Nick Emmanwori’s halftime opt-out a swerve that stings, even if USC knew about it

South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori did what a lot of college football players in 2024 do: He decided to not play in the bowl game.

Except, well, Emmanwori did play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl — a 21-17 South Carolina loss to Illinois. He played for one half.

The junior who’s projected as an early-round NFL Draft pick got two quarters under his belt and something sunk in. Perhaps the anxiety of what an injury could mean for his draft stock. Maybe the feeling South Carolina wasn’t going to win, so why risk his body?

Or maybe he’d made it known that playing one half was the plan all along. At least that’s what he said.

After the game, Emmanwori told the (Charleston) Post and Courier’s David Cloninger that he told his coach that he was only going to play a half.

Which raises questions. What coach? Safeties coach Torrian Gray? Head coach Shane Beamer?

When asked about it by reporters after the game, Beamer looked incensed to even be talking about it. A normally talkative head coach cut the question off and offered an ultra-short response.

“Internal team matter,” Beamer said. “Not gonna talk about it.”

If Emmanwori had told Beamer sometime before the game that he wanted to play just one half and the head coach OK’d it, would Beamer then be willing to defend his decision? Perhaps even turn it into a recruiting pitch about how he’s adaptable to the new world of college football and supports his players’ decisions?

And if he did tell a coach and/or coaches, it doesn’t seem like the message got to Emmanwori’s teammates.

“This is kind of the first of me hearing about it,” starting linebacker Demetrius Knight said. “He said he was gonna play and I just figured that’s what he was gonna do — play the whole game. … He did what he thought was best for him.”

Emmanwori was on the sideline for at least part of the second half, seen tossing a football to himself and later celebrating with teammate Jalon Kilgore after the latter’s interception. But at some point in the second half, he was seen being escorted to the locker room by USC director of character Derrick Moore.

Kilgore told reporters postgame that Emmanwori won’t be back at USC next season. Emmanwori confirmed as much to the P&C’s Cloninger.

Emmanwori’s halftime opt-out comes three days after Miami quarterback Cam Ward did the same thing in the same stadium. Perhaps it’s the football gods’ version of karma that both South Carolina (Cheez-It Citrus Bowl) and Miami (Pop-Tarts Bowl) lost.

For college football fans who’ve come around to accept NIL deals and collectives as the norm, and even to accept the idea that some will opt out of bowl games, leaving at halftime is a different kind of quitting — one that might sting more than just not playing in the bowl game at all.

And this was not just any guy. This was the star, the hometown kid. The Irmo native who stayed home to play for South Carolina. The same player who talked with the media just a week ago about how important the Citrus Bowl was, saying: “It’s a huge thing to get that 10th win. For the city. For the state of South Carolina. For the program.”

For the Gamecocks, it’s a sour note to conclude one of the most successful seasons in school history. Had South Carolina won on Tuesday night, we’d be talking about the history of a 10-win season and quarterback LaNorris Sellers and how high USC might be ranked next season.

Instead, the immediate conversation around this Gamecocks’ team is around Beamer’s on-field fracas with Illinois coach Bret Beliema and accusations of a player quitting.

Seasons that end in losses never end cleanly. But this is especially murky.

Now, it might end up just a footnote in history. Perhaps Beamer and others have a long discussion with Emmanwori in the coming days and things get resolved. He shows up to the on-campus NFL Pro Day. He gets drafted. All is well.

And then, maybe, 2025 goes as well as South Carolina fans expect. The Gamecocks replace Emmanwori and a number of other departing defensive starters. Sellers grows even more in year three. And the Gamecocks are right back in the College Football Playoff hunt.

But Tuesday was just another stark reminder that college football’s evolution can often feel like betrayal.