Going into final season, Bryan Edwards sets sights on lofty goal
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
If Bryan Edwards has his way, the South Carolina receiver will soon accomplish something that no player in school history ever has.
If the Gamecocks senior can catch 45 passes for 814 yards and eight touchdowns this season, he'll own the school record in all three categories, effectively rewriting the record book and adding his name to the garnet turnstiles at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The names of the players he will replace -- Kenny McKinley, Alshon Jeffery and Sidney Rice -- read like a who's who of South Carolina receivers since the turn of the century.
Edwards would pass the late, great McKinley, one of the most consistent pass-catchers in school history and an all-time favorite of Steve Spurrier, in receptions after he caught 207 passes during a four-year career. He'd edge out Jeffery, the All-American who spurned the other USC on signing day and went on to terrorize SEC defenses from 2010-12, and his 3,042 yards receiving. And he'd pass both Rice, who had one of the best two-year careers in school history, and Jeffery, who both caught 23 career touchdown passes.
But Edwards doesn't shy away from the shadow of those greats, fully admitting that he'd love to have the records and embracing a goal that head coach Will Muschamp has mentioned multiple times this offseason.
"Bryan probably should leave every receiving record there is at the University of South Carolina after his senior season," Muschamp said at last week's SEC Media Days. "You think about some of the elite players that have played the receiver position at South Carolina, that's pretty high company."
Edwards, who has caught a pass in all 38 games he's appeared in, enters his final campaign ranked fifth in receptions (163), sixth in receiving yards (2,229) and tied for ninth in receiving touchdowns (16). With a big year, he'll be first in all three.
Edwards enters the 2019 season as South Carolina's clear go-to wide receiver after sharing that spotlight with NFL Draft pick Deebo Samuel last year. Edwards has experience as the top receiver in the offense -- he stepped in and stepped up in 2017 when Samuel missed most of the season with a broken leg -- and hopes to lead the receiving corps this year alongside returning starter Shi Smith.
"The next step for my game, I think, is just being a very consistent player," Edwards said last week. "Being that No. 1 guy and just separating myself from the pack."
When the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Edwards talks about consistency, he's likely specifically talking about the drops that he, and really the entire group, experienced last season.
As the team's second-leading receiver, Edwards had several spectacular plays last season -- a 75-yard one-handed catch-and-run at Ole Miss sticks out -- as he collected 55 receptions for 846 yards and seven touchdowns. But seven drops dampened an otherwise strong junior season after Edwards dropped just three balls as a sophomore.
"Every player can improve and get better and obviously there's some things we talked with Bryan, in terms of getting stronger and being more consistent catching the football, obviously the deep ball especially," Muschamp said. "But he has worked extremely hard this summer and really attacked the offseason."
Edwards has always been considered one of the team's hardest workers and a model student-athlete, but he appears to have taken it to a different level in his final offseason in Columbia, turning the negative of the drops into a positive.
"It just motivates us to make sure that we're going what we need to do to be the best we can be, come that first game," Edwards said. "Those dropped passes always make you work harder and make you reevaluate what you do and just focus. That's it."
Said Muschamp: "I've seen a lot of guys that make the decision to come back and then kind of cruise through the summer and cruise through the offseason -- that's not the right mentality and that's not what Bryan has done. Bryan's in really good shape. He told me he's in the best shape he's felt like he's been at South Carolina going into this year. I expect for him to have a great year."
Muschamp isn't the only person in garnet who is expecting a big, possibly record-breaking campaign from No. 89. The guy who will be slinging passes his way this season, and has been on the other end of most of Edwards' grabs throughout his career, has high praise for the pass-catcher.
"I think Bryan's the most underrated receiver in the nation," senior quarterback Jake Bentley said. "He's just a workhorse, one. You never see him not working on some part of his game. He's at the facility at all times. I've really been proud of Bryan the way he's poured himself into the young receivers. I really think that's something he's really learned to do, is to really give back to them, because he knows we're only going to be as good as the rest of the guys too. ... I think he's doing whatever he can do help them along the way as well."
Edwards, who was somewhat famously one of the first two recruits Muschamp went to visit after being announced as head coach, will kick off his final season in 39 days.
He's never been shy about wanting to break records at South Carolina and wanting to be mentioned among the best in school history. He's now got that chance.
"I'm just as motivated as I've ever been," Edwards said. "I'm confident in what I can do and my abilities. I'm excited, more than anything, just to see where I land and what the future holds. I'm just so excited and ready to get this season rolling."
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