By Hale McGranahan.

MOUNT PLEASANT – When Jimmy Noonan first put eyes on Or’Tre Smith, he thought he’d found Wando High School’s next quarterback.

The strapping, athletic middle schooler with a rocket for a right arm had a little too much on his plate to fully commit to the position, so the head coach’s vision of Smith taking snaps for the Warriors never materialized.

“At that time, he was trying to balance three, four sports,” Noonan said, during an on location interview with TheClemsonInsider.

“(Smith) was a pitcher throwing close to 90 miles an hour off the mound. He plays basketball — played AAU basketball, so he was doing almost year-round basketball and trying to balance that and playing some football.

“I never really could get him into enough focused attention to play him at quarterback, but he very well could do that. He’s that athletic and he can throw the heck out of the football.”

Smith is also pretty darn good at catching it, too. And he’s not all that bad when asked to punish others looking to do the same.

“His physical stature stands out, especially at such an early age. Right now, I guess it’s projecting whether he’s going to play on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball,” Noonan said. “He’s a physical kid.”

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide receiver/free safety still plays basketball, but the baseball cleats have since been traded in for a pair of track spikes.

His ticket will come via the gridiron. Like Noonan suggested, it’s just a matter of figuring out which side of the ball will be the best route.

Ranked as one of the state’s top football prospects in the class of 2017, Rivals and Scout list Smith as a four-star wide receiver. According to 247, he’s a four-star athlete.

“OrTre has a lot of upside to him,” Noonan said. “The only thing he needs to work on is getting that extra step. If he can, he’ll be recruited from coast to coast, if he’s not already.”

Since January, Florida State, Louisville, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wake Forest have come forward with scholarship offers.

Smith will visit Clemson in June for the first session of the Dabo Swinney Football Camp. With a strong showing at the three-day camp, Smith could potentially add Clemson to offer sheet.

“They haven’t said anything (about offering), they just said they can’t wait to get me up there, just to work with me,” Smith said.

It’s an offer he wouldn’t mind picking up, no matter what side of the ball it may come from.

“I play safety, too, so it wouldn’t really matter,” Smith said, “But I prefer offense.”

Given the success Clemson wide receivers have enjoyed over the last few years, it’s no wonder Smith would like a chance to catch passes for the school where his mom played volleyball. They visited Clemson earlier this month for the spring game.

“The dorm rooms stood out. They were nice,” he said. “I liked the facility, how they handle stuff, the educational parameters — they really key on education. My mother, she really likes that. That stood out a lot. I like how they do things, football-wise.”

Before that jaunt, Smith’s only other trip to Tigertown was last fall for the UNC game.

“I like all the little stores downtown. I got a hat. I got a wallet from there. It was nice,” he said.

With a shade under two years before he signs a National Letter of Intent, Smith has plenty of time to make he has to make a decision. In the meantime, he’ll be considering a couple of factors to help find the right place for him to catch passes or make receivers wish they hadn’t.

“Whatever fits me,” Smith said. “Am I going to be able to contribute to the team? Whatever fits my interest, stuff like that.”