Former South Carolina football defender signs with new professional team

On Monday, TRI Sports Agency announced that South Carolina football alum Jordan Strachan (a client of the agency) had signed a new professional contract with the Edmonton Elks (formerly Eskimos) of the Canadian Football League.

The former Gamecock defensive end and outside linebacker had spent a brief time in the NFL this offseason after earning training camp invitations from the Tennessee Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs but didn't make the roster with either team.

Now with the Elks, Strachan will join one of the most historic franchises in the long history of the CFL. Edmonton has won more Grey Cups (the Canadian Football League's equivalent of the Super Bowl) than every team other than the Toronto Argonauts. Hard times have come for the Elks of late, though, so Strachan will be part of the team's efforts to return to their standard of winning.

Strachan, who began his seven-year college football career with four seasons as part of the Georgia State Panthers program before transferring to Columbia for three years with the South Carolina Gamecocks, provides length and athleticism to the EDGE room in Edmonton. He also is in his second year following ACL reconstruction in 2022, the season in which most players who tear their ACLs return to 100% physical form.

During his South Carolina football career, Jordan Strachan accumulated 52 tackles, 8 sacks, and 16 tackles for loss. He also forced 2 fumbles (both on strip sacks), knocked away 3 passes, and had an interception. His best single-game performance came in his second-to-last contest at Williams-Brice Stadium. Against the Kentucky Wildcats, Strachan was the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week as he picked up 2 sacks, including a strip sack that sealed the game as fellow defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway snatched the loose ball out of the air.