Herschel Walker was used to carrying a football for five or 10 yards – but what if he had to carry it for 167 miles?

That’s what Sigma Nu fraternity brothers from the University and the University of South Carolina are up to right now.

The chapters are working together to run the 167 miles between Columbia, S.C., and Athens to deliver the game ball for Saturday’s showdown between the Bulldogs and Gamecocks.

“Each brother will be expected to run a mile,” said Wes Robinson, a sophomore from Roswell and philanthropy chair for Sigma Nu, in a phone interview Tuesday. “Every brother will be involved. We really want to get it done.”

The University’s chapter teamed up with the Sigma Nu chapter at South Carolina for its annual “Gameball Run” event.

“We will start from Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, [S.C.],” said Allen Hotchkiss, philanthropy chair for the South Carolina Sigma Nu chapter, in a phone interview Tuesday.

The fraternity brothers left South Carolina Thursday at 5 p.m. for the 94-mile run along Route 1 to Augusta. They will run along the highway with a police escort and a charter bus until reaching Augusta. Each brother will run a mile before handing the ball off to another brother.

“Once the USC guys get to Augusta, they will hand it off to us,” Robinson said. “We will be in Augusta at 6 a.m. on Friday to run the ball to Athens.”

The University chapter will complete their leg of the run by tonight, wrapping up the 167-mile trip from Columbia, S.C., to Athens – the equivalent of nearly 3,000 football field lengths.

The last time the “Gameball Run” was held between the University and South Carolina was in the mid-1980s.