South Carolina Football: Gamecocks land big-time EDGE transfer

In a quick tweet that sent Gamecock Nation into an online frenzy, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer tweeted out his patented #WelcomeHome to signify a commitment to the Gamecock football program. However, detail-oriented Carolina fans noticed that the tweet also included the hashtag #AboveAllEl23 (Above All Else) to indicate that the commitment was for the 2023 recruiting class instead of the 2024 class.

Shortly after the Beamer tweet, South Carolina football’s mystery commitment was a mystery no longer.

Jatius “JT” Geer, a big-time athlete from Syracuse, announced his commitment to the Gamecocks. Geer is a South Carolina native from Belton-Honea Path High School who did not get enough attention out of high school and, therefore, went underrecruited. However, he flashed some very good potential as an EDGE player while at Syracuse, so when he entered the transfer portal this offseason, he immediately became a major target for South Carolina.

Geer will instantly fill a position of need for the Gamecocks as two of the top-three defensive ends from 2022 left via the transfer portal, and the third (Jordan Strachan) is recovering from a torn ACL. Despite enrolling this summer and being a sophomore, Geer will have an opportunity to earn a starting position in Columbia, a role he also won at Syracuse before his transfer.

At 6’6″ and 235 pounds, Geer is a bit thin for the position but owns a frame that should be able to add some good weight pretty easily. He is a plus-athlete as a defensive end and should play a prominent role for the Gamecock defense in 2023.

South Carolina is also in on a few other transfer portal players. Now having addressed the defensive end position, running back seems to be the most likely position at which the Gamecocks may add a transfer. The most notable targets are Notre Dame defection Logan Diggs and NC State transfer Demie Sumo-Karngbaye. Diggs was on campus for an official visit last week and seems to be deciding between South Carolina and LSU, though Ole Miss is involved, as well.