Inside the emotional 2-day wait that made South Carolina’s Cam Smith a Miami Dolphin

It’s 7:14 p.m. on Thursday night — 46 minutes before the first round of the NFL draft begins — and Cam Smith isn’t dressed yet.

Family and friends start to pour into the hulking brick house hosting Smith’s draft party. A handful of folks sat on the covered porch, shielded from the spitting rain and frying chicken for the guests. Smith, a former South Carolina defensive back, raced around the first floor in a hoodie, a pair of joggers and Adidas slides. Armed with a white towel, Smith wiped down fold-up plastic tables for his guests.

“I had to make sure everything was straight,” he said later, smirking. “You’re never too big to do anything.”

Smith entered the week projected as a late first-round or early second-round pick. His family granted The State access into his draft party and the lead-up to his selection at No. 51 overall by the Miami Dolphins in Friday night’s second round.

There was no anxiety about whether Smith would be drafted. That was largely a given. Where the nervousness resided in the hours and day entering this weekend was if Smith and his family would have to wait until the Friday’s second and third rounds to hear his name called.

Another 24 hours of waiting. After three months of waiting. That adds up.

“I’m nervoussss,” Alicia Smith, Cam’s mom, conceded on Thursday. “I’m OK. I’m OK.”

By 7:42 p.m. Smith was back downstairs. He’d shifted into his attire for the night — a pair of jeans with some artistic paint splatter, a polo shirt, a puffy vest and a Louis Vuitton bag. Five minutes later, he and all the party’s attendees spilled out onto the porch.

Shavetta Belton’s voice boomed above the pitter-pattering of rain. She asked all the guests to hold onto those next to them. Everyone gathered in a circle for a brief prayer. “Father God, we ask that you look on Cameron with favor,” said Belton, who Smith calls his second mother.

As 8 p.m. arrived, ESPN’s broadcast chimed in. Draft night had officially begun.

The 2023 NFL draft begins

The first pick was delivered by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at 8:19 p.m. The Carolina Panthers swiped Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

Smith, wearing a microphone courtesy of South Carolina’s in-house media team, stood just behind the black canvas couch he and the rest of the guests huddled around in the living room.

Young’s name was announced. Smith started to nod. “They did the right thing,” he said. “Their GM knows what’s up.”

“Jordan,” Smith shouted toward a friend around the corner. “Your boys got better today.”

Smith, by all accounts, was the highest-rated of South Carolina’s potential draftees. He earned second-team All-SEC honors the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus had him as an honorable mention All-American in 2021. That’s a distinguished resume considering Smith inherited the Gamecocks’ cornerback mantle from 2021 first-round pick Jaycee Horn.

“I love Smith’s confidence, but his temperament might not be for everyone,” NFL.com draft analyst Eric Edholm told The State earlier this week. “He’s also had a slew of little injuries that have added up. Plus, it’s a good CB crop — one of the deeper ones in years.”

Picks started to roll in every 10 to 15 minutes. Smith, always a smidge amped up, wouldn’t sit down for almost four hours. He bounced between the couch and a room upstairs where he and a few childhood friends passed the time as the picks continued.

Guests filtered in and out of the living room and to the porch. A buffet of chicken wings, meatballs, ham-and-cheese sliders, buffalo chicken dip and Ro-Tel dip with hamburger meat was spread across the kitchen. Plates were filled and then filled again. The wings, in particular, were a hit.

The first defensive back off the board came at No. 5 overall when the Seattle Seahawks snagged Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon. “Whatttt?” a high-pitched male voice rang out. “All that for Witherspoon?”

Everyone’s a critic.

A long wait, and a turn toward the second round

It wasn’t until 10:41 p.m. on Friday the antsy energy inside the suburban Charlotte home picked up.

Those friends who were upstairs migrated to the living room or out to the porch, where another television had been set up. Smith himself, who still hadn’t sat down in the almost three hours since the draft started, hunched over the back of the sofa, his two iPhones resting on the back of the couch.

The Baltimore Ravens were on the clock at No. 22. That drew wide eyes.

The fit made sense. The Ravens had Smith in for a pre-draft visit. There are also plenty of connections between South Carolina and the organization. Defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sterling Lucas and recently promoted offensive line coach worked for the Ravens under John Harbaugh. Gamecocks defensive coordinator Clayton White, too, once worked for John’s brother, Jim, at Stanford.

Still, no dice.

The Ravens went with Boston College receiver Zay Flowers, the third-straight receiver off the board. The Minnesota Vikings — who also had a first-round grade on Smith — followed suit one pick later, taking Southern Cal receiver Jordan Addison.

As the New York Giants flipped onto the lower third graphic on ESPN’s broadcast, the room tensed up. Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s voice echoed, pointing to Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. and Maryland’s Deonte Banks as likely options in the 24th slot for the defensive back-needy Giants.

Smith shook his head a touch and stared blankly at the screen.

The picks continued to roll. The Giants took Banks. That made three total cornerbacks taken to that point. Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid went one spot later to the Buffalo Bills, while the Dallas Cowboys followed with Michigan defensive lineman Mazi Smith.

The Jacksonville Jaguars took their turn next. The 26 people gathered in the living room perk up a bit. The Jaguars, too, had Smith in for a pre-draft visit. By this time, Smith was less occupied with the draft. He held daughter Oakleigh, who was remarkably upbeat considering it was hours past her bedtime.

The Jaguars made their pick. It wasn’t Smith.

As the night reached its end, Smith dipped out to the back patio. Only six people were seated at the fold-up tables he’d polished off earlier in the evening. Smith, for the first time all night, sat in a plastic chair overlooking the fryer filled with cooled grease. Benton slipped into a seat next to him.

“It’s in God’s hands,” she said. “We want it today, but that’s not what He wants. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do what He wants.”

One last pick and a future as a Miami Dolphin

Smith, his mother and friends regathered at the Charlotte house on Friday night.

Alicia made a quick trip back down to Columbia earlier in the day for more clothes. Another night of waiting was in store.

It lasted 20 more picks.

“With the 51st pick in the 2023 NFL draft, my Miami Dolphins select Cam Smith,” Dolphins tackle Terron Armstead read from the stage in Kansas City.

Smith became the highest-drafted South Carolina cornerback since Horn went eighth overall to the Carolina Panthers in 2021. He’s also the ninth Gamecock defensive back to be selected in the NFL draft in the last 15 years.

Now? A sigh of relief.

“I kind of felt down when (the first round) ended last night,” Smith told local Dolphins reporters on a call Friday night. “When the last pick came down I was kind of down on myself, like ‘What was I doing wrong?’ But then, at the same time, I’ve got to think about what what God has in store for me.”

When Thursday night’s first round wrapped up and headlights illuminated the driveway, Smith slipped out onto the front steps. Alicia joined him. He cried. Hard. He hid his tied back locs under the hoodie he’d donned earlier that night. His eyes were still slightly sullied.

“I’m just trying to show those other 31 GMs why they should’ve picked me,” Smith told The State on Thursday through a hushed tone. “All those ifs, ands or buts about me — all that stuff — I’m going to prove it (wrong).”

Those same fold-up tables Smith wiped off Thursday dripped with the celebratory champagne that flowed in the moments after his name was read on the broadcast Friday night.

Smith and his family waited enough the last two days. But that cleanup deserved to be put off for just a little bit longer.