Punt return party! Vicari Swain scores two more touchdowns for Gamecocks

Vicari Swain is getting the hang of this punt return thing.

A week after returning a punt for a touchdown in South Carolina’s win against Virginia Tech, Swain returned two more punt returns for touchdowns in the first half against S.C. State.

“I think guys on the punt team blocked their tails off for me,” Swain said after the game. “We needed kind of a spark. We were kind of down so somebody had to spark the team.”

With the Gamecocks’ offense struggling, Swain gave the fans at Williams-Brice Stadium plenty to cheer about when he returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to put USC up 7-3.

Swain had a little help on his second TD return. David Bucey blocked the punt, which Swain alertly picked up and returned for 42 yards for another score.

In just a game and a half, Swain has tied a school-record for most punt returns for touchdowns in a season, matching the mark of Dick Harris — set in 1971. Oklahoma’s Antonio Perkins holds the NCAA record for three punt returns in one game when he did it against UCLA in 2003.

Before last week, the Gamecocks hadn’t had a punt return for a touchdown since Ace Sanders in 2013.

“He is playing with a lot of confidence,” USC coach Shane Beamer said of Swain. “Joe DeCamillis (special teams coach) challenged the group and said there has only been one team in the history of college football that has returned a punt for a touchdown in three straight games. ... We challenged them to do it again. And they didn’t do it once but they did it twice.”

Washington’s Dante Pettis returned a punt for a touchdown in three straight games back in 2017.

Swain wasn’t even expected to be USC’s main punt returner this season. That was supposed to be Jalon Kilgore’s job. But Kilgore was bothered by a hamstring issue last week, putting Swain in the starting role.

Kilgore wasn’t in uniform for Saturday’s game.

Swain played in only the first half of the game and will try to make it three in a row next week against Vanderbilt.

This story was originally published September 6, 2025 at 10:46 PM.