South Carolina Football: Gamecocks land late night commitment from big transfer portal defensive end
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina football, arguably, has its thinnest position group at EDGE. The Gamecocks have several players in the position group that are very intriguing, but no one in the room is both “proven” and fully healthy.
Projected started Jordan Strachan is the most proven player, but the seventh-year senior is coming off of a torn ACL suffered early last season.
Syracuse transfer Jatius Geer played most of last season as a starter for the Orange, but starting at Syracuse is a bit different than playing significant snaps in the SEC.
Tyreek Johnson has had a good summer and fall camp, but the senior has battled injuries his whole career and hasn’t played much under the lights.
Desmond Umeozulu, though extremely talented, is a true freshman.
Bryan Thomas, Jr. and Donovan Westmoreland are unproven pass rush-only type players who have a lot of potential to get after quarterbacks but have not done it in games yet.
Needless to say, the Gamecocks had irons in the fire this offseason with some more transfer portal options.
Late Saturday night, one of these targets decided to commit to South Carolina football.
Drew Tuazama, another former Syracuse Orange defensive end, pledged his services to Shane Beamer’s program.
Tuazama began his career at Syracuse before moving down to the JuCo level. He re-emerged at UAB and had a very nice 2022 season in which he had 5 sacks and 6 more tackles for loss for the Blazers.
Tuazama, because he had already utilized his free transfer, did not enter the portal until he graduated from UAB a couple of weeks ago.
It didn’t take long for Tuazama to find his new home with the Gamecocks.
At 6’5” and 275 pounds, he is a true defensive end with enough size to be more than just a pass rusher.
Because of his late transfer, it is doubtful that Tuazama will play a big role early, but the Gamecocks will need him to contribute this season. According to the Raleigh, North Carolina native, he has two seasons of eligibility remaining.