South Carolina football has attacked the transfer portal in a big way this offseason. More than any other positions on the field, the running back and wide receiver rooms now look drastically different than they did before the transfer portal opened.
After losing starting running back Mario Anderson (Memphis), the Gamecocks added Rocket Sanders (Arkansas), Oscar Adaway (North Texas), and Jawarn Howell (South Carolina State) to restock the ball-carrying coffers for whoever will be the Gamecocks’ new running backs coach–in case you missed it, Montario Hardesty was let go earlier in the week.
At receiver, Carolina lost Juice Wells (Ole Miss), O’Mega Blake (East Carolina), and undecided players Landon Samson, Zavier Short, and Kylic Horton. However, wide receivers coach Justin Stepp has some new toys to play with as speedy receivers Jared Brown (Coastal Carolina), Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (Louisville), and Gage Larvadain (Miami (OH)) joined the program through the transfer portal.
Right around the time of Larvadain’s announcement on Friday evening, another Carolina receiver target announced his own college choice.
AggieLand😤Let’s Work!!! #GigEm 👍 pic.twitter.com/8a9WGB9ngH
— JabreBarber (@JabreBarber) January 6, 2024
Troy transfer Jabre Barber will be at Texas A&M next fall, joining former South Carolina football tight end commitment Brady Hunt, who flipped his transfer portal pledge from the Gamecocks to the Aggies earlier this week. New head coach Mike Elko has Texas A&M recruiting the transfer portal very aggressively as evidenced by their pick-ups of Hunt and Barber.
With the Gamecocks adding three receivers already, it doesn’t seem like the position is a big need for Shane Beamer’s team anymore, so losing out on Barber to A&M doesn’t hurt as badly as some might think.
Carolina has more irons in the fire in the transfer portal and could add players at quarterback, tight end, on both lines of scrimmage, and/or at linebacker. Other than quarterback, none of those are pressing needs for this team thanks to the transfer portal efforts of the Gamecock coaching staff.