South Carolina Gamecocks News: Basketball wins and an update on the transfer portal

The latest South Carolina Gamecocks News from the last week, starting with an update on the chaos that is the Transfer Portal. *Transfer portal news is valid as of 9:00 AM on Monday, December 4th*

South Carolina football has had double-digit players either announce their intention to transfer from the program or reported as planning their transfer:

The biggest name heading to the portal from the Gamecock roster is wide receiver Juice Wells. Wells made his intentions public (though they’d been known for several days) with a graphic on social media.

Fellow wide receivers Kylic Horton, Landon Samson, Zavier Short, and O’Mega Blake are all entering the transfer portal. Only Horton has announced this publicly. Blake is the only one of these players who has seen much time on the field.

Reserve quarterbacks Tanner Bailey and Colten Gauthier both announced publicly their plans to transfer from the Gamecocks.

Defensive back KaJuan Banks is planning to transfer. He showed some flashes over two seasons with the Gamecocks, but for whatever reason, he didn’t see the amount of playing time that many thought he deserved. He announced his transfer intentions on social media.

Defensive tackles Felix Hixon and D’Andre Martin are both going to enter the transfer portal to look for a new opportunity. Neither player saw much action for the Gamecocks, but Martin played his highest number of snaps at the end of 2023.

EDGE/Linebacker Donovan Westmoreland is also leaving the program. Westmoreland didn’t play much in two seasons in Columbia and announced his plans to leave on social media.

Kicker Mitch Jeter is planning to play elsewhere in 2024. He was reported as a transfer portal casualty last week but made his plans known to the public over the weekend. By the numbers, he is the most accurate kicker in South Carolina football history.

A couple of notable Gamecocks announced their plans to return to Columbia, as well.

Defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, who had been considering both the NFL and the transfer portal, announced on Sunday night that he planned to return to the South Carolina football program with a graphic that read “Run it back!”

After Jeter’s defection was reported, punter Kai Kroeger released a statement that he was returning.

As expected, two Gamecocks with eligibility are moving on to pursue their NFL dreams.

Quarterback Spencer Rattler and defensive back Marcellas Dial are both going pro.

Rattler, who had a “Covid redshirt” available to him, is expected to be taken in the top half of the NFL Draft.

Dial could have pursued an additional year with a waiver from the NCAA but elected to go pro. He is expected to be taken late in the draft of to be an undrafted free agent.

The South Carolina basketball programs are both undefeated. The University of South Carolina is one of just four schools at the Division-1 level that have an undefeated women’s basketball team and an undefeated men’s basketball team.

Dawn Staley’s squad went 2-0 on the week with two wins on Tobacco Road. A 16-point victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Duke and an “ugly win” over the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill propelled the Gamecocks to 7-0.

Lamont Paris’ team also went 2-0 on the week to push their record to 7-0. The men knocked off Notre Dame by double-digits in the ACC/SEC Challenge and smacked by 22 points a George Washington team that was off to their best start in almost a decade.

Some Gamecock alums had big days in the NFL.

It starts with Deebo Samuel as the former Gamecock great logged almost 140 yards of offense and 3 touchdowns on just 7 touches. His San Francisco 49ers blew out the Philadelphia Eagles, a team who owned the NFL’s best record.

In the same game, former USC defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw picked up 2 sacks for the 49ers.

Keisean Nixon had an interception and 5 tackles in the Green Bay Packers’ upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs.