Bryan Edwards’ time at South Carolina is done, but it was ‘an unbelievable career’
As it turned out, Bryan Edwards’ final play in a South Carolina uniform wound up being his desperate dive into the Williams-Brice Stadium hedges on the last play of the Appalachian State game, coming oh-so-close to his 23rd career touchdown and salvaging a win.
A knee injury kept Edwards out against Texas A&M and, despite some optimistic talk from coach Will Muschamp in the week prior, again vs. Clemson.
Still, the Conway High product ended his USC career as the program leader in receptions (234) and receiving yards (3,045) and second in touchdowns (22). In his final campaign, he totaled 71 catches for 816 yards and six touchdowns, all team highs, despite missing those last two games. And the Gamecocks found a way to acknowledge his impact even though he wasn’t available to play Saturday.
In a pregame video played on the big screen, the family of the late Kenny McKinley and Gamecock greats including Alshon Jeffery, Bruce Ellington, Sidney Rice, Pharoh Cooper, Deebo Samuel and Sterling Sharpe all delivered messages celebrating Edwards’ stellar career.
Muschamp afterward admitted Edwards’ health was never quite as good as he let on during the week, and the coach was full of praise for his senior stalwart, who appeared in 48 career games for the Garnet and Black.
“He’s had an unbelievable career here. I can’t say enough about his contributions to South Carolina, and he told me before the game how much it meant to be a Gamecock and how much he enjoyed his time here,” Muschamp said. “Frustrated obviously with this season but, you know, in the recruiting process, exactly what I told Bryan was going to happen: You’re gonna walk out of here with every record at the University of South Carolina. I saw that, I envisioned that, and that’s what happened. So, really proud of him.”
Without him, the Gamecock offense struggled mightily once again. Over the two games he missed, South Carolina didn’t score a touchdown, and the passing game generated just 320 yards of offense. Against Clemson, freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski had two chunk plays go for 21 and 30 yards to junior Shi Smith and senior Kyle Markway, respectively. Outside of that, however, he had just 50 yards on 14 completions.
“Bryan is a big help out there. And without him (and) some of the plays that he makes, that he brings to the offense, we miss him,” Smith said. “There’s definitely a decline when he’s not on the field.”
Now, Edwards will try to join the long list of former Gamecock receivers to make an impact in the NFL — Samuel, Cooper and Jeffery are all currently on teams. An October mock draft from CBS Sports had him as a first-round pick, though he has not been included in more recent draft boards from ESPN and CBS.
Still, Muschamp said he believes Edwards will generate buzz as he gets closer to the draft. He has already been invited to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl on Jan. 25 and will likely be headed to the NFL Combine in April 2020.
“Guy’s got an unbelievable personality, is extremely bright,” Muschamp said of Edwards. “He’s got a great people skill. People gravitate to him, they want to be around him, they want to be a part of what he’s doing. He’s got a tremendous work ethic. ... I just think he has so much going forward, outside of being a good football player, which, he’s a really good player.
“And I think people are going to start to see, as he moves through this evaluation process and the Senior Bowl, the combine, the different things he’s about to go through, the more and more you’re around him, the more and more you want me to be a part of your organization.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 10:33 AM.
