South Carolina Football: Ranking the most otherworldly Gamecock athletes

South Carolina Football’s No. 12 Most Otherworldy Player of All-Time:
Defensive End John Abraham

John Abraham didn’t play football until he was in high school. Perhaps aliens don’t have much of an interest in the game. Along the way, the Lamar High School track star was convinced to join the football team, and the rest is history. The late, great defensive line coach Brad Lawing found Abraham and offered him a scholarship to the University of South Carolina.

Abraham was a monstrous athlete who was one of the fastest and most explosive players on the Gamecock defense despite being a defensive end. As he learned the game of football, Abraham’s potential dominance was obvious, and he was a 1st-round selection of the New York Jets. He is now one of the most accomplished NFL Gamecocks of all-time, spending 15 seasons with the Jets, Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona Cardinals.

Abraham moved from defensive end to outside linebacker and back to defensive end multiple times during his professional career, adding and dropping weight as needed. The ability to do that without a dip in production is otherworldly in and of itself, and fans began to take notice.

During his time with the Falcons, fans sometimes referred to Abraham as an “ATLien” a play off the 1996 album with the same name from Atlanta-based rap group Outkast. Comparing the pass rusher to an alien is fitting as he did plenty of things not possible for mortal humans. Maybe ATLien was less of a nickname and more of a species identifier?