COLUMBIA — Darin Smalls remembers the exact date of his last football game.
“Sept. 13, 2013,” said the South Carolina defensive back. And how could he forget? That was the night the former Summerville High School standout was returning a punt down the sideline against Goose Creek, cut one direction and was hit from the other, and began a 23-month odyssey defined by rehabilitation and bureaucratic red tape.
All of it, without football — until the opening of preseason camp this week, when the freshman took the first live reps he’s experienced since that night at John McKissick Field nearly two years ago.