South Carolina Football: Gamecocks pick up a commitment on huge transfer portal recruiting weekend

South Carolina Football helmet. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
South Carolina Football helmet. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

South Carolina football fans entered this weekend with a high level of anticipation as some elite talents from the transfer portal were on campus for recruiting visits.

Some of the visitors who fans had their eyes on this weekend included former 5-star prospect LT Overton (defensive line, Texas A&M), Rocket Sanders (running back, Arkansas), Jayden McGowan (wide receiver, Vanderbilt), Jerome Simmons (defensive tackle, Highland Community College), and Gerald Kilgore (defensive back, Tennessee Tech).

All of those prospects (and maybe even a few others) like the Gamecocks enough to be on some level of “commit watch,” and all reports from the program this weekend have indicated that most of the prospects in town enjoyed their visit, so when South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer put out one of his patented #WelcomeHome tweets on Sunday afternoon, it didn’t come as a surprise to Gamecock fans.

Nothing official has come out regarding which player committed, but Beamer added the #AboveAllEl23 to his message, indicating that the player might have been part of the ’23 recruiting cycle. However, none of the notable players visiting the program were part of the 2023 class (unless one counts LT Overton who ended up reclassifying to 2022).

Jawarn Howell (running back, South Carolina State) was a class of 2023 high school product who recently picked up a Gamecock offer after entering the transfer portal, but he was not scheduled to be on campus this weekend.

With nothing but speculation to go on, Gamecock fans will have to wait for an announcement to learn the latest player committed to their favorite program.

Beamer’s Tweet also included the claim that he has “got a good feeling we’ve got more coming from the guys here the last 2 days.” The Gamecock headman is optimistic that more positive results will come from this weekend’s efforts, so more #WelcomeHome tweets could be incoming ahead of the Early Signing Period that begins on December 20th.