The Gamecock fan who stormed the field alone after def. Tennessee in 2016
It’s become a yearly tradition for me to keep now South Carolina alum Will Mackey’s name alive each year when the Gamecocks play Tennessee.
If you’re asking yourself, “who the hell is Will Mackey,” I gotcha covered.
Subscribe to Gamecock Central until the 2023 football season for only $10!
In 2016, South Carolina pulled off the upset of No.18 Tennessee at Williams-Brice Stadium. The only problem? USC freshman student Will Mackey stormed the field, expecting other fans from the student section to follow him.
But once he got to mid-field, he pulled out his phone to record what he believed would be a massive crowd of fans following behind him to find out he was the only one out there.
“In the words of the University of South Carolina, it wasn’t as much of a storming the field. It was one person trespassing,” Mackey said in a 2021 interview with Gamecock Central. “People were saying, ‘Yeah, let’s storm the field at the end. The kick went up and I thought everyone was gonna rush the field so I hopped over and thought I was leading the charge. I pulled out my phone to record everyone behind me and that’s when I realized that maybe it was just me out there.”
And it was. The Cincinnati native says he was unaware of the SEC policy of storming the field. As a result, he was informed that he won’t be allowed to request student tickets for the remainder of the season.
“It was a pretty isolated feeling. I remember a blur of these black jerseys flying by as I’m in an all out sprint. All of a sudden the only thing I can see crystal clear is (Perry) Orth. I said, ‘that’s my boy Perry. That’s my boy Perry.'”
Win a MarShawn Lloyd-autographed Gamecocks football
While Mackey knew who Orth was, Orth didn’t know Mackey, at the time, from a bucket of paint.
“We win the ballgame and people are losing it,” recalled Orth. “I’m running down and just taking in the moment and I hear the feet of somebody running behind (me) and boom. I turn and I saw a guy with a camera (phone) going, ‘Perry! Let’s go!’ I turned around and was like, ‘yeah, man!'”
But going up to Orth and celebrating with the captain wasn’t what blew Mackey’s cover.
“The way I got caught I was wearing the same shirt the grad assistants or managers wore. Of course, they always wore khakis as I was. So I fit the part to be on the field,” said Mackey. “But I think where I really went wrong is my friends seeing me saying, ‘Will, Will, what are you doing? Come back!’ And I tried to climb back into the student section where all the players and cops were.
“Someone saw that and was like, ‘I don’t think you belong down here,’ and pulled me back in. I told him I was a student and he took a picture of my Carolina card. Got an email the next day saying (my) student ticket privileges were revoked. When I had my conduct meeting I wanted to know what this meant going forward. She said as soon as football season (in 2016) was over I was good to go.”
Subscribe (for free) to the Gamecock Central YouTube page!
While Mackey wasn’t able to request any more student tickets, that didn’t stop him from going to more games that season. The next home game Mackey received tickets from a fan who saw his story. He went Bobby Valentine style and wore a mustache. Little did Mackey know his story, and that picture, was seen by Gamecock football players.
“I remember being on Twitter seeing that picture and we got a good kick out of it,” said Orth. “Me and Hayden (Hurst) thought that was pretty funny.”
Last year, in honor of the five-year anniversary on Mackey’s dash, we reunited Mackey with Orth. It was the first time the two had spoke to each other since the viral moment.
You can watch the full interview below on Gamecock Central’s YouTube channel.
