlete. This is especially noticeable when he's running after the catch, as when someone runs up to tackle Smith's 6'4, 225-pound frame, they must be fundamentally sound in terms of how they try to tackle him and where they're positioned at that moment, because of Michael's dexterity and balance he has when running into traffic.
If the defender doesn't wrap up or bring enough aggression with their tackle attempt, Michael will seamlessly break the tackle and get chunks of yards after contact, which can be a backbreaker for a defense.
Ridiculous Hand-Eye Coordination
The other aspect that jumps out about Smith is his ability to pinpoint where the football will be in his vicinity based on its trajectory, as there were multiple instances where Smith didn't have to stare down the ball throughout its entire descent and was able to put his hands out in line with the ball's flight path.
This is a trait that many elite tight ends possess in modern-day football due to how much the position is now used in the passing game, making Michael a highly valuable commodity.
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