South Carolina Football: Gamecocks make top-3 for transfer portal player at position of need

South Carolina football lost starting left tackle Jaylen Nichols to a serious knee injury during the Garnet and Black Spring Game in April. While no official details about what happened have come out, Nichols’ injury is serious enough that coach Shane Beamer said Nichols would miss significant time and “might” be back for the end of the season.

Nichols was one of the most experienced linemen on the team and was the projected starter protecting Spencer Rattler’s blindside. With him on the shelf, it has been expected that Jakai Moore might slide out to left tackle to fill the void. Whether that ends up happening or not, Nichols’ absence creates depth and fit issues on the line of scrimmage for the Gamecocks.

Carolina has since added two preferred walk-on offensive linemen through the transfer portal in experienced players Jaxon Hughes (from Charlotte) and Ni Mansell (from Mercer). Now, it appears the Gamecocks could add a scholarship transfer to the offensive line room.

On Monday, Coffeyville Community College offensive tackle Kevin Kalonji released his top-3 transfer destinations via his personal Twitter account.

Kalonji’s top-3 consists of South Carolina, Maryland, and Houston. Until this announcement, it had not been reported anywhere that South Carolina football had been recruiting Kalonji or had offered him a scholarship. If the Gamecocks truly are in on the big, 330-pound tackle, they will be fighting against the two teams in Maryland and Houston that have been recruiting him for longer.

Kalonji has taken official visits already to both Maryland and Houston, and the junior college transfer is originally from the state of Maryland. He was part of the high school class of 2020 and has two more years of eligibility remaining.

As the addition of South Carolina football to Kalonji’s recruitment is new, recruiting services like On3 do not have the Gamecocks listed as part of his decision-making process.