Jason Senn shines on senior night

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

Jason Senn walked into the media room Saturday night after the Gamecocks’ 49-9 beat down of Chattanooga with his phone in his hand.

He set it down on the table to answer questions in a press conference, something even he probably thought wouldn’t happen this year.

As he talked, his phone never stopped vibrating as it blew up with notifications after the walk-on stepped up and played a major role in the Gamecocks’ Senior Night.

“I mean,” Senn said, pausing. “I got a few new followers on Twitter.”

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Senn grew up in South Carolina and spent his Saturdays growing up watching Gamecock football.

After playing high school ball at Beaufort, the 5-foot-8 safety followed in the footsteps of former Beaufort players Devin Taylor and Jimmy Legree and came to Columbia.

Once here, he walked on to the team and spent four seasons on the scout team helping the starters get ready for each week’s game, waiting for his chance to get into the game.

That happened Saturday as the senior—a junior in terms of eligibility—got his chance with the Gamecocks thin in the secondary.

“It was pretty cool. I grew up a huge Carolina fan,” Senn said. “I don’t remember the last time I missed a Carolina game, honestly. That meant so much to me to go out there on senior day and put it out there on the field.”

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South Carolina was already down two safeties for the year in Jamyest Williams and Javon Charleston. J.T. Ibe and Nick Harvey were both out and Steven Montac was nursing shoulder and groin injuries.

So that left RJ Roderick and Jaycee Horn as the lone safties. When Horn left the game on the first drive with an ankle sprain, it was Senn’s chance to shine.

He didn’t play bad, either, picking up three tackles, two off the team lead for the game.

“He said he was a little nervous, I said I was too. But he did fine,” head coach Will Muschamp said, smiling. “He had a great tackle in the open field; it was nice to see a safety tackle.”

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Senn said he first found out he’d see some game time earlier in the week taking reps with the second team in practice with the secondary so thin.

He knew for sure he’d play when, during Friday’s walk-thru, Muschamp turned and asked him, ‘You know you’re going to play tomorrow, right?’

And when Senn did, he made the most of his opportunity.

He had what Muschamp called a “heck of a senior day,” in front of his parents and sister who had no idea he’d see as much time as he did.

“I kind of kept it quiet that I was going to play a lot because I knew they’d be blowing up my phone all week,” Senn said. “I was pretty chill about it.”