South Carolina Football surprises kicker with scholarship at spring game

South Carolina football took care of one of their own, announcing a scholarship for kicker Parker White at their 2019 spring game.

There will always be a myriad of storylines surrounding spring football across the country. Quarterback battles are heating up. Early enrollees are making their case to be in the starting lineups. Players who suffered injuries in the fall are working their way back into the fold.

With so much going on, it can be easy to lose sight of the actual individuals at the center of attention. At their core, college football teams are nothing but a collection of student athletes with varying backgrounds. The difference between being a walk on and a scholarship player doesn’t mean much to the average fan, but it means a lot to the players in question.

Parker White is one of those players. A two-year starter for South Carolina, White was originally a walk on who earned a job as one of the Gamecocks’ specialists. His scholarship status changed on Saturday after he connected on a field goal in the spring game in front of his teammates and fans at Williams-Brice Stadium. When the kick sailed through, he turned to the jumbotron and saw this:

Since winning the job as a freshman in 2017, White has connected on 27 of 41 field goals with a career long of 27 yards in 2017. He made significant strides last year, improving his accuracy from 56 percent as a freshman to 81.3 percent as a sophomore. He has converted 71 of 72 extra points in his career.

When White takes the field in the Gamecocks’ season opener against North Carolina he’ll be a scholarship player. Only a fraction of athletes in the country ever achieve that feat. That’ll make his next kick feel just a bit sweeter.