• Trey Adkins, a delivery driver for Marco’s Pizza and walk-on wide receiver for the University of South Carolina, is saying goodbye to pies to focus on football.
• Marco’s honored Adkins, now a scholarship player, by sending 160 free pizzas to the Gamecocks locker room after a recent practice.

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As a walk-on player for the South Carolina Gamecocks, wide receiver Trey Adkins has been delivering pies for a local Marco’s Pizza store to pay his tuition. But Adkins received a surprise for his senior year: he is now a scholarship player, and his days as a delivery driver, it seems, are over.

But the Marco’s Pizza store that employed Adkins isn’t complaining. Instead, the store hailed his “huge accomplishment” and rewarded the entire team by sending over 160 pizzas after a recent practice.

“The Marco’s team appreciates the hard work Adkins has provided, delivering pizzas three to four days per week [and] averaging 30 miles a shift,” the company said. “Hard work pays off on the field and off—and while the Marco’s team is sad to see him go, they accept his resignation as he moves on from delivering pizzas to delivering touchdowns.”

Adkins walked on to the South Carolina program in 2018 but didn’t see any action until 2019. He has appeared in 10 games and caught five passes for 78 yards. As a student-athlete, he earned All-SEC academic honors while working at his job with Marco’s.

Gamecocks Head Coach Shane Beamer said the team had a few scholarships left for the coming season and that Adkins had earned one of them.

“You don’t need to … deliver pizzas to pay for your tuition,” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer told Adkins in an emotionally charged moment. “Because you are on scholarship.” Adkins’ teammates mobbed him after the announcement, hugging him and patting him on the back.