A multiple sport athlete in high school, Suggs turned down offers from Davidson College and the New York Mets in order to attend the University of South Carolina.

The following season, he was named the team's most valuable player and participated in the Blue–Gray Football Classic all-star game, for which he also received MVP honors.

He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and has since been involved in the banking and insurance industries in South Carolina, having served in executive roles with several different companies.

[1] While Suggs had been a fan of the Clemson Tigers as a child, he pursued the University of South Carolina because he wanted to major in their business program and because he liked their head coach, Paul Dietzel.

[8] Additionally, in all three years that Suggs played, the Gamecocks never lost a game against the Clemson Tigers, as part of their rivalry.

[10] During his time at South Carolina, Suggs was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was a public speaker at many of the association's events.

[1][6] In the early 1970s, Dietzel offered Suggs a position as a sports commentator for the football program's radio broadcasts.

[3][6] Dietzel had selected Suggs in part because he wanted to mimic the format of the recently debuted Monday Night Football program, which featured a former player as the color commentator.

[1][11] Suggs felt that the fanfare could be played during Gamecocks games and pitched the idea to head coach Jim Carlen.

[8] In 2014, the university's athletics department stated in an article on their website that Suggs is "[r]egarded as one of the school's all-time greatest quarterbacks".

[8] In 2017, The Post and Courier ranked him as the fourth greatest quarterback in the university's history, behind Connor Shaw, Steve Taneyhill, and Todd Ellis,[13] while a 2021 poll conducted by The State listed Suggs on their "Mount Rushmore" of South Carolina's four greatest quarterbacks, alongside Ellis, Shaw, and Taneyhill.

[6] On January 30, 2020, the South Carolina Broadcasters Association recognized his then-47-year career as color commentator with an Honorary Life Membership in the group.

[10] Aside from his work with the university, Suggs has also been involved with numerous civic groups, including the South Carolina Nature Conservancy and the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, serving as the president of the latter.