COLUMBIA — South Carolina football's new starting kicker Alex Herrera knows the Gamecocks well.

Growing up in Columbia, Herrera was a Gamecocks fan and went to games at Williams-Brice Stadium. After playing for Spring Valley High School, he committed to South Carolina in December 2018 as a walk-on.

But for his first five seasons with the Gamecocks he was limited to kicking four extra points and some kickoff duties. He was always on the losing end of the competition to kick field goals.

Still, he wasn't going anywhere else.

"I went to high school 20 minutes away, I grew up coming to games when I was little, I've always loved South Carolina," Herrera said last month. "I'm not a quitter, it's never been me to say, 'Oh I didn't win the job, let me go ahead and quit,' I just kept working and working."

Results turned out to be different for the 2024 season. Herrera won the job.

Herrera finally got the chance to kick a field goal for South Carolina, and his first three turned out to be crucial in the Gamecocks' 23-19 win Saturday against Old Dominion.

He will get his first chance to kick field goals in an SEC game when the Gamecocks play at Kentucky on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).

The starting job opened when Mitch Jeter transferred to Notre Dame in December.

Jeter was the Gamecocks' No. 1 kicker for three seasons after Parker White's five-season stint as the starter. Herrera arrived at South Carolina in 2019 and sat behind both.

During the winter, Herrera bruised his heel bone, which kept him out for some of the spring. This August, Herrera battled in preseason practice against William Joyce, Mason Love, Daniel Lester and Peyton Argent. Herrera was the only one with experience.

At first, coach Shane Beamer wasn't too impressed with any kicker and said there was zero separation between any of his options.

By the second scrimmage, Beamer said Herrera kicked well, then last week, Herrera was named the starter.

"It was a struggle for all of them at the start then Alex just showed hopefully what we can get from him the whole season because he really had a great two weeks at the end of (preseason practice)," special teams coach Joe DeCamillis said.

Herrera made 3-of-4 field goals against the Monarchs, with the longest coming in at 46 yards. Herrera missed a 48-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

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In the spring, he was put on scholarship, and on Aug. 24, he was awarded 2024 The Jake Panus Walk-on Football Scholarship. The scholarship was created honor the Panus, who died at 16. Panus had a goal to walk on to South Carolina's football team. His father Stephen Panus presented Herrera with the award.

In a post on X, Panus wrote, "Alex represents Jake’s leadership, grit, grace & resilience."

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football: Alex Herrera waits 5 years for field goal