ANTHONY WRIGHT Quarterback 1994 / 1998 Vanceboro, NC

Biography

Rated the number seven quarterback in America by SuperPrep, Wright won the Gatorade Player of the Year award for North Carolina and participated in the 1993 Shrine Bowl following his senior year. A cousin of former N.C. State and Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Jesse Campbell, Wright and Florida State QB Charlie Ward forged a relationship that benefitted USC in recruiting, as new Gamecock coach Brad Scott had been Ward’s offensive coordinator at FSU. Wright picked the Gamecocks over North Carolina in the end and redshirted his first season on campus. He and Chad Barnhardt competed throughout the 1995 season to be the top backup to Steve Taneyhill and then into the spring of 1996 to take over the number one signal-caller spot. Wright won the job and the Joe Morrison Award for best offensive performer of the spring. He came out of the gates fast, beating Daunte Culpepper and Central Florida in the season opener, and then completing 18 of 24 for 224 yards and a TD to beat Georgia. He racked up a season high 351 yards in a loss to Mississippi State, including a 77-yard scoring pass to Corey Bridges. Also a winner of the team’s George Terry Best Attitude Award in ’96, Wright struggled towards the end of the season against Florida and Clemson, but started the ’97 season strong, again beating Culpepper and UCF while passing for 266 yards and 3 scores while also rushing for a touchdown. He was blossoming, eliminating turnovers and leading USC to a 5-3 record when disaster struck and he suffered a season-ending knee injury in an eventual loss to Tennessee. Wright was given the Steve Wadiak MVP award for his performance that season. Things looked okay at the start of 1998 as Wright through for 3 touchdowns in a season-opening win over Ball State, but a Gamecock squad that was undermanned and was in the final year of the Brad Scott era failed to win again that season. Wright did have some nice games that season, throwing for more than 250 yards against Marshall (280), Mississippi (307) and Vanderbilt (279). Despite being undrafted he made the Dallas Cowboys as a backup and played ten seasons in the NFL, including leading the Baltimore Ravens to the playoffs in 2003. Wright played with the Cowboys, Ravens, Bengals and Giants, totaling 3,590 passing yards.

Prior Schools
School	Location

Roster Listings
Year	Roster	Num	Pos	Ht	Wt	Yr	Gms	GS
1994	Program vs Mississippi State	1	QB	6-2	185	Fr	0	0
1995	Media Guide	1	QB	6-2	187	RFr	0	0
1996	Program vs Georgia	1	QB	6-2	192	So	11	11
1997	Lindy's 1997 Annual	1	QB	6-2	192	Jr
1997	Auburn 1997	1	QB	6-2	192	Jr	9	9
1998	Media Guide	1	QB	6-2	188	Sr
9999	Gamecock Archives All-Time By #	1	QB	6-2	188		0	0
1998	Fall 1998	1	QB	6-2	188	Sr	11	11

Depth Chart Appearances
Description	Position	Rank
1995 Media Guide	Quarterback	2nd String
9/2/1995 vs Georgia	Quarterback	2nd String
9/14/1996 vs Georgia	Quarterback	Starter
1998 Media Guide	Quarterback	Starter

Honors
Award	Year
1993	Shrine Bowl
1996	George Terry Best Attitude
1997	Steve Wadiak MVP

Recruiting Rankings and Honors
Source	Position	Rank
Athlon's Elite 50	QB
BlueChip Illustrated National Top 100	ALL	59
BlueChip Illustrated National Top 100	QB	9
Max Emfinger All-Americans	ATH	4
Max Eminger Eastern Seabord Blue Chips	QB

Passing
Year	Att	Com	Pct	Yds	YPA	TD	Int	I%	3D Att	3D Conv%	NEWS	Rtg
1995	27	17	63.0	207	7.67	2	1	3.7				127.53
1996	244	131	53.7	1850	7.58	8	6	2.5				117.44
1997	252	139	55.2	1685	6.69	18	5	2.0				111.52
1998	273	145	53.1	1899	6.96	10	10	3.7	23	43.5	6.06	111.59
Tot	796	432	54.3	5641	7.09	38	22	2.8	92	43.5		113.90

Red Zone Passing
Year	Att	Com	Com%	Yds	TD	Int	I%	3D Att	3D C%
1997	9	5	55.6	49	3	0	0.0	3	66.7
1998	28	12	42.9	103	7	0	0.0	11	36.4

