With three days until South Carolina football kicks off 2025 season, a look back at No. 3, Cory Boyd

South Carolina football will take the field for the first time in the 2025 season on August 31st when the Gamecocks take on the Virginia Tech Hokies in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. That means kickoff is just three days away.

Some really good players wore No. 3 at South Carolina, perhaps most notably, All-American defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw.

However, one of the most underrated players in Gamecock history also wore the number. Running back Cory Boyd was No. 3, and he is the subject of today’s countdown to kickoff story.

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Boyd, a product of Orange, New Jersey, spent two years as a backup to five-star Demetris Summers for head coach Lou Holtz. Even so, he managed to register over 1000 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns.

A suspension kept Boyd out of the 2005 season, but he seemed to grow from the experience. When he was back on the field as a junior, he became a star for Steve Spurrier’s team.

Boyd rumbled to 823 yards rushing and added over 400 yards receiving in 2006. Then, as a senior, he pushed his rushing total to 903 yards and again cracked 400 yards as a pass-catcher. In two years as an upperclassman, he found the end zone 20 times.

Boyd is the Gamecocks’ all-time leader in running back receiving yards and receptions out of the backfield. He is also one of just two players (along with Stanley Pritchett) to have over 1000 yards rushing and over 1000 yards receiving for his career.

That versatility put Boyd all over the South Carolina football record books. He ranks inside the program’s all-time top 13 in rushing yards (12th), rushing touchdowns (tied-for-7th), and receptions (13th).

Boyd is tied with Brandon Bennett for fourth place at USC with 28 career touchdowns. He is also fourth in yards from scrimmage, trailing only George Rogers, Brandon Bennett, and Harold Green.

A rare combination of physicality and slipperiness, Boyd was impossible to tackle in one-on-one situations. His screen pass catch-and-run against Middle Tennessee State is one of the best non-touchdowns in program history, as he escaped from at least nine would-be Blue Raiders tacklers on his way to a 52-yard gain.

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Following his South Carolina career, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked Boyd in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played professionally for five years and was a three-time All-Star in the Canadian Football League before retiring. Despite being an All-Star in 2012, he left the game to get into coaching and training.

He has been in coaching ever since. Most recently, he took the offensive coordinator gig at St. John’s High School on Johns Island in the Palmetto State.

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