Former high school quarterback DeQuandre Smith making impact defensively
At one point during his career at Triton, South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White was a high school quarterback.
He split time between the signal caller offensively and the same thing on the defensive side of the ball, linebacker, before making the permanent switch while at NC State.
It’s that experience that helped him scout Gamecocks safety DeQuandre Smith, who’s attempting to do the same thing at South Carolina.
“I watched his tape and he moves around very well. I don’t look like a quarterback now, but I saw an athletic quarterback who can go play another position. When you see him in person, you see his body structure,” White said.
“You hope he’s tough enough to tackle because he’s definitely athletic enough. When you put the pads on for the first time and see him go tackle, you know you have something special.”
Smith was a quarterback his final three seasons at Spring Valley (S.C.) High School where he ultimately threw for just over 1,600 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 500 yards and 14 more scores.
He played some defensive back before making the switch, and it’s some of those skills the Gamecocks staff saw that led them to believe Smith could be a productive secondary piece.
When defensive backs coach Torrian Gray watched his film, he certainly saw someone with the athleticism to play on the back end despite all of Smith’s film being at quarterback.
“The intangibles. What’s his physicality? When he’s running the ball is he trying to run out of bounds or is he trying to run guys over? What’s his mentality from that standpoint?” Gray said.
“If he’s a guy who’s going to run with a certain physical presence, maybe he’ll have a chance to tackle guys. Is he athletic? Is he shifty? Can he change direction well? Those are the things that translate at defensive back so you try and evaluate those.
The relationship with South Carolina continued to progress and the more the coaches were around him, the more they liked him.
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“(Smith) has an it-factor about him. He never played defense for his team,” Gray said. “He just had an it about him. The more I talked to him, the more I got around him, I felt like he had an it about him.”
His high school coach Robin Bacon endorsed Smith’s ability to move positions collegiately. It’s paid off so far.
“Quarterbacks are a little different when it comes to defense. It can really be a slow game for them. That’s really exciting,” White said. “Coach Bacon at Spring Valley High School was adamant he could do it. He was correct.”
Smith is one of two young freshmen, along with Nick Emmanwori, who’ve garnered praise from Shane Beamer this preseason.
Neither will likely start, but it’s not unreasonable to think both will have roles for South Carolina this season.
“They’ve done a nice job of settling into that role. Don’t get me wrong. I know there’s a lot talk about those two guys. Nobody’s saying they’re going to be Ronnie Lott or Ed Reed here in game one,” Beamer said.
“They’ve really done a nice job adjusting to that position. It’s not a position they were really playing in high school. That’s been a pleasant development.”
