Vicari Swain rips off incredible return TD to extend South Carolina lead over Virginia Tech
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Beamer Ball may have been born in Blacksburg, Virginia, but its current home is Columbia, South Carolina.
Early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Aflack Kickoff game between No. 13 South Carolina and Virginia Tech, with the Gamecocks holding a 2-point lead, Vicari Swain made magic happen. The redshirt sophomore defensive back fielded a punt with his back foot standing right on his own 20-yard-line, accelerated, cut toward the right sideline, broke a tackle, side-stepped another, spun out of another, and then dove for the goal line.
Eighty yards.
Six points.
Daylight.
Just like ol’ Frank Shane Beamer drew it up.
The South Carolina offense had largely been stagnant to that point in the game. Through 3 quarters, South Carolina had been outgained 254-230. The Gamecocks’ ground game had been grounded, save for a few runs from LaNorris Sellers. The offense was averaging just 5.3 yards per play and had been forced to punt on 5 of its first 8 possessions of the game.
But, taking after his legendary father, Beamer has made sure throughout his tenure that special teams is a scale-tipper for the Gamecocks and not against them in tight games.
Sunday’s 80-yard punt return from Swain was South Carolina’s first touchdown in the return game — kickoff or punt — since Nov. 11, 2023.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
