He’s gained a following for jumping around. Meet South Carolina’s ‘Third Down Guy’

Before he gave them a full highlight reel, Hampton McIver’s grandparents collected snippets of their grandson’s fame.

On Thanksgiving, two days prior to ESPN and Twitter combining to give him a new nickname, McIver was home in Jackson, South Carolina. He was then just a sophomore student equipment manager for the USC football team happy to have a few free moments on a holiday.

McIver’s family is deeply rooted in Gamecock fandom. Growing up, McIver watched every game on television with his father until they scored season tickets in 2013. Carolina is important to them, so when one of their own could be seen every Saturday on the Gamecocks’ sideline, they wanted it documented.

After turkey, McIver discovered his grandparents’ findings.

“They had all the games recorded on their DVR,” McIver said. “They knew exactly what time of the game that I was shown. They had it all set up to where they could start it and just rewind a little bit to see me. You could barely see the back of my head in some. It’s me in the corner of the picture in others.”

McIver has many roles on the USC equipment staff. During the week, he helps set up for practice, tweaking things specifically to the needs of special teams coordinator/linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler. On gamedays, he helps the Carolina specialists warm up, runs to grab the tee after each kickoff, hangs around the bench in case a player needs to swap out cleats and goes crazy every time the Gamecock defense is facing third down.

The latter of these duties became its own spectacle during last week’s Clemson game.

ESPN’s broadcast crew of Steve Levy and Brian Griese referenced McIver on several occasions as the civil engineering major was seen bouncing up and down while USC tried to get Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers offense off the field.

“Third Down Guy” is the title Griese gave him. You can now find #thirddownguy as part of McIver’s Twitter bio.

“It’s been surreal, honestly,” McIver said, “because I never thought that the third down sign would give me that.”

McIver said he’s gained up to 700 Twitter followers and 300 Instagram followers since Saturday. He didn’t realize he had become a viral sensation until after the game. He was in the Memorial Stadium press box, packing up the coaches’ headsets, when he turned on his phone.

“It was vibrating like crazy,” he said. “I had hundreds of notifications. I was like, ‘What happened?’ ”

As noted by his grandparents, McIver had been on TV before. He’s been USC’s designated Third Down Guy, a role head coach Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson created last season to further emphasize making a stop, since Carolina’s win at Vanderbilt on Sept. 22. But this was a different kind of exposure.

“The Florida game,” McIver said, “I got maybe five seconds of air time and I got like four or five text messages from my mom and grandparents and some friends that said they saw me.

“I said, this is more than just a quick little picture of me. I went up to the press box and I was just kind of looking down on the field. I took a seat and I was basically trying to digest it all. The first thing I went to was my mom’s texts and she was saying how they were spending so much time talking about me and she basically gave me an outline of the night through her texts.”

McIver has been on the USC equipment staff since winter workouts. A former cross-country runner at South Aiken Baptist Christian School, McIver said his calves are still in good form after a nine-game stint as Third Down Guy.

The Gamecocks, entering Saturday’s regular season finale with Akron, are ninth in the SEC in third down defense.

McIver takes great pride in seeing the opposing punter take the field.

“I’m pumped because one, I know I’m not going to have to jump again for a little while,” he said, “but two, I’m excited to get the offense back out there and have some things happen.”

After Akron, USC will be back on national television for its bowl game. Beyond Jake Bentley and Deebo Samuel, perhaps it’s Hampton McIver who will get the most air time.

Granddaddy, as McIver calls him, will be happy to set the DVR.

“That’s honestly the thing that’s meant more to me than all of the Twitter followers and stuff,” McIver said. “I didn’t get to spend a lot of time at home for Thanksgiving this year and we’re a really close-knit family. Most of my family lives in about a five-minute radius.

“So for me not being able to be home the whole break, I’m happy that they kind of got something to brag about to their friends and everyone around the neighborhood.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2018 at 1:24 PM.