Juggling three boys was a tall task for Tammy and James Kilgore Sr. Putting all their boys in the same sports just made sense.
The Kilgore brothers got used to playing with each other on the same teams. Gerald and Jalon Kilgore spent their childhood partnering up, even off the field, against their older brother when any brotherly rivalry arose.
As they got older, it became harder to keep the brothers on the same team, especially when it came to college, since Gerald was over a year older than Jalon. Despite starting their college football careers apart, Gerald and Jalon have been reunited on South Carolina’s football team.
Growing up, Jalon had to play up in an older division for the boys to stay together.
“He was, like I said, 16 months behind Gerald, but he was such an athlete that he could play on those teams with Gerald's friends,” James Sr. said. “He could play with Gerald's friends and still start, and he would be one of the best players on the team.”
The boys did everything together, from school and sports to church activities. When the boys got to middle school, James Sr. said he took a job in the school system that allowed him to coach the boys during the school year and even train them together over summer break.
As the Kilgore brothers grew up, they played four sports. Tammy and James Sr. knew they could not stay together forever. But their parents said even when they were on different teams, they were often at the same complex, but on different fields.
“I can remember days where my wife would sit at the game with Jalon, and I said, ‘Well, just call me on the phone when he gets ready to bat,'” James Sr. said. “So then I would run across the complex and then go over there and watch him bat and then cheer him on. Then I'd run back to the other side, and I'd go back over when Gerald was getting ready to bat, and I'd be there for him to watch him.”
While they always had sports in common growing up and through high school, their journeys to collegiate football were very different. Gerald and Jalon's eldest brother by three years, James Jr., had gone through the recruiting process for cross country at Clayton State. Gerald was the first to be recruited to play collegiate football since he was older than Jalon.
Gerald played as a quarterback through high school and was eventually committed to Georgia Southern. After Georgia Southern fired its head coach during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerald was informed the team was moving in another direction and ceased his recruitment.
Gerald had already shut down his recruitment to other schools, so he landed at Tennessee Tech, a mid-major school. There, Gerald began the transition to play cornerback. His father said his greatest gift has always been adaptation.
“Gerald was the most talented (brother) as far as everything came easy to him,” James said. “When he goes out there, they're thinking, well, he's changed from quarterback to safety. It doesn't matter because, with him, he adapts so well.”
Jalon (#7) and Gerald (#8) pose for a photo while holding footballs. Both brothers were on their recreational football team, the Redskins, which reached the championship game and finished second overall.
After redshirting his freshman year, Gerald recorded 37 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups in one season. His performance proved to be enough to attract the eyes of the South Carolina coaching staff.
But South Carolina wasn’t new to the Kilgore family. While Gerald had already gone through his recruiting process and was well into college, Jalon’s was in its early stages. Michigan was next on the list to visit the weekend after Jalon’s recruitment trip with the Gamecocks, but he didn’t go. He knew South Carolina where he was needed to be.
"(Jalon) came in, and he said, ‘Mom and dad, I woke up, I was praying, and I've made my decision that I'm going to South Carolina,’” Tammy said. “We said, ‘You sure?’ But down on the inside, I'm jumping for joy. Because that’s right here near home, it’s not that bad of a drive. I love the environment.”
As Jalon started his first year in the secondary with South Carolina, Gerald earned a regular role with Tennessee Tech at cornerback. With both boys in college, Tammy and James Sr. couldn't race from one end of the park to the other to catch glimpses of their sons. They had to get creative to show their support.
The pair made a decision that one of them would always attend home games, but not away games, to be fair to both boys. A two and a half hour drive to South Carolina and four and a half hour drive to Tennessee Tech became a weekly routine for the Kilgores.
When James Sr., now a pastor, had to drive to a night game at Tennessee Tech, he would stay the night to wake up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. He had to make it back to Eatonton, Georgia, and be at church ready to preach by 10 a.m.
Being apart forced them to miss other hallmark moments, like Jalon’s first play as a Gamecock in a game against North Carolina on Sept. 2, 2023. While they were at the game in Charlotte, they watched Gerald play on a livestream on the phone.
“That was tough,” James Sr. said. “Last year, I was like, we can’t go through that again.”
They don’t have to anymore. After his breakthrough redshirt freshman year, Gerald entered the transfer portal and committed to South Carolina. Reuniting the brothers after their time apart was a huge benefit to the Kilgore family.
“It was a family-type environment,” Tammy said. “And so that's what helped us to really like South Carolina, because of that family feeling. So we knew that if he went off to that school that they still had some of the values that we taught here at home, that it was still being taught there in South Carolina.”
Those family values built by head coach Shane Beamer and his coaching staff allowed Tammy and James Sr. to put all their trust into the program. Beamer said it is an honor to coach both brothers.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore felt confident enough in me as a head coach and us as a program, to not just have one son here, but to send a second here is very cool and really humbling for me in a lot of ways,” Beamer said. “Awesome family, and both of those guys make us better.”
Jalon explained the reunion as something that was “natural, how it's supposed to be”. However, being Gamecocks doesn't just bring the brothers together on the field. The Kilgore family can now watch their boys together in the stands.
“My parents are super excited, so they can just go to one location now and don’t have to split every weekend,” Gerald said. “We can get a lot of family here now. It's been really exciting.”
Both Jalon and Gerald will receive four tickets each for their family to come and support South Carolina. James Sr. said family members are already deciding when to see the boys compete together again in Columbia.
“So everybody’s lined up. ‘I’m going to this game. I’m going to that game. I'm going to go to the LSU game. I want to go to the Alabama game.’ And so we got a little spreadsheet going, and we're marking down everybody's name so we don't over-give tickets,” James Sr. said.
As Tammy and James Sr. start to arrange their travel arrangements for both home and away games this year, Gerald is settling into South Carolina with the help of his brother. Their bond is already working its magic back in Columbia.
“I'm seeing it, I'm watching it now, how his spirit is and his joy that he has about South Carolina that I'm like, ‘Yeah, it's going to be something special,’” James Sr. said. “It should be something special to see.”