Former South Carolina football starter gets new professional contract

Did you know that there is a professional football league in Mexico? No, not futbol. Football. La Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional is an American football league in Mexico that started in 2016. Now, South Carolina football fans have a reason to know a little something about the league down south.

This week, former Gamecock safety Devonni Reed was signed to the Reyes de Jalisco (Kings of Reyes) in the LFA.

After starting for most of four seasons at Central Michigan, Reed committed to the Gamecocks through the transfer portal and played his fifth year of college football as a member of the South Carolina football program, utilizing the "Covid redshirt" to have an extra year of eligibility. Reed was a starter for most of the 2022 season in Columbia. He started 48 of his 54 career games.

In his five-year collegiate career, Reed tallied over 300 total tackles (including 39 of them as a Gamecock), and he was a two-time All-Mac player at Central Michigan. Despite ceding some of his safety snaps to other talented players at times, Reed ranked in the top-10 in tackles on a defense that had a lot of future NFL talents playing alongside him.

While primarily known as a run support player, Reed also collected three interceptions (plus one that was called back by a penalty away from the ball while at Carolina).

During his time in garnet and black, Reed played in a loaded Gamecock secondary. Playing alongside two Freshman All-American safeties (Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith) and three All-SEC corners (Cam Smith and Darius Rush in 2022 and Marcellas Dial who earned the honor in 2023), the Gamecocks had a log jam of talent in the defensive backfield.

Reed was selected to play in the Tropical Bowl collegiate postseason all-star game, and he will get his chance to play professionally this year with Reyes de Jalisco.