COLUMBIA, S.C. — Growing up in Pelion, Justin Stepp made more than a few trips to Williams-Brice Stadium to watch South Carolina in action. Those trips were made after a Friday night of playing football with his twin brother Josh who was the quarterback at Pelion High School. With Justin running precise routs, the Stepp brothers would go on to be two of the most decorated athletes in Pelion history and they played a major role in putting Pelion football on the map with an undefeated regular season in their senior season.
They would go on to play in the Shrine Bowl and initially both signed to play football at Furman. Josh would transfer to Newberry College where he would become a record-setting quarterback for that program. Justin would remain in Greenville where he became a two-time All-Southern Conference selection and left as Furman's fourth all-time leading receiver where he still keeps in touch with former head coach Bobby Lamb.
"I tell him all the time, 'if you like first downs and touchdowns, I was your guy'," Stepp said.
Stepp says playing with his twin brother in high school was something he will always treasure. That set the table for his career at Furman and he says his four years in Greenville laid the foundation for his coaching career which began in 2007 as wide receiver coach/strength and conditioning coach at Fort Mill High School.
His first job as a college coach took him to North Greenville where he was the receivers coach/recruiting coordinator for former Newberry College head coach Mike Taylor. Stepp would go to Clemson as a graduate assistant where he first hooked up with Chad Morris who was the Tigers' quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. After a three year stint at Appalachian State from 2012-2014, Stepp would join Morris' staff at SMU and then he would follow Morris to Arkansas. Justin would be retained by Sam Pittman and was more than content to stay in Fayetteville but when Shane Beamer was looking for a wide receivers coach, Stepp leaped at the chance to return home.
"Everybody's got nice buildings, everybody's got nice stuff to sell. That's what college football is. It's an arms race with facilities and weight rooms and players lounges and all that other stuff," Stepp said.
"But it's about the people in the building that make the difference. I think, number one, I fit that with Coach Beamer and what he wanted in his staff. Guys that are highly energetic, that love to recruit, that have a love for this university, a passion for this university and take a lot of pride in their job."
Stepp and the new Gamecock coaching staff will be on the field Sunday when the Garnet and Black Game kicks off at 2:00 p.m.