South Carolina football will kick off in 2021.
Gamecocks handled a series of NFL opt-outs and draft outs throughout the 2020 off-season, but on Wednesday, they received good news for next year.
Senior kicker Parker White has announced that he is returning to Columbia in 2021, returning for a fifth season. Normally, White would be forced to leave the program, as he has been the starting kicker in South Carolina since his first year, but due to COVID, eligibility restrictions for this season and the next have been lifted by the NCAA.
This means that Gamecocks must have one of the strongest special team units in the league, with four-year-old holder White joining with All-SEC punter Kai Kroeger.
White was nominated for the Lou Groza Award before the start of the 2020 season. He hit 11 of his 19 field goal attempts, recording a 48-yard long. The senior was 11 of 15 within 50 yards, but missed all four attempts beyond that mark. He also scored 26 of his 27 extra points.
For his career, White made 56 of 82 field goal attempts and 122 of 124 extra points. He posted two seasons in which he gave more than 80% of the shots and is currently the program’s third top scorer, with 290 career points. That mark puts him just 52 points behind Elliot Fry, who tops the list.
Branco should be an obvious candidate for all the honors of the conference in the next season of 2021. We hope that he once again gains some recognition for the Lou Groza Award, when he ends his career at Gamecock.