Nick Emmanwori didn’t play for USC in bowl game’s 2nd half. What happened?
South Carolina veteran safety Nick Emmanwori had a team-high five tackles the first half of Tuesday’s Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, but he didn’t play at all in the second half.
Head coach Shane Beamer declined to discuss Emmanwori’s situation or why he didn’t play.
“It’s an internal team matter,” Beamer told reporters. “I’m not going to discuss it.”
After the game, Emmanwori told the Post and Courier’s David Cloninger that he told his coach — which could mean safeties coach Torrian Gray, defensive coordinator Clayton White and/or Beamer — that he was only going to play a half.
In saying that, the junior also clarified that he was foregoing his final season of eligibility and plans to enter the 2025 NFL Draft.
It wasn’t immediately known when Beamer learned of Emmanwori’s decision to just play one half.
Emmanwori is the second college football player in the last week — both playing inside Orlando’s Camping World Stadium — to opt out of the second half of a bowl game. Miami QB Cam Ward broke the NCAA Division I passing touchdown record in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday night before opting out of the second half.
Emmanwori, a junior from Irmo, was seen on the sidelines in the second half, in pads, but didn’t see any action. He was replaced in the lineup by sophomore Peyton Williams.
He was seen throwing a football to himself in the second half and celebrated when teammate Jalon Kilgore intercepted an Illinois pass. He was escorted from the sidelines and to the locker room by a USC staffer sometime in the second half.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 6:57 PM.
