Wofford legendary coach Mike Ayers named to S.C. Football Hall of Fame

Longtime Wofford coach Mike Ayers has been named to the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame.

Ayers will be enshrined next month, along with former Furman running back Stanford Jennings, former Clemson offensive lineman Joe Bostic, former South Carolina defensive back Brad Edwards and former South Carolina State football player and track athlete John Gilliam.

Ayers coached the Terriers for 30 years, retiring in 2017 after winning the Southern Conference for the fifth time and guiding the team into the FCS playoffs for the eighth time since 2003. That year, Ayers took the Terriers to the national semifinals and won the Eddie Robinson Award as the most outstanding coach in the country. In 2018, Ayers was named to the Southern Conference Hall of Fame.

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Ayers played football and began his coaching career at Georgetown (Kentucky) College in his hometown. He was later an assistant at Newberry and Richmond before joining the Wofford staff from 1980-82. He left for East Tennessee State and was head coach there from 1985-87 before coming back to Wofford to run the program in 1988. He won 207 games at Wofford, which honored him in 2018 with the naming of Mike Ayers Field.

Ayers and the rest of the Hall of Fame class will be enshrined April 21 during a ceremony at the Hilton Greenville.

Here's a closer look at the other newest members of the Hall of Fame:

• Jennings was Southern Conference player of the year three times (1981-83). The Summerville native went on to play eight years in the NFL and had a 93-yard kickoff return in the Super Bowl for the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Bostic was a four-year starter at Clemson (1975-78) and played 11 years in the NFL for the St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native joins his brother Jeff, also a Clemson alum and former NFL standout, in the hall.

• Edwards had 10 interceptions for the Gamecocks before being taken in the second round of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. The Lumberton, North Carolina, native helped the Washington Redskins win the Super Bowl after the 1991 season.

• Gilliam in 1967 was drafted in the second round by the expansion New Orleans Saints and as a rookie returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for the first touchdown in franchise history. Gilliam, from Greenwood, played 11 years in the NFL, went to four straight Pro Bowls (1972-75) and was in two Super Bowls with the Vikings.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Wofford legendary coach Mike Ayers named to S.C. Football Hall of Fame