Snubbed for national award, South Carolina’s Parker White out to prove doubters wrong
Parker White’s mirror is home to four lines of text.
The first reads “Beat (insert South Carolina opponent here)“ that rotates depending on the week. Second is the number 11 — the amount of points he needs to break USC’s all-time scoring record. Another is to finish his MBA. Finally there’s the quote, “Be better today than I was the day before.”
White is a goal-setter by nature. It’s part of the precise and even-keel nature that comes with being a kicker.
“I joke with him a lot and I’ll be like, ‘Parker we’re you know you’re 48 points away (from the record),’ ” Punter Kai Kroeger said in September. “But he just kind of laughs it off and just tries to go out there and do his job and not focus too much on his personal goals, rather than the team goals and what he needs to do to help us win.”
In Saturday’s 40-17 romp over Florida, White was stoic in his approaches. He drilled four kicks that helped the Gamecocks stretch out their monstrous lead. But seated in the underbelly of Williams-Brice Stadium, he allowed himself a brief moment to be peeved.
Last Thursday at 2 p.m., the Lou Groza Award — which honors college football’s top kicker — released its semifinalists. White knew exactly when the watch list would come out. When he scanned the release, his name wasn’t one of the 20 listed.
“I knew what time it was coming out and I looked at it like ‘Yep, no respect. I figured,’ ” an irritable White said postgame Saturday. “The whole game that was kind of in the back of my mind. Like, I’m going to show them. I think I belong as one of the top guys in the country, and I’m going to prove that every week.”
That White wasn’t included, at least to those around Columbia, borders on malpractice. Head coach Shane Beamer gave an impassioned plea during his Sunday teleconference that it was a “joke” his sixth-year kicker wasn’t honored.
Awards aside, though, White is in the midst of what could be a historic season with just a few more kicks. Through nine games this year, he’s a perfect 20 of 20 on extra points and 13 of 14 on field-goal attempts. His only miss of the season came on a 38-yarder in the third quarter against Vanderbilt. He also holds a 71.88% conversion rate on his 96 career kicks.
Prior to the miss, the admittedly superstitious White said he’d grew out his wiry brown beard until he misfired on an attempt. On Sunday, his beard had been trimmed back, but it has begun to grow back as a streak starts anew.
“He’s automatic. He’s clutch. I don’t know if there’s a better kicker in the country,” Beamer said Sunday. “And it is a complete joke that he is not a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. I mean, it is a travesty. I don’t know who is on the selection committee for the Groza Award. I don’t know who they are. I don’t know what their backgrounds are. But they clearly don’t know much and they don’t watch much college football to not have Parker white as a semifinalist.”
Now in his sixth year in Columbia, White has about as much perspective as anyone on the South Carolina roster. He was in town when USC jumped out to nine wins and went to the Outback Bowl in Will Muschamp’s second season. He was also a part of the USC teams that combined for just six wins over the past two years.
South Carolina’s recent history, like that of an erratic kicker, has ebbed and flowed dramatically. Some of that comes with down years and the irregularities that arise during a year marred by a global pandemic. A coaching change, too, has its challenges.
Regardless of the circumstance, though, White has remained steady. After all, his 36-yard kick at East Carolina gave South Carolina the win at the buzzer. He drilled three kicks against Troy to give USC what ended up a nine-point win. His 54-yarder late in the Kentucky game also pulled the Gamecocks within a score and set a new career-long.
On Saturday, it was White’s quartet of kicks that sank the Gators and sent Dan Mullen and his squad back to Gainesville with a whole host of questions and poised South Carolina for a late-season run. White earned Southeastern Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his efforts.
If Beamer and White have their way, postseason hardware should accompany his work. Meanwhile, that number written on his mirror continues to creep closer and closer to the all-time scoring mark.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 7:40 AM.
