USC tailback Lovasea Carroll had to give up football, but he’s still helping the team
Lovasea Carroll was back on the practice field with his South Carolina football teammates on Tuesday, this time in a different capacity.
Dressed in black USC hoodie, Carroll was interacting with his teammates and helping out during running back drills. Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer didn’t say what Carroll’s exact role was but that he would always have a place with the team.
Earlier this month, Carroll announced that he was retiring from football because of medical reasons after stops at Georgia and South Carolina. Beamer said he and trainer Clint Haggard sat down with Carroll and called the conversation about the running back’s future “a tough one.”
“Hate it for him. It is not an easy conversation to have,” Beamer said Tuesday after the team’s first spring practice for 2023. “Doctors came to the determination it would be best for him not to continue to play. Any competitor or any athlete hates to get told that it is ending and not on their terms.”
Beamer said that Carroll has handled the news as well as expected and that he, the players and coaching staff will continue to be there with support.
“Just because he isn’t playing on Saturdays doesn’t mean that his role on the team is any different. He is a very valuable member of the football team. He has handled it great,” Beamer said. “It would be very easy for a lot of guys to disappear and go into a shell. I don’t think he has missed a single workout or activity since he found out he wasn’t going to be able to continue to play. I want him involved in everything he can be.”
The Georgia native was rated a four-star recruit and the No. 116 player in the 2020 class, according to 247Sports Composite. Carroll came to South Carolina before the 2022 season to play running back after working as a defensive back at Georgia his freshman year.
Carroll originally committed to USC but ended up signing with the Bulldogs.
He appeared in five games last season for USC but didn’t get a carry. The 2023 season was projected the be Carroll’s redshirt junior year.
Carroll in a March 3 social media post said: “I used to believe that losing a game, or having to miss a few weeks of practice, was the biggest setback I would experience. The pain of losing a game will never compare to that of having to walk away from football. While it pains me to have to come to terms with my recent medical diagnosis, I am going to have to say goodbye to the game that has been by my side for as long as I can remember.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2023 at 1:32 PM.
