Southern Miss receiver transfers to West Georgia

The Southern Miss football team will be without one of its top junior college signees for the 2016 campaign.

Receiver Shannon Smith, who started his career at Middle Tennessee, is transferring to Div. II West Georgia.

“I wasn't nothing to do with football or the school,” Smith said of his decision to leave USM. “I just had to make a grown man decision to be closer to my daughter and support her.”

Smith is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound native of Macon, Ga., and he was expected to make an immediate impact for the Golden Eagles. He took part in spring practice with USM and showed signs of promise for the 2016 season.

Smith signed with USM in December after catching 39 passes for 559 yards and four touchdowns at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in 2015.

Southern Miss returns three outside receivers with significant experience – redshirt sophomore Kore Robertson, redshirt junior Marquise Ricard and redshirt senior D.J. Thompson.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Southern Miss receiver transfers to West Georgia."