His playing days are over. Now Gamecock great Ace Sanders is giving back to the game
Editor’s note: This story is part of The State’s series “SC Sports: Where are the stars now?“
Ace Sanders holds onto a football on a chilly January evening in Bradenton, Florida. A multi-sport star at Manatee High, it was football that gave Sanders his most success.
Now he’s providing a place for young football players to train, learn and work on their games under a program called Friday Night Lights.
It’s held at the 13th Avenue Dream Center in east Manatee County, and it’s where Sanders himself played youth football.
“I’m up here trying to do a lot of stuff with the programs,” Sanders said. “Getting more activities brought to the programs ... just trying to get it back on track to what it used to be like when I was growing up. We didn’t really have too many kids coming out and doing stuff, getting active. You know, (it’s an) electronic world now, so trying to get back to what it took for us to get to the level to what we were at.”
The level that Sanders reached took him to the University of South Carolina and the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Sanders was a dangerous and speedy returner for the Gamecocks, and his three special teams touchdowns came in key games. His first in 2011 helped South Carolina rally from down 17 points against ECU. His second came in the midst of a dominant win against Georgia in 2012. His last put USC ahead in the fourth quarter of a wild bowl game against Michigan.
He had 99 catches for 1,230 yards in three seasons, and he led the Gamecocks with nine receiving touchdowns in 2012. His play as a returner earned him co-SEC Special Teams Player of the Year honors in 2012.
Sanders’ two-year NFL career with the Jags concluded in 2014, which was the same year he launched a T-shirt clothing brand business, De’Kulture Clothing, along with a friend. Sanders said he’s always had an interest in fashion, but he built the new venture once he got to the NFL.
While he’s still doing that, a priority is focusing on the youth in his native 941, the area code for Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.
Beyond what he’s up to now, Sanders took time to discuss his playing career and other facets of his life.
What was the transition away from the NFL like?
“At first it was a little rocky, I would say, but not in the sense of where I was going through a lot of trauma. ... I was just moving really, really fast trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. That’s something my dad always told me, ‘You need to figure out what you want to do then.’ That took a lot of bouncing around, moving, moving, moving instead of just sitting down and really let it come to be. So it ended up having me run into a lot of roadblocks, roadblocks, roadblocks. So I had to really figure stuff out. That was pretty much the hardest transition, but once I figured it out and got settled into whatever I was doing, I was able to breathe again.”
Who do you still stay in touch with from your Gamecock playing days?
“Marcus (Lattimore), Nick Jones, Sharrod Golightly, Victor Hampton, A.J. Cann, Dylan Thompson, Connor Shaw. Pretty much my whole class, and guys outside of my class. D.J. Swearinger, I talk to him all the time. Akeem Auguste, Melvin Ingram and who else? Well, of course Bruce (Ellington) is with me. Bruce is my class as well. ... Social media, Facebook, all that, they do a good job of (keeping in touch).”
What are your aspirations?
“I try to maximize everything that I do. Whether it be with the printing or here (at the 13th Avenue Dream Center), this is where I played youth league football at. This is where I grew up and this is where I played at. My coach is actually over the whole thing. I just went to him with the idea and told him, ‘This field, this place, everything we’ve got, it doesn’t get used.’ ... But the more and more we come out and I can bring Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and all the other athletes out, and the more and more I do that, it will fill back up and that will be good to see.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
