SEC to honor South Carolina pass rushing legend

John Abraham was a star during some rough days for the South Carolina program. The Timmonsville product got after quarterbacks for teams that struggled, across the end of the Brad Scott era and start of Lou Holtz’s time.

That was before he went on to collect more career sacks in the NFL than all but 11 players.

Abraham will be honored as part of the SEC’s 2017 SEC Football Legends class. The group, with one representative from each SEC school, will be honored at the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta in December.

According to the release, Abraham, who played at USC from 1996-99, “Was a high school track star who played just one season of prep football, but was nonetheless recruited to play for head coach Brad Scott at South Carolina. The outside linebacker led the Gamecocks in quarterback sacks each of his four seasons, amassing 23.5 sacks in his career, the fourth-highest total in school history.

“Abraham earned All-Southeastern Conference honors his senior season and went on to become a first-round pick by the New York Jets in 2000, the 13th selection overall. He logged 15 seasons in the NFL with the Jets, Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals, earning five trips to the Pro Bowl. The four-time All-Pro selection is the Falcons’ all-time career leader in quarterback sacks.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 3:35 PM.