Two former South Carolina Gamecocks football players won invitations to the NFL Combine, according to their Instagram pages. Wide receiver Shi Smith and offensive striker Sadarius Hutcherson are scheduled to participate in the event, which will be very different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NFL Combine will not be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana in February due to the pandemic. All training will take place during individual professional days on college campuses. Medical examinations will be carried out at medical facilities close to where the potential client lives, while interviews with the team will be conducted virtually.
There are usually around 330 players who are invited to the event each year. Last year, Gamecocks had five players who received invitations from the NFL Combine, although wide receiver Bryan Edwards was unable to go through the exercises.
Here is a link to Smith’s Instagram Post and here’s the link to Hutcherson’s post on his Instagram page.
Smith was the number one receiver for Gamecocks in 2020. He took 57 passes for 633 yards in nine games, ranking in the SEC’s top 10 on both receptions per game (6.3) and receiving yards per game (70 , 3). He recorded 174 career receptions for 2,204 yards, fourth on the school’s all-time reception list and eighth on the school’s career receiving yard list. He will try to extend the South Carolina streak of having a wide receiver summoned to three years for three years after Deebo Samuel (second round in 2019) and Bryan Edwards (third round in 2020).
Smith was able to participate in the Senior Bowl on January 30, where he had three footprints in the game.
Hutcherson, a 6-4, 320-pound player from Huntingdon, Tennessee, played the left guard for the Gamecocks in 2021, starting all 10 games. Elected the SEC’s offensive striker of the week for his role in Vanderbilt, Hutcherson has made 39 career appearances, mostly in the squad. Hutcherson was invited to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in mid-January.
There may be other Gamecocks to win invitations to this year’s event, but only two players have announced at this time.