Connor Shaw update: Former South Carolina QB awake, coherent after hospitalization

Following a scary collapse at his son’s football game on Wednesday night, former South Carolina great Connor Shaw is stable, awake and coherent. David Cloninger of the Post and Courier reported that news on Thursday afternoon.

That comes hours after the city of Simpsonville, where Shaw collapsed, reported he was in stable condition. Following his collapse on Wednesday night, Shaw was taken to the medical ICU at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital.

The Post and Courier also provided other new details: Connor Shaw was conscious by the time emergency personnel reached him at the field. Onlookers at the game had come to his aid until an ambulance arrived.

“While coaching his son’s AU football team at Gracely Park on Wednesday night, Connor Shaw collapsed about 15 minutes after the game started,” the city of Simpsonville’s statement read. “EMS arrived on scene and took Mr. Shaw to Greenville Memorial. The Simpsonville Parks Dept. has been informed Mr. Shaw is in stable condition. Mr. Shaw and his family are in the thoughts and prayers of the employees of Parks and Rec and City of Simpsonville and we wish for a speedy and full recovery.”

Shaw collapsed Wednesday night while coaching his son’s football team, according to a report from The State’s Jackson Castellano. Shaw was coaching his son, 9, at the time of the incident. Details remain scarce, but multiple people who said they were in attendance wrote he left the field via ambulance.

His health will be of great concern to the scores of former teammates and coaches he had from his playing days. The Gamecock Nation will also be waiting anxiously on further updates.

Shaw was one of the most beloved quarterbacks in school history, helping the Gamecocks achieve some of their loftiest heights under former coach Steve Spurrier.

Shaw starred for the Gamecocks from 2010-2013, turning in his best season as a senior when he threw for 2,447 yards and 24 touchdowns, to one interception. He then won the Capital One Bowl MVP when he threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns while adding a receiving touchdown and a rushing score.

During his playing career in Columbia, Shaw set the South Carolina record for wins by a quarterback while totaling 6,074 yards and 56 touchdowns over his career. He was selected for the Gamecocks’ Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.

Following his college career, Shaw turned professional, though he went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft. He had stints with the Cleveland Browns from 2014-15 and Chicago Bears in 2016 before eventually getting into coaching.

Shaw joined Furman as tight ends coach in 2018 and returned to South Carolina as the program’s quarterbacks coach for the final three games in 2020. That same year, he served as the director of player development and became the Gamecocks’ director of football relations in 2021.

On3’s Nick Schultz and Dan Morrison also contributed to this report.