Dennis Smith Jr. has knee surgery; extent of injury still unknown

Elite 2016 recruit Dennis Smith Jr. injured a knee during the semifinals of the Adidas Nations event last weekend. On Friday, he had surgery on the knee, per the Fayetteville Observer, but there are still no details regarding the severity of the injury. Surgery does not equate to "oh my god he tore a major ligament!" but in any case it's not the most encouraging news.

NC State has made Smith a recruiting priority for 2016, and that should not change regardless of Smith's prognosis. Mark Gottfried and company have been treating Smith as the heir apparent to Cat Barber, and there is no reason to believe that's changed. Smith's talent is far too rare, and he has plenty of recovery time, should he need it.

But that's the cynical way of looking at all of this. I really hope this is a relative false alarm, because knee injuries don't really stack exponentially, they accumulate until there is an abrupt halt. High school is no time to start that shit. It's far too early to start that shit.