‘Spurs Up in here!’ Gamecocks sign two from same high school in Georgia
Tony Amos come roaring into the Sandy Creek High School auditorium Wednesday morning.
“Spurs Up in here!” he boomed before dapping up a couple similarly dressed friends.
Garnet and black were the colors of choice for the families for Rashad Amos and Joey Hunter. Sandy Creek was hosting a Signing Day ceremony for its eight college-bound football players, but only two of them were headed to the same place.
“I’m real excited to go with my brother to South Carolina,” Rashad Amos said.
“It’s going to be great, man,” Hunter said.
Amos, a three-star running back, and Hunter, a three-star cornerback, aren’t blood brothers. They’re just childhood friends who have known each other since they were 7. The story behind their careers continuing with one another starts with Hunter’s July commitment.
“I was talking to T-Rob one night,” Hunter said of a conversation with USC defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson. “I was like, ‘Coach, I got this guy, I want you to see him.’ And I told him to check Rashad’s film out and he was like, ‘Man, all right, I’m going to take this straight to (Will) Muschamp and we’re going to show him.’
“And then we came up there that following weekend and they offered him.”
Amos pledged to Carolina last month, toward the end of a stellar senior season that included over 1,300 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns.
The USC selection — over Tennessee and N.C. State, among others — was a thrill for his family, particularly those from Sumter. Tony Amos, Rashad’s father, had on Wednesday the “official visitor” credential he received from a recent trip to Columbia with his son.
“I’m ecstatic,” Tony Amos said. “Overwhelmed.”
Tony grew up a Gamecocks fan, but didn’t go to his first game at Williams-Brice Stadium until this past fall with Rashad.
“I had no influence on the decision,” Tony said, “but of course when he made the decision, I was ecstatic. I’m at a loss of words to even talk about it. ... Total excitement, all smiles.”
Hunter’s USC roots don’t go as deep — he grew up a Florida fan — but he’s admired Will Muschamp for a while. Former Gator DBs Vernon Hargreaves and Jalen Tabor, Muschamp recruits while head coach at UF, are his two favorite football players.
“Those are the two best coaches in the country in terms of what I look forward to doing,” Hunter said of Muschamp and Robinson. “And on a personal level, they’re just good guys. It’s good to have great energy around us.”
Hunter and Amos go back to Little League together. Their next move is to the SEC.
“They’re pretty tight,” said Sandy Creek coach Brett Garvin. “When you go into that new situation and there’s a familiar face there, it’s good to have someone you can confine in, somebody that knows where you’re from, knows what your family is about. I think that’s a big plus.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 12:28 PM with the headline "‘Spurs Up in here!’ Gamecocks sign two from same high school in Georgia."
