‘A little edge’ and a ‘football junkie.’ What the Dolphins are getting in Cam Smith

Clayton White chuckled at the question.

What play encapsulated Cam Smith’s time at the University of South Carolina?

White, the Gamecocks’ defensive coordinator, has seen so many acts from Smith defy logic over the years that they all seemed routine at this point. But after a brief moment of thought, he settled on one.

The 2021 regular-season finale against Clemson. Smith was aligned several yards from a slot receiver, almost like a safety. The receiver ran a post route and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei uncorked a pass 40 yards downfield. When it finally reached its destination, there was Smith, one step ahead of the wideout and tracking the ball over his shoulder as if he was the intended receiver. He tripped and fell to the ground but somersaulted and quickly popped up, streaking into the end zone with his arms stretched out and the ball in his left hand.

“He went crazy. Nobody else in the country can make that play, I hate to say it,” White said in a recent phone interview.

The Dolphins made the 22-year-old Smith their top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, selecting him at No. 51 overall. It was a surprise to many who viewed cornerback as one of the team’s stronger position groups. But the traits coaches and those close to Smith use to describe him – a fluid athlete with uncanny instincts, ball skills and a competitive spirit that can overshadow his mellow off-field personality – could make him the perfect player to join a defense with big expectations for the upcoming season.

“[The Dolphins] got the best cover corner in the draft,” White said. “And I’m biased. But a scout came by and they said it, they said it all year.”

‘He was a bit of a cheater then’

For Smith, getting drafted was the realization of a dream that started as a kid in Mullins, South Carolina, a small town about 50 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach. The oldest of two siblings, Smith grew up with his mother, Alicia, and father, Kendrick, as well as what he called a “close-knit” group of relatives that lived close by.

As foundational as Smith’s family was – “it kept him grounded because there was always someone to be accountable to,” Alicia said – so was football. Smith started flag football at 4 and the depths of his competitiveness can be traced back then.

“He was a bit of a cheater then,” Alicia said with a laugh. “He would tie his flags in a knot on the side. He said it’s because they kept falling off as he was running. That’s the story he tells. I’m going to let him tell the story. So, he’s always been super competitive.”

Smith and his family moved to Columbia, Maryland, the summer before his freshman year of high school after Alicia took a job with the National Security Agency. Leaving friends and family was difficult for Smith, Alicia said, but football became a refuge in a new home.

By midseason of his freshman year at Meade High, Smith was part of a select group of players who got called up from junior varsity to varsity. The natural ability was evident to Albert Jones, Smith’s varsity coach, but he combined it with an insatiable desire to be the best.

“He always wanted to be first,” Jones said. “First getting in line for a drill. If the [defensive backs] and wide receivers were doing 1-on-1s, he’s upset if somebody got a catch on him by luck or by design or anything like that. It was the competitiveness that jumped out to me at first.”

By the end of his junior year, Smith had offers from a handful of Division I programs. And the success on the field allowed him to feel more comfortable off the field, Jones said.

“Once he started getting into football and started to gain some confidence and the kids started to rally around him,” he said, “everything started to roll in his favor. And then you started to see him open up. And then you start to see the charismatic Cam, the happy that’s always running around, bouncing all over the place.”

Before Smith’s final year of high school, his family moved back to South Carolina and Smith returned as one of the best corners in the country. He picked up an offer from Will Muschamp and South Carolina the summer before his senior season at Westwood High. Offers from Georgia and Clemson quickly followed but Smith committed to the Gamecocks, a program he grew up loving as a South Carolina native.

‘A football junkie’

As a redshirt freshman in 2020, Smith tied for the team lead in interceptions but had a limited role behind Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu, who would go on to play in the NFL. In 2021, Smith was a full-time starter and earned second-team All-SEC honors. It was that season that Smith said made him realize his NFL dreams could become a reality.

“Practice was easier,” Smith said. “I was making a lot of plays and stuff like that. I saw I was just kind of getting in the groove of feeling like a dominant corner and then coming into the season, I continued the same trend.”

Smith’s coaches said that in addition to being a natural athlete, his film study allowed him to get his hands on the ball at such a high rate.

“He reads routes better than anybody that I’ve been around, remembers splits and stances and concepts. That’s the part that really separates him,” White said. “... He’s a football junkie when it comes to studying. He has unbelievable retention.”

And on the field, he played with palpable confidence, whether it was in practices or on game days.

“You’re going to hear Cam,” White said. “He’s a really geeked-up kind of guy. He’s very emotional in a smart, good way, but sometimes it can come off as negative. But he’s very in tune, he’s very into everything. …

“He’s a bonafide corner. Some corners are clean-cut. And some guys got some edge. Cam’s got a little edge to him that you love.”

One of the more notable moments from Smith’s time at South Carolina was a stoic, NSFW quote after a big win over Tennessee this past season. The soundbite went viral and brought more attention to Smith, but his mother said it couldn’t be farther from his true personality.

“For as much as he has a big ego and a big personality on the field, his off-the-field personality is really quiet. Doesn’t talk much. He’s really an introvert, just kind of stays to himself. If he knows you? Biggest extrovert ever. But if he doesn’t, he’s really, really quiet, just kind of watching and listening and learning. ...

“He really is a down-to-earth, country kid. He loves neckbones and rice. That’s his thing.”

‘He’s really, really good when he’s locked in’

Inconsistencies and questions about Smith’s athleticism in the NFL may have caused him to land in the second round instead of being a first-round pick. His coaches acknowledged he’s not a finished product. He can get lackadaisical in his technique, which led to a rash of penalties in 2022.

“He’s a grabber,” White said.

But they see Miami as a perfect landing spot for him, with veterans Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey present and respected defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. If he can maximize his talent on a play-to-play basis, they said, the Dolphins could have an elite player down the line.

“Cam might be up and down at times but he practices hard,” said Torrian Gray, Smith’s defensive backs coach at South Carolina. “He competes hard. … If Cam is in a certain mode or a certain mood, man, it’s unbelievable the level that you get.

“When he’s on, man, he’s really, really good when he’s locked in.”