This season gave one Gamecock a second chance at a second chance. He had no regrets
J.T. Ibe got a second chance at a second chance.
That’s not so common. You miss a second chance, and it’s likely gone forever. The former Rice football player came to South Carolina to cap a career. Instead, he had his biggest setback.
There were a lot of things that didn’t go right for the 2019 Gamecocks. The 4-8 record was the end — along the way was the inauspicious loss to UNC, getting smothered by Missouri, beating Georgia but then losing four of five to end the year.
Ibe, in his own personal journey, found some good.
“In life, you don’t want to have any regrets,” Ibe said. “That’s one of the things I went into the season with, saying I have no regrets at all, finishing the season, playing through every injury I had, with me not having any regrets and being able to finish strong.”
Ibe came to Columbia as a grad transfer. He was supposed to shore up an uncertain secondary from the safety position.
The player who started 27 games in Texas managed 144 snaps in four games at USC before a knee injury ended his 2018 season.
But that meant the chance to redshirt, come back and get another shot.
“The first time I came here, it was a complete football decision,” Ibe said. “I was coming off a hip injury, so I didn’t feel like I was truly myself. And now I get this sixth year, it’s just like a blessing in disguise, to at least go out of my college football (career) with a positive memory with not being injured and being able to finish a full season. And on top of that, I get to finish my master’s [degree].”
His last season was far from perfect. Opposing teams picked on him at times in the passing game, especially Clemson and Tennessee. But he finished with 61 tackles and broke up three passes.
He ended up a vital cog as injuries and a transfer left USC playing basically only five defensive backs the final two-thirds of the season.
In the coming months, Ibe will take his shot at the NFL, as almost every Gamecock does. He’ll have that graduate degree in sports and entertainment management. So after one more chance at a cap to college, he’ll look for another opportunity, perhaps on the field, perhaps off it.
“I’ve been making connections,” Ibe said. “I think I’m a sales guy, and it just what kind of sales do I want to go into, whether that’s software sales or medical sales.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 8:17 AM.
