Two Gamecocks freshmen came up together. How one boosted the other in a trying time
As running back Rashad Amos looked forward to joining South Carolina’s football team, he had the security in knowing he’d have a very familiar face nearby.
His high school teammate, Joey Hunter, had been committed to the Gamecocks long before Amos, who came into the fold late after dropping a verbal pledge Western Kentucky. Hunter had joined the class way back at the start of July.
And as they became Gamecocks together, Hunter was able to play the role many hometown friends play: someone you know in a place you don’t yet.
“I love it,” Amos said. “I feel like I’ve got someone to kind of lean on, and that might be an advantage for me. I think it’s good thing.”
But through the fall, Hunter was having to lean on the likes of Amos and others.
The hard-hitting and versatile defensive back tore his ACL early in his senior season. That’s a difficult thing for any athlete, to have a chance for one last ride with lifelong friends slip away.
Hunter and Amos have been friends since age 7, and the tailback, with teammates, came to his friend’s side.
“All we could do was just pick him up and make sure he stayed on track,” Amos said. “Maybe not physically at the time that he was hurt, but just mentally just making sure he doesn’t hurt.”
Behind a powerhouse passing game, Amos’ running and a defense led by Alabama signee Brian Branch, the Patriots went 12-2 and fell by a touchdown in the 2019 state semifinals.
Hunter projects to help address the safety spot, a position the Gamecocks have been perpetually short-handed at through the Will Muschamp era. The coach said during a spring radio interview that’s where Hunter will begin his career.
At 6-foot and 197 pounds, he might have some versatility as he has played corner. He showed off good hitting ability as a junior in high school and made 23 tackles that season, with six pass break-ups and one interception.
The Gamecocks return four mostly proven defensive backs in 2020, but are looking for at least a fifth and depth after that. The group competing there includes oft-injured safety Jaylin Dickerson, a pair of up-and-coming corners in Cam Smith and John Dixon, plus a few other freshmen in O’Donnell Fortune and Dominick Hill (who each got a little work at both safety and corner in abbreviated spring).
Hunter is already on campus and likely mostly ready to go. He missed out on a chance to contribute to that final high school team, but now he has a friend beside him as they turn toward a bigger challenge.
“You definitely could tell that he wants to be out there,” Amos said, “out there playing with us. But he knew that he couldn’t just so that he could be recovered by the time he gets to Carolina.”
