South Carolina fans got an emotional boost before Saturday night’s matchup with Kentucky when former Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw took the field to fire up the crowd.
Shaw, who recently endured a frightening health scare, led the pregame “GAME-COCKS! GAME-COCKS!” chant at Williams-Brice Stadium before embracing his son with a kiss on the head, soaking in the moment.
Just two weeks earlier, Shaw collapsed at his son’s youth football game and required CPR before being rushed by ambulance to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Chad Smith, an eyewitness, recalled the scene. “One of the coaches on our field was a firefighter and bolted over,” Smith said. “There they found Shaw lying face first in the grass. The person immediately began performing CPR while bystanders called 911.”
Shaw spent several days in stable condition before being released last week, and head coach Shane Beamer gave him a public shoutout during South Carolina’s game against Missouri.
“Connor Shaw, I know you’re watching back in South Carolina,” Beamer said at the time. “I know you went home today and we’re thinking of you, my man. God bless.”
Now back in the stadium he once commanded as quarterback, Shaw appeared in a new but special role — energizing the fans as the celebrity starter for the Gamecocks’ showdown against Kentucky.
