Stephon Gilmore and Alshon Jeffery kicked off the one-on-one drills during a practice at South Carolina in 2011. They always did this. They were probably the two of the best players on that roster, and they relished the chance to compete against each other.
A quarterback tossed a go route. It was a hotly contested ball, and both players went to the ground. They always did this. The rest of the team looked at the next matchup, which was underway. But then they realized Gilmore and Jeffery were still in the way. They were on the ground fighting — over the football. Why did they always do this?
“No one ever went over there to break it up, because we knew they wouldn’t fight for long. They went at it tooth and nail, just like it was a bitter rivalry,” said Ellis Johnson, who is the former assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at South Carolina. “No one was ever worried about it, because they’d go back to the locker room together.”
Gilmore and Jeffery, who both coincidentally speak at a barely audible whisper, started at South Carolina in the same year and declared for the draft in the same year (2012). When they enrolled in 2009, they were two of the best players in the state of South Carolina, and they both had attended high schools with great sports programs, with Gilmore winning a state championship in football and Jeffery winning in basketball. They were assigned to room with each other, and the cornerback and wide receiver became best friends. Jeffery would be a groomsman in Gilmore’s wedding in 2014. Gilmore was probably more college-ready, excelling as the top cornerback from Day 1. Jeffery was probably more pro-ready, notching 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns in his second season.
They were also long, lean and outstanding athletes, who made for a perfect matchup on the Gamecocks’ practice field. That’s where they came to hate each other. Gilmore remembered looking forward to those matchups against the young man who was like a brother. And like brothers, they were hazardous to each other’s health, at times.
“I hated it when he caught balls on me, and he hated it when I beat him,” Gilmore told Patriots Wire last year. “We got in a fight pretty much every day. But we were cool after. It just made us a lot better going against elite talent.”
They never quite worked things out in practice. Those matchups remained fierce. But their chemistry wasn’t stunted. Gilmore had been a prolific quarterback in high school. He went into the game in a 2009 win over Clemson and can still remember the play clearly: The defense was expecting a running play, so he knew he and Jeffery had them fooled before the snap. Gilmore faked a run up the middle before dropping back to throw a deep ball for Jeffery. If Gilmore had been in coverage, perhaps the ball would have fallen incomplete. But they linked up for a 39-yard gain. A year later, they’d connect again for a 29-yard catch.
They could work together on the field. But perhaps they preferred to work against each other.
“Anytime you have that talent on the same team, it can bring a lot out of you,” Gilmore said.
Surely, their matchups were formative as they both prepared for the NFL. Gilmore was the 10th overall pick in 2012, Jeffery the 45th overall. They have had prolific careers, with Jeffery logging five seasons with 800 receiving yards or more and Gilmore making two Pro Bowls and nabbing his first Defensive Player of the Month award this October. He should be a front-runner to win Defensive Player of the Year, too.
Gilmore can no longer count the number of matchups he’s had with Jeffery, but the cornerback has spent this week studying their most monumental matchup: Super Bowl LII. Jeffery and the Eagles defeated Gilmore’s Patriots — though Gilmore didn’t allow Jeffery to catch a single pass against him. New England started the game with cornerback Eric Rowe on Jeffery, but when the wideout quickly managed three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown, the Patriots made the switch and reunited Gilmore with his old friend — and, simultaneously, his longstanding bitter rival.
“I couldn’t let him have no bragging rights against me. Little flashbacks (to South Carolina). It was fun,” Gilmore said. “It’s a hard one. Sometimes it don’t go your way, but it’s all love. I’m happy for him. He talked a little trash, but it’s all love.”
He added: “You watching the game and you’re learning from it. … It’s not a good feeling. There’s nothing you can do about it. Just try to not let it happen again, not lose again.”
Gilmore and Jeffery seemed to have a few traditions as friends, like taking the first one-on-one every day at South Carolina. Another one: They don’t talk in the week leading up to a matchup. During Super Bowl week in February 2018, they didn’t call, didn’t text and didn’t speak.
“I haven’t talked to him this week,” Jeffery told reporters in Minnesota. “I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. It’s nothing on purpose. I play for the Eagles. Ain’t no friends. None of that. It is what it is.”
So as they prepare for another matchup, the tradition is back on.
“Not this week, no not this week,” Gilmore said when asked about communicating with Jeffery. “This week I’m just trying to go there and compete against them.”
Jeffery is slogging his way through a down year of production (34 catches, 353 yards, 3 touchdowns), and missed practices with an ankle injury this week. Gilmore, meanwhile, has established himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the league. Perhaps this time, the matchup doesn’t look quite as even as it did in 2009 or in Super Bowl LII. Still, if Gilmore is assigned to cover Jeffery, it’s easy to imagine eyes naturally straying to their contest, which may look a bit like a fight between brothers.
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