Passing by Receiver
Year	QB	Rec	Throws	Com%	Yds	1D	TD	Success Rate
1995
	Zola Davis	1	3	33.3	37	1	1	33.33
	Kerry Hood	2	3	66.7	20	2	0	66.67
	Duce Staley	2	2	100.0	29	2	0	100.00
	Darryl Nicklow	2	2	100.0	7	0	0	0.00
	Corey Bridges	2	2	100.0	22	0	0	50.00
	Chris Alford	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
	Marcus Robinson	1	1	100.0	14	1	0	100.00
	Mike Reddick	1	1	100.0	14	1	1	100.00
1997
	Jermale Kelly	29	51	56.9	405	16	7	54.90
	Kerry Hood	19	42	45.2	235	11	4	33.33
	Zola Davis	22	38	57.9	249	14	1	52.63
	Calvin Owens	9	18	50.0	101	4	0	38.89
	Boo Williams	14	16	87.5	172	8	1	75.00
	Troy Hambrick	12	15	80.0	101	8	0	60.00
	Ben Fleming	6	9	66.7	101	5	0	66.67
	Shah Mays	5	9	55.6	68	3	0	55.56
	Steve Mixon	4	5	80.0	22	2	0	40.00
	Trevon Matthews	2	4	50.0	37	1	1	50.00
	Scott Moritz	2	3	66.7	8	0	0	33.33
	Jacob Bush	2	3	66.7	34	1	0	33.33
	Trey Pennington	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
1998
	Zola Davis	39	69	56.5	610	27	2	55.07
	Jermale Kelly	32	58	55.2	409	20	1	44.83
	Ben Fleming	17	28	60.7	257	12	1	57.14
	Troy Hambrick	17	23	73.9	142	3	0	30.43
	Kerry Hood	11	23	47.8	96	6	1	43.48
	Boo Williams	17	23	73.9	226	9	1	47.83
	Steve Mixon	5	9	55.6	72	5	0	55.56
	Shah Mays	1	7	14.3	45	1	0	14.29
	Antione Nesmith	4	5	80.0	37	2	0	40.00
	Trevon Matthews	1	2	50.0	2	0	1	50.00
	Carlos Spikes	1	2	50.0	3	0	0	0.00
	Trey Pennington	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
	Brian Scott	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0.00
	Donovan Norman	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0.00

Rushing
Year	Att	Yds	Avg	TD
1995	11	7	0.6	0
1996	97	90	0.9	3
1997	78	56	0.7	1
1998	79	56	0.7	3
Tot	265	209	0.8	7

Rushing from Play-by-Play
Year	Att	Yds	Avg	1D	Neg Rush	NR%	Stuff%	10+ Yds	10+ %	20+ Yds	3D Conv%	TD
1997	21	99	4.7	7	1	47.62	23.8	3	14.3	0	50.0	1
1998	55	233	4.2	25	8	38.18	29.1	9	16.4	2	77.8	3

Receiving
Year	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Com%	1D	CDT	CD%	BP%
1996	1	-6	-6.0	0
Tot	1	-6	-6.0	0

Success Rate from Official Play-By-Play Stats
Year	Pass Plays	Pass SR	Pass SPP	Rush Plays	Rush SR	Rush SPP	Recv Plays	Recv SR	Recv SPP	Recv FC%	Tot SPP	SPP/Play
1995	17	47.10	21.74	6	33.30	-21.6	0				0.14	0.01
1997	225	47.60	249.87	59	37.30	1.43	0				251.3	0.88
1998	273	44.30	294.87	80	42.50	11.39	0				306.26	0.87

Games Started
Date	Opponent	Position
1996-09-07	Central Florida	Quarterback
1996-09-14	Georgia	Quarterback
1996-09-21	East Carolina	Quarterback
1996-09-28	Mississippi State	Quarterback
1996-10-05	Auburn	Quarterback
1996-10-12	Kentucky	Quarterback
1996-10-19	Arkansas	Quarterback
1996-10-26	Vanderbilt	Quarterback
1996-11-02	Tennessee	Quarterback
1996-11-16	Florida	Quarterback
1996-11-23	Clemson	Quarterback
1997-09-06	Central Florida	Quarterback
1997-09-13	Georgia	Quarterback
1997-09-20	East Carolina	Quarterback
1997-09-27	Mississippi State	Quarterback
1997-10-04	Auburn	Quarterback
1997-10-11	Kentucky	Quarterback
1997-10-18	Arkansas	Quarterback
1997-10-25	Vanderbilt	Quarterback
1997-11-01	Tennessee	Quarterback
1998-09-05	Ball State	Quarterback
1998-09-12	Georgia	Quarterback
1998-09-19	Marshall	Quarterback
1998-09-26	Mississippi State	Quarterback
1998-10-03	Mississippi	Quarterback
1998-10-10	Kentucky	Quarterback
1998-10-17	Arkansas	Quarterback
1998-10-24	Vanderbilt	Quarterback
1998-10-31	Tennessee	Quarterback
1998-11-14	Florida	Quarterback
1998-11-21	Clemson	Quarterback

