COLUMBIA, S.C. — Corey Jenkins and Adam Holmes have a common occupation.
Jenkins is the head football coach at Dreher High School, while Holmes is in charge of the football program at Gray Collegiate Academy. A few months ago, Holmes hired former Gamecock quarterback Phil Petty to be his co-offensive coordinator. Holmes and Petty were teammates at Carolina from 1998-2001.
But the two former Gamecock teammates will not get a chance to be reunited after Petty’s sudden death Thursday after a brief hospital stay in Columbia.
“He was our leader when we played and he was my best friend,” Holmes said in a statement to News19.
“He loved being a Gamecock! He is one of the best to ever do it in my eyes. I saw it up close and personal. He was so looking forward to get back into coaching!! That’s all he would talk about. Most Important, he was a great husband, dad and friend. Our hearts are breaking right now. Gamecock Nation lost a legend today.”
Jenkins only played with Petty for one season but those two spent a lot of time together as they were fellow quarterbacks. In that lone season of 2001 when #14 and #9 were platooning at quarterback, Jenkins says he and Petty were constantly pushing each other to improve.
“You can’t help but love a guy when he makes you better,” Jenkins said.
“If you go back and look at his senior year and my first year there, he ran the ball more than he ever did probably in his entire career.”
Jenkins says Petty was grateful to the Dreher grad and 1995 first round draft pick of the Red Sox because Petty learned that he could use his legs to move the chains and that didn’t involve breaking a 30-yard run. A five or six-yard run could keep the defenses honest and let opponents know that Petty was more than a pocket passer.
In turn, Jenkins credits Petty for teaching him the importance of reading defenses and understanding scouting reports instead of relying on his athletic ability to move the ball down the field.
After enduring a winless season in 1999, Petty helped engineer the biggest single-season turnaround in Division I history as Carolina went 8-4 in 2000 and won the first of two consecutive Outback Bowls. One could make the case that no Gamecock quarterback did more to change the trajectory of South Carolina football than Petty.
But outside of his 17 wins in 2000 and 2001, the legacy of Phil Petty is that of teammate, friend, husband and father.
Phil Petty was 43. He is survived by his wife, Morgan, and two children, Sage and McCoy. Funeral arrangements are pending.