Thank you Alshon Jeffery for the memories you provided in garnet and black for the University of South Carolina.
The decision to forgo your senior season as a member of the Gamecocks football team is understandable. In front of you is a chance to make some money playing the sport you love and, not to say you accomplished all you could, but you came extremely close to doing so as a member of the Gamecocks.
Even Lane Kiffin, who said you would end up pumping gas if you came to South Carolina, has to be proud of your accomplishments.
You helped the Gamecocks win 27 games in a three-year span. That was rarely seen at USC, but you helped usher in a new mindset with this football program under the leadership of Steve Spurrier.
You leave South Carolina as the school’s all-time leader in receiving with 3,042 yards, the second-highest total in SEC history and one of just three players in conference history with over 3,000 career receiving yards. In your three-year career, you had 183 receptions, a record-tying 23 touchdowns and a school-record 12 100-yard receiving games.
In nearly every game the last three years, it seemed like you managed to make special plays. Who could forget the clinic you put on your freshman year against Kentucky as you hauled in seven passes for 138 yards and three touchdowns, including a spectacular one-handed grab? That was the game when you made it known to the college football world that you possessed elite talent.
Then in 2010, your sophomore season, you logged a seven-catch, 127-yard performance against Alabama, including a highlight-reel one-handed grab on the sideline with a defender grabbing your jersey. Those efforts helped defeat the mighty Crimson Tide en route to a SEC East Crown for the South Carolina football program.
Then this past season, your last as a member of the Gamecocks football team, you dazzled once again and seemed to save the best for last. Your catch in the 2012 Capital One Bowl is what young men will tell their grandchildren about some day.
South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw threw a Hail-Mary pass in the closing seconds of the first half and you just went up with ease, caught the football in traffic, turned and stretched that 6’4″ frame over the goal line.
That catch was spectacular and helped to swing the momentum to the Gamecocks in the bowl game and aided them to accomplish an 11-win season for the first time in school history.
You will go down as the best wide receiver in South Carolina football history. You will be missed, but you provided enough memories to not be forgotten. You will always be a Gamecock.
Now go make a name for yourself in the NFL.
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