Single Game Rushing Stats
Season	Game Date	Opponent	Att	Yds	TD
1996	1996-09-07	Central Florida	3	18	0
	1996-09-14	Georgia	8	-2	0
	1996-09-21	East Carolina	11	0	0
	1996-09-28	Mississippi State	7	-50	0
	1996-10-05	Auburn	15	18	0
	1996-10-12	Kentucky	8	21	0
	1996-10-19	Arkansas	8	12	0
	1996-10-26	Vanderbilt	3	-19	0
	1996-11-02	Tennessee	11	18	0
	1996-11-16	Florida	12	30	2
	1996-11-23	Clemson	11	44	0
1997	1997-09-06	Central Florida	6	25	1
	1997-09-13	Georgia	10	-16	0
	1997-09-20	East Carolina	12	21	0
	1997-09-27	Mississippi State	7	6	0
	1997-10-04	Auburn	9	-48	0
	1997-10-11	Kentucky	11	63	0
	1997-10-18	Arkansas	8	8	0
	1997-10-25	Vanderbilt	8	16	0
	1997-11-01	Tennessee	6	-27	0
1998	1998-09-05	Ball State	5	46	0
	1998-09-12	Georgia	7	-15	0
	1998-09-19	Marshall	8	18	1
	1998-09-26	Mississippi State	7	-31	0
	1998-10-03	Mississippi	14	39	1
	1998-10-10	Kentucky	5	-16	0
	1998-10-17	Arkansas	10	-2	0
	1998-10-24	Vanderbilt	6	-29	0
	1998-10-31	Tennessee	1	-3	0
	1998-11-14	Florida	5	30	0
	1998-11-21	Clemson	11	19	1

Single Game Passing Stats
Season	Game Date	Opponent	Att	Com	Yds	TD	Int
1995	1995-09-02	Georgia	1	1	14	0	0
	1995-09-09	Arkansas	3	1	9	0	1
	1995-09-16	Louisiana Tech	3	2	20	0	0
	1995-10-07	Kent State	7	6	88	2	0
	1995-10-14	Mississippi State	1	1	15	0	0
	1995-10-21	Vanderbilt	4	3	38	0	0
	1995-10-28	Tennessee	4	1	4	0	0
	1995-11-11	Florida	3	1	3	0	0
	1995-11-18	Clemson	1	1	16	0	0
1996	1996-09-07	Central Florida	19	12	236	1	0
	1996-09-14	Georgia	29	18	224	1	0
	1996-09-21	East Carolina	22	13	127	0	1
	1996-09-28	Mississippi State	36	16	351	1	2
	1996-10-05	Auburn	27	20	271	2	0
	1996-10-12	Kentucky	24	15	129	1	0
	1996-10-19	Arkansas	14	6	84	1	1
	1996-10-26	Vanderbilt	8	2	28	0	1
	1996-11-02	Tennessee	22	15	166	1	0
	1996-11-16	Florida	18	7	114	0	0
	1996-11-23	Clemson	25	7	120	0	1
1997	1997-09-06	Central Florida	41	23	266	3	0
	1997-09-13	Georgia	40	21	275	2	2
	1997-09-20	East Carolina	21	10	137	2	1
	1997-09-27	Mississippi State	38	24	266	2	1
	1997-10-04	Auburn	35	20	178	0	0
	1997-10-11	Kentucky	27	15	223	3	0
	1997-10-18	Arkansas	21	15	188	4	1
	1997-10-25	Vanderbilt	25	10	134	2	0
	1997-11-01	Tennessee	4	1	18	0	0
1998	1998-09-05	Ball State	21	14	180	3	0
	1998-09-12	Georgia	16	6	29	0	2
	1998-09-19	Marshall	33	19	280	1	2
	1998-09-26	Mississippi State	14	4	77	0	0
	1998-10-03	Mississippi	40	26	307	2	1
	1998-10-10	Kentucky	29	11	219	1	0
	1998-10-17	Arkansas	27	14	170	2	1
	1998-10-24	Vanderbilt	36	23	279	1	0
	1998-10-31	Tennessee	13	7	109	0	1
	1998-11-14	Florida	20	11	97	0	1
	1998-11-21	Clemson	24	10	152	0	2

