Former USC Gamecock lands his first high school head coaching job in Florida

Former South Carolina receiver Ace Sanders has landed his first high school football head coaching job.

Sanders was named the new head football coach at Bayshore High School in Bradenton, Florida, the school announced Thursday. He replaces Jamaal Sanders, who stepped down after four seasons to take a position outside of coaching.

Sanders was a standout for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina and played in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played receiver for the Gamecocks from 2010-12 and finished his career with 99 catches for 1,230 yards.

Sanders played high school football at Manatee High School in Bradenton and has been a youth coach in the area since retiring from football. Sanders helped train, learn and work on their games under a program called Friday Night Lights in Manatee County.

“I’m up here trying to do a lot of stuff with the programs,” Sanders said in 2020. “Getting more activities brought to the programs ... just trying to get it back on track to what it used to be like when I was growing up. We didn’t really have too many kids coming out and doing stuff, getting active. You know, (it’s an) electronic world now, so trying to get back to what it took for us to get to the level to what we were at.”

In college, Sanders had a career-high nine touchdowns in 2012 for USC and was the MVP of the 2013 Outback Bowl in which he caught nine passes for 92 yards and returned a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Jaguars selected him in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played for Jacksonville for two seasons and caught 57 passes for 593 yards and a TD.