Jake Helfrich’s freshman season at the University of South Carolina is on hold.
The walk-on quarterback from Charlotte posted on his Twitter account Wednesday that he undergo heart surgery next week.
“I never thought I would be having heart surgery at 18 but I believe God makes no mistakes,” Helfrich wrote. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I am used to dealing with adversity and fighting against things not in my favor. God-willing I will be back.”
Chad Grier, Helfrich’s high school coach this season at Providence Day in Charlotte, said the heart condition was something he was born with but wasn’t discovered until he arrived in Columbia a few weeks ago with the Gamecocks’ other summer enrollees.
“Thankful they caught it and prayerful for a complete and fast recovery,” Grier said.
Helfrich announced in January that he will be a preferred walk-on with the Gamecocks. He also had walk-on offers from Coastal Carolina, Eastern Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Being a preferred walk-on guarantees a recruit a spot on the roster but no financial assistance to start his college career. The status also allows the walk-on to enroll and participate in preseason workouts at the same time as scholarship athletes.
This season, Helfrich completed 57.1% of his passes and threw for 1,275 yards and 11 touchdowns in the six-game season shortened because of COVID-19. Providence Day and other N.C. private schools were able to have their seasons in the fall, while N.C. public schools had theirs pushed to the spring because of the pandemic.
South Carolina has three scholarship quarterbacks on its roster in sophomore Luke Doty, freshman Colten Gauthier and senior Jason Brown, who transferred to USC from St. Francis (Pennsylvania), an FCS school. The Gamecocks also have walk-on Connor Jordan on the roster.