Adaway Taking on Leadership Role Off the Field

As a running back, South Carolina graduate student Oscar Adaway III is accustomed to running around obstacles as well as trying to crash through them. Off the field, he is taking the straight-forward approach to address challenges for student-athletes. Adaway was recently elected as the chairman of the SEC Football Leadership Council.

“They chose me to be a representative for our team,” said Adaway. “Once I got there, they chose a chairman for all of the 16 teams in the football leadership council. Every team has its own leadership council. I am grateful because it is a great opportunity.

“We get information from the NCAA and the SEC and go back to our teams with it. Then we give them back our thoughts. Commissioner Greg Sankey does a great job of listening to the athletes. That is something he has always done. As the chairman, I’ll get all of that feedback from all the other teams.”

The SEC Student-Athlete Leadership Councils gives SEC student-athletes the chance to engage with university administrators and leaders as well as conference office staff and present issues that concern he and his fellow student-athletes as well as looking at rules of competition. While NIL has been at the forefront of most conversations recently, there are other specific issues that are discussed, including what football players can and can’t do in games to celebrate a big play.

“They listen to us, for sure,” Adaway said. “One of the most important things in our group when we met in Alabama was about celebrations during games. It doesn’t sound like a big thing, but you’re going to see more celebrations that are allowed now. The SEC referees were represented and said that we can’t spike the football because they want to keep the game moving, but almost everything else will be allowed.

“You can’t do the other team’s celebration, such as doing the ‘horns down’ to Texas, but yes, we can show some personality. You can’t score a touchdown and be all up in somebody’s face, but you can celebrate with your team. You might see five-man celebration with someone doing the Temptations dance or something like that. You never know! It’s going to be crazy to see things like that because you used to not be able to do that in college football.”

The North Little Rock, Ark., native played in 13 games with two starts for the Gamecocks last year in their nine-win season, highlighted by a 36-yard touchdown run in the Citrus Bowl against Illinois. While he has made a difference on the field, he hopes to make an impact off the field as well using his experience and education to create change when warranted with administration and maybe create a path for future employment in that realm as well.

“I believe I can make an impact. Becoming the chairman of the Leadership Council is important for me,” said Adway, who already has his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and will finish his master’s in coaching education in May. With another year of eligibility, he wants to earn a third degree while making the most of his final year on the gridiron. “Hopefully, I can get another degree this next year. That’s important to me, and I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had to spend a dime on my education. When it comes down to applying for a job, it would be great to be able to say that I know that nobody else applying for this job has three degrees!

“This is my last year of college football. I’m looking forward to getting out there and just enjoying playing ball. I just want us to go out there and go get it like we did last year. Winning nine games last year were some of the best bunches of days in my life.”