With 19 days until South Carolina football kicks off 2025 season, a look back at No. 19, Duce Staley

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 19 days away.

Ironically, arguably the best No. 19 ever to play in Columbia is a player most often associated with another number. Running back Duce Staley, who spent two very productive years in garnet and black following a stint in junior college, wore the number as a junior before transitioning to No. 22 as a senior (he couldn’t fully back up his name of “Duce” by wearing No. 2 because USC retired it for the legendary Sterling Sharpe). The Columbia native Staley gets the nod at No. 19.

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As a local kid and Junior College All-American, Staley arrived at his hometown school with high expectations. He didn’t disappoint. Versatile senior Stanley Pritchett (who played running back, fullback, and even some tight end) took some carries from Staley in 1995, as did head coach Brad Scott’s pass-happy offense. Even so, Staley registered nearly 1000 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns on just 158 total touches. He also threw a touchdown pass. On special teams, he helped out as a return man, joining Terry Cousin as a dynamic one-two punch. Both Staley and Cousin had multiple 50-yard returns that season.

Staley was a much bigger part of the offense in ’96. Allowed to touch the ball 140 times, he tallied nearly 1400 yards from scrimmage. With 1116 yards on the ground, he became one of just five players ever to rush for 1100 yards in a season for the Gamecocks. For his efforts, the SEC coaches named Staley the first first-team All-SEC running back in program history.

With nine 100-yard performances in just 22 career games, he has a better ratio of 100-yard games to total games played than every South Carolina running back not named George Rogers.

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Following his Gamecock playing days, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Staley in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He spent a decade playing professionally and is considered one of the best players to never make a Pro Bowl. Staley logged four seasons with 1000 yards from scrimmage, averaging over 1200 yards per year from 1998-2002 (and that included an injury-riddled 2000 campaign in which he played in just five contests). He went on to win Super Bowl XL with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After retiring, Staley returned to Columbia for a few years, working on the radio covering his former team. He then entered the coaching world, where he has seen great success. Staley is heading into his 15th year as an NFL assistant and his second as the Cleveland Browns’ running backs coach. For five of those seasons, he was an associate head coach. He won another ring in Super Bowl LII as an assistant with the Eagles.

As a testament to his coaching acumen, in 2020, the “Duce Staley Drill” became a fixture in running back workouts at the NFL Combine, testing a player’s footwork and balance in tight spaces. Despite Staley’s humble objections, the drill bears his name, as he created it during his time in Philadelphia.

Staley was a class of 2024 inductee into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame.

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