South Carolina’s Deebo Samuel earns All-American honor

South Carolina wide receiver Deebo Samuel earned a slew of honors in his decorated Gamecocks football career.

He added one more Monday: All-American.

The Chapman High School product was named a second-team All-America kick returner by the Football Writers Association of America.

This year he returned 23 kickoffs for a 24.8-yard average, with a 90-yard touchdown against Ole Miss. Samuel finished as the school’s all-time leader in kick return average at 29.0 yards per return, while setting the school record and tying the SEC record with four career kick returns touchdowns.

Samuel will skip South Carolina’s trip to the Belk Bowl to focus on the NFL draft.

Another Gamecock earned a smaller honor as right tackle Dylan Wonnum was named a 247 Sports Freshman All-American. He started the final six games of the regular season after supplanting Blake Camper.

The last Gamecocks All-American was offensive lineman A.J. Cann, who took home a range of honors in 2014. South Carolina’s last returner honored was Ace Sanders in 2012.

USC will play in Charlotte on Dec. 29 at noon, facing off with the Virginia Cavaliers.

This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 8:14 PM.