South Carolina Football: Former Gamecock wins WWE NXT title belt

South Carolina football wide receiver Matrick Belton transferred into the program before the 2014 season after spending two years at Hampton. He is a Columbia native who attended Keenan High School and walked on to the Gamecock football team so that he could return home after spending his first two years after high school further away.

During his South Carolina football career, Belton became a valuable special teams player and even saw some action at wide receiver, including several starts during his redshirt junior season. He won the Outstanding Walk-On Award for offensive players in 2015 and made the 2016 SEC Academic Honor Roll.

After his days in garnet and black, Belton had a very brief training camp stint with the Philadelphia Eagles before deciding on a career change.

Now known by most as Trick Williams, he has become one of the biggest up-and-coming stars in the world of professional wrestling.

Trick Williams has won a WWE NXT North American Championship, came out on top in one of the company's biggest friend-turned-enemy rivalries against Carmelo Hayes, and developed a huge following.

Followed by the customary audience-led rendition of "Whoop That Trick," Trick Williams emerged victorious in Tuesday night's NXT Championship match against Ilja Dragunov at the WWE NXT Spring Breakin' event. With the stakes of win-the-belt-or-leave-WWE on the line, Williams bested Dragunov in a 10-minute bout that ended with him showing off his athleticism with a flying knee known as the "Trick Shot" that led to the pin.

The championship belt is the first held by a former Gamecock since Del Wilkes, AKA The Patriot, won a belt back in 1994.

With the extreme popularity of Trick Williams and the past history of several former NXT Champions rising through the ranks, it seems reasonable to expect that Trick Williams will find himself on the WWE main roster at some point in the near future.