South Carolina Football: Gamecocks pick up intriguing commitment from Tennessee

The South Carolina football team has been in the news a lot lately for recruiting reasons. Picking up big-time commitments, hosting talented players on visits, and being included in lists of finalists for elite prospects has become the norm for the Gamecock football program. On Monday, Shane Beamer’s squad added a couple of different types of commitment.

In the morning, it was announced that former Gamecock defensive tackle Travian Robertson would be returning to Columbia as the defensive line coach to replace the outgoing Jimmy Lindsey.

Just a bit later, South Carolina football added a later-than-usual class of 2023 commitment from an intriguing prospect.

2023 offensive lineman Campbell Vandiver committed to the Gamecocks as a preferred walk-on. Vandiver is a late addition to the 2023 class and was an unranked prospect, but he had some interest from several division-1 programs while going through the recruiting process. Vandiver is a large man at 6’7″ and 280 pounds but was athletic enough to play EDGE for part of his high school career at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee.

From the heart of Vanderbilt Commodore and Tennessee Volunteer country, Vandiver received other preferred walk-on opportunities from programs like Louisville, Cincinnati, Florida State, Auburn, and Duke and had several scholarship offers from smaller schools.

Based on Vandiver’s size and high school experience, tackle seems to be his future position. The Gamecocks are somewhat thin at the position currently with assumed starter Jaylen Nichols likely missing the entire 2023 season with a knee injury. Vandiver certainly won’t be in a position to battle for playing time this fall, but with other tackles moving one step up the depth chart due to Nichols’ absence, perhaps Vadiver could get some needed practice reps that would help earn a scholarship or even be ready to play in the future.

Vandiver will join tight end Maurice Brown II (already enrolled and on campus) and kicker/punter Peyton Argent in the preferred walk-on class of 2023. The Gamecocks lost two preferred walk-ons (offensive linemen Colin Henrich and Jackson Hall) to the transfer portal during the spring transfer portal window.