Gamecocks players on Clemson rivalry: ‘We don’t like each other’
In college football rivalries, the vitriol between players rarely rivals the venom between fans.
They’re all out there to do the same thing. They often know each other. That anger isn’t so built up.
But the South Carolina Gamecocks still have a few strong feelings about their rival Clemson Tigers.
“We play each other and we don’t like each other,” defensive end Daniel Fennell said with half a grin. “If you’re coming from out of state, you quickly find out that yeah, it’s a big deal.”
He was initiated in 2015, a year after the Gamecocks saw a five-game winning streak come to an end. USC hasn’t won since 2013, falling to three different quarterbacks with three different head coaches.
He even has a little bit of a tie to the folks in orange and purple. His high school coach, Mickey Conn, is a defensive assistant at Clemson.
Other Gamecocks were more steeped in the rivalry, coming up in the state and seeing it on both sides.
Offensive lineman Donell Stanley was a redshirt when Deshaun Watson snapped the streak under Spurrier. The sixth-year player joked he might have aged out of seeing many familiar faces this weekend.
“I don’t think I know too many on their team,” Stanley said. “I’m pretty much older than everyone, so the guys I grew up with, they all moved on.”
There’s a chance an upset of the 26-point favorites could prevent the Tigers from reaching the College Football Playoff, or at least make them sweat it out.
Ruining those hopes isn’t the point, but it’s not 100% out of mind.
“Ruining it would be great,” linebacker Ernest Jones said. “But they’re spot don’t mean, doesn’t affect me. I’m trying to knock them out of that spot. That’s the goal. That’s what we’re coming here to do.”
Jones is a south Georgia guy who came into all this relatively late. T.J. Brunson came up close, growing up in Columbia. He reminisced about his favorite moment, really a Gamecocks player who showed no fear, messing with Tigers and dropping big hits during South Carolina’s heyday against that Upstate squad.
“D.J. Swearinger,” Brunson said. “That’s probably, as a fan that’s the biggest thing that I can remember from the rivalry. Growing up, winning five in a row. Those are the things that always stick with me, and then just coming in here, it hasn’t been the same but, you know, hopefully we’ll get that ball rolling.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 12:27 PM.
