South Carolina football team manager Taylor Edwards has been to Columbia twice in his life. The most recent was his move to the capital to work as a first-year head coach Shane Beamer, but his first trip to Columbia was in 2010, to watch a football game that Gamecocks fans will remember forever.
As Edwards, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, immerses himself in South Carolina football culture and tradition, in the back pocket he has undoubtedly experienced the program’s best win in his field. Edwards was one of 85,000 people in the stands to watch South Carolina beat current and No. 1 Alabama national champion on a Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“I was in Columbia once in my life, in 2010, when Stephen Garcia and the boys screamed at Alabama Crimson Tide’s number one, ”Edwards said in an exclusive interview with TheBigSpur.com. “It was the first and last time that I was here. I was in the game as an Alabama fan, sitting on the upper deck.
“It was probably the most humid experience of my life. I think it was about 10,000 degrees for Alabama fans and a nice 72 degree day for all South Carolina fans. I remember thinking, ‘Man, this is a very special place.’ It is a very proud group of fans who love Gamecocks. “
While Edwards helped the Gamecocks to end the 2021 autograph class and the work to get recruits for the 2022 class and beyond, he is reminded every day of the passion he felt at Columbia over a decade ago, when his new boss was at Carolina lateral as a technical assistant.
“The number one thing I knew before and continue to learn is how passionate the fan base is,” said Edwards. “We played a video about these Williams-Brice virtual tours and the game day experience. I can watch this video a thousand times in one day and every thousand times it will give me the creeps. It’s incredible. “
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Edwards is leading the staff of Carolina players and recruiting efforts after spending the past two seasons as director of recruiting operations in Maryland, where he helped coach Mike Locksley and his team sign signing classes 31 and 19 in 2020 and 2021, according to the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Prior to his time at College Park, Edwards was the recruiting director in Arkansas in 2018, where he helped coach Chad Morris in the first year to sign the 23rd autograph class after the Razorbacks had a 2-10 season.
Assuming a similar situation in Columbia in 2021, Edwards hopes that his work with the Gamecocks will one day pay off as his last trip to Williams-Brice Stadium.
It’s good to be home! #SpursUp ???? https://t.co/k6EvE20UpE
– Taylor Edwards (@TaylorLEdwards) February 2, 2021
Clowney / Deebo / Jeffery – WHO’S NEXT?#SpursUp ???? pic.twitter.com/2riHZIE8Im
– Taylor Edwards (@TaylorLEdwards) February 3, 2021
“I get to work and see Williams-Brice in the foreground and it’s almost surreal every day,” said Edwards. “It is a special place with special people and I truly believe that we can succeed here.
“As cliché as it sounds, you want it for the fans as much as you want for anyone else. I’ve been watching SEC football for a long time and I know they’ve been up and down. You want to put them on top because you know how much people care and how much it means to them ”.