Many Gamecock fans have read about or heard about offensive lineman Garrett Chisolm's path to South Carolina and the difficult circumstances he has fought through in his successful time here. "Difficult" may even be too much of an understatement for what this impressive young man has accomplished. I wanted to share this great piece by Jason Cole, a national NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports, on Chisolm coping with the loss of his parents, going from walk-on to starter on the football field, graduating in May and more.
I've included a short excerpt below, but an excerpt can't begin to do the story justice so click here to read the full story by Cole.
"For all of that accomplishment amid tragedy, Chisolm struggles as he is asked how he has been able to deal with the loss, to see his parents - his "whole world," as he put it - get ravaged by cancer. With his leg shaking, Chisolm often can't even find the words to describe how he has done it. Four questions go by and Chisolm can't even respond, increasingly looking like a little boy lost in a big man's suit.
"I'm still dealing with it," he said.
In contrast, people around Chisolm can't stop talking about him.
"You can go an entire career and you'll never see another story like this, never," said South Carolina strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald, who was there the day Chisolm showed up for a tryout and was there two months later when South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier yelled at his assistants to put Chisolm in the starting lineup. "It's not one thing; it's the whole story. Just walking on, do you realize how rare that is? If you're a walk-on in the [Southeastern Conference], you're lucky if you finish out your eligibility by being a part-timer on special teams. You might start a few games along the way as a part-time fullback. You don't become a starter in a couple of months, especially on the offensive line." "
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