USC’s Heard looking to make bigger impact this season

Former walk-on Carlton Heard has already proven to be a valuable member of the South Carolina special teams unit. This season, he is hoping to make his mark as a wide receiver for the Gamecocks.

Heard, who transferred to USC after two years at Gardner Webb, has impressed USC coach Steve Spurrier in practice and the Head Ball Coach has penciled Heard in as a starter for the opener against North Carolina on Sept. 3.

While Heard is glad that Spurrier considers him to be a starter at this point, he knows he has to continue to work to lock up the spot.

“It means a lot that he said that,” Heard said. “It means a lot of my hard work’s paying off, but not everything is certain, so I’ve got to keep on working hard so I can keep being at the top.”

Heard has had a long journey to competing for a starting spot in the SEC since playing high school football at Clarke Central in Georgia. He was a walk-on at Gardner Webb entering his freshman season, but earned a scholarship with his performance in practices.

As a redshirt freshman with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, Heard caught 31 passes for 422 yards and a touchdown. He then transferred to USC, joining the Gamecocks as a walk-on in the spring of 2013.

After sitting out a year, Heard earned a scholarship prior to last season and came up big for the Gamecocks on special teams. His most memorable play of the year came during USC’s come-from-behind win over Florida in The Swamp. With USC trailing 17-10, Heard blocked a punt in the final minute of the game that set up the game-tying touchdown. The Gamecocks went on to win in overtime.

Heard said the mental aspect of the game has helped him to rise from a walk-on at Gardner Webb to a potential starting receiver at USC.

“I try to be really disciplined, try to do what I’m told,” he said. “I try to keep learning because once you think that you know everything, that’s when you really start getting worse, so I always try to learn something new and get better.”

Heard’s father also played a big role in making him the player that he is today.

“My dad, he kind of gave me the confidence that I could play,” he said. “I listen to him every day telling me to go out there and give it my best and all of that. I took that and I just try to work hard every day, try to be perfect every day.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 7:43 PM.