Scoring Plays
Date	Opponent	Qtr	Time	USC	Opp	Play
1995-10-07	Kent State	3	04:48	56	0	Zola Davis, 37-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Reed Morton kick)
1995-10-07	Kent State	3	03:43	63	0	Mike Reddick, 14-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Reed Morton kick)
1996-09-07	Central Florida	1	00:07	23	7	Marcus Robinson, 7-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-09-14	Georgia	1	06:32	7	0	Corey Bridges, 22-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-09-28	Mississippi State	2	14:48	7	0	Corey Bridges, 77-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-10-05	Auburn	1	01:18	7	0	Anthony Wright, 5-yd run (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-10-05	Auburn	3	11:03	14	14	Calvin Owens, 2-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-10-05	Auburn	3	06:22	21	14	Ben Fleming, 22-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-10-12	Kentucky	3	01:42	11	14	Duce Staley, 1-yd run (Jason Lawson pass from Anthony Wright)
1996-10-12	Kentucky	4	03:16	25	14	Corey Bridges, 27-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-10-19	Arkansas	2	02:02	14	10	Zola Davis, 8-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-11-02	Tennessee	3	04:23	14	21	Trevon Matthews, 2-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1996-11-16	Florida	1	08:57	6	0	Anthony Wright, 7-yd run (kick failed)
1996-11-16	Florida	2	09:59	12	21	Anthony Wright, 8-yd run (run failed)
1997-09-06	Central Florida	1	08:10	7	7	Kerry Hood, 21-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-09-06	Central Florida	2	12:34	14	7	Kerry Hood, 32-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-09-06	Central Florida	3	04:33	20	24	Anthony Wright, 3-yd run (kick blocked)
1997-09-06	Central Florida	4	07:54	33	24	Jermale Kelly, 6-yd pass from Anthony Wright (kick failed)
1997-09-13	Georgia	1	06:46	6	7	Zola Davis, 19-yd pass from Anthony Wright (kick failed)
1997-09-13	Georgia	4	13:39	12	31	Jermale Kelly, 19-yd pass from Anthony Wright (pass failed)
1997-09-20	East Carolina	1	05:16	10	0	Kerry Hood, 41-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-09-20	East Carolina	2	00:21	17	0	Jacob Bush, 20-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-09-27	Mississippi State	2	10:22	10	7	Kerry Hood, 21-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-09-27	Mississippi State	2	00:21	17	17	Zola Davis, 10-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-11	Kentucky	2	08:42	14	14	Kerry Hood, 12-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-11	Kentucky	3	00:43	31	24	Jermale Kelly, 26-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-11	Kentucky	4	06:13	38	24	Jermale Kelly, 26-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-18	Arkansas	1	02:11	6	0	Trevon Matthews, 30-yd pass from Anthony Wright (kick failed)
1997-10-18	Arkansas	2	02:27	18	7	Jermale Kelly, 21-yd pass from Anthony Wright (pass failed)
1997-10-18	Arkansas	3	05:11	25	13	Boo Williams, 45-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-18	Arkansas	4	07:54	39	13	Jermale Kelly, 5-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-25	Vanderbilt	2	03:23	14	0	Jermale Kelly, 13-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1997-10-25	Vanderbilt	4	10:00	35	3	Jermale Kelly, 8-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Steve Florio kick)
1998-09-05	Ball State	1	11:13	7	0	Zola Davis, 9-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-09-05	Ball State	1	05:22	14	0	Steve Mixon, 15-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-09-05	Ball State	2	12:50	21	7	Jermale Kelly, 11-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-09-19	Marshall	2	03:20	10	7	Anthony Wright, 1-yd run (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-09-19	Marshall	4	11:38	17	21	Kerry Hood, 8-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-03	Mississippi	2	12:20	14	7	Zola Davis, 16-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-03	Mississippi	2	00:36	21	16	Jermale Kelly, 9-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-03	Mississippi	4	10:57	28	24	Anthony Wright, 13-yd run (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-10	Kentucky	2	06:36	14	7	Boo Williams, 62-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-17	Arkansas	1	08:07	7	0	Ben Fleming, 17-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-17	Arkansas	4	04:25	28	41	Trevon Matthews, 2-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-10-24	Vanderbilt	2	10:34	14	7	Zola Davis, 27-yd pass from Anthony Wright (Courtney Leavitt kick)
1998-11-21	Clemson	1	10:41	7	0	Anthony Wright, 4-yd run (Courtney Leavitt kick)