South Carolina Football’s GOAT Series: Top-15 greatest safeties of all-time
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football’s No. 8 Safety of All-Time:
Arturo Freeman
An immediate contributor to the Gamecock defense, Arturo Freeman (1995-1999) was a Freshman All-SEC player who logged over 80 tackles and a pick for Head Coach Brad Scott. He followed up his first-year success with an All-SEC sophomore season in which he led the team in tackles. Another All-SEC season followed as Freeman had a great junior year in which he led the SEC in interceptions (6) and added 92 tackles to lead the Gamecocks. He is one of just 5 players to lead the team in both categories in a season.
Unfortunately, Freeman tore his ACL during fall practice before his senior season. The injury cost #12 the whole year, and he wasn’t quite the same when he returned so quickly for 1999 after redshirting ’98. He was still a good player, but he was slow to return to form and bounced around the secondary his final year. As his health improved during the next offseason, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the 2000 NFL Draft and had a six-year career in the league. Freeman surely would have been even higher on this list had he remained healthy.