Top five recent plays from the Texas A&M series
Gamecock football is looking for its first win against Texas A&M since the Aggies joined the conference. Shane Beamer’s program has a significant opportunity to do so on Saturday.
Despite South Carolina dropping every game in the series so far, there have still been some memorable plays in the last eight seasons for the Gamecocks.
Here is GamecockCentral.com’s look at five of the best plays from the matchup with the Aggies:
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2015: Perry Orth’s 66-yard run
College Station probably did not anticipate an Orthquake hitting in October of 2015.
With the game tied 7-7 in the second quarter, the Gamecock football walk-on passer bounced a designed quarterback run to the outside and found a lot of open space. He was finally chased down by an A&M defensive back, but not before a huge – and honestly unexpected – gain on the ground.
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The long run set up a go-ahead touchdown for the Gamecocks, who eventually fell to the Kyler Murray-led Aggies.
2016: AJ Turner’s 75 yard touchdown run
Talk about starting fast.
On South Carolina’s first play from scrimmage, Turner took a handoff around the left side, followed two pulling offensive linemen, and found daylight. An Aggie defender looked to have an angle to run Turner out of bounds, but Turner shook off the attempt.
He then cut back toward the middle of the field and scored, giving the Gamecocks an early advantage right off the bat.
2017: Shi Smith’s 45 yard touchdown reception
Down early on the road, South Carolina found itself behind the sticks with a third-and-19 in the second quarter.
The Gamecocks blew a protection up front, leaving a free rusher for the Aggies defense.
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Despite Texas A&M dropping all of their defensive backs into a deep zone coverage, Shi Smith still found himself wide open in the middle of the field.
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Quarterback Jake Bentley spun out, broke out of an ankle tackle attempt, then quickly saw Smith open down the field. He lobbed the ball up and found Smith to tie the game at that point.
2018: Chavis Dawkins 33 yard touchdown catch
Down by 8 points, South Carolina dialed up a flea-flicker pass.
Jake Bentley was pressured by the Texas A&M defensive line, but found enough time to lob a ball right around the goal line.
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Waiting on the other end was receiver Chavis Dawkins, who went up over an Aggies receiver and caught the ball for a touchdown. Notably, it was the only career touchdown catch for the Palmetto State native.
The Gamecocks tied the game at that game, but ultimately fell on the final score.
2019: Joseph Charlton 10-yard run
This is a play that Gamecock fans probably love and hate at the same time.
South Carolina was punting the football right at the end of the first half and called Charlton out onto the field.
The Gamecocks let an A&M player run directly up the middle with a free path to block the attempt. Thinking quickly, Charlton tucked the ball and found open space, running it for a first down.
With the way that game went, Charlton was actually South Carolina’s leading rusher in the game for a time.
