South Carolina Gamecocks

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Johnson Hunter

Hometown: Denver, N.C. Position: Tight Ends/Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Experience: 2nd Year

Johnson "Jeep" Hunter III is in his second season with the Gamecocks. Hunter was named tight ends coach and assistant special teams coordinator at South Carolina on February 3, 2009.

In 2009, his first season in Columbia, Hunter's top tight end, junior Weslye Saunders, was among the Gamecock leaders with 32 receptions for 353 and and three touchdowns.

Prior to his arrival in the Palmetto State, Hunter spent two seasons (2006-07) as the tight ends coach at Georgia Tech where he mentored Michael Matthews, who was a member of the 2007 Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Hunter went to Georgia Tech after working the previous three seasons on Tommy West's staff at Memphis. While at Memphis, he helped coach All-America running back DeAngelo Williams, the nation's leading rusher in 2005 at 178.6 yards per game. Williams rushed for more than 6,000 yards and 55 touchdowns in his career and finished as the NCAA's all-time leader in all-purpose yards. Hunter helped the Tigers reach a bowl game each of his three seasons in Memphis.

A native of Denver, N.C., Hunter went to Memphis in 2003 after two seasons at Eastern Kentucky, where he coached the secondary. In 2001, the Colonels ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division I-AA in all defensive categories.

Hunter served an NFL Minority Internship with the St. Louis Rams in the summer of 2001. Prior to that, he spent one season (2000) coaching defensive backs at UT-Chattanooga.

Hunter first worked with Tommy West at Clemson, where he served as a graduate assistant for two seasons (1996-97) and then spent one year as Assistant Athletics Director for Football Management.

Hunter played his collegiate football at Catawba College, an NAIA Division II school in Salisbury, N.C., for three years before suffering a career-ending knee injury. He remained at Catawba as a student assistant coach from 1987-1990 before moving on to Bandys High School in Catawba, N.C., as the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator for three seasons (1991-93).

From 1994-96, Hunter was an assistant football coach at North Carolina A&T State University, where he worked with wide receivers, outside linebackers and defensive backs.

Hunter received his bachelor's degree in business administration/physical education from Catawba College in 1991. He is married to the former Susan Potokar of Cleveland, Ohio. The couple has two children, a daughter, Sophia Marie, and a son, Joshua.