South Carolina Football: Gamecocks pick up two Thursday night commitments

South Carolina football fans might be dizzy from all of the transfer portal news that has surrounded their favorite team over the last month. The Gamecocks have had over twenty players transfer away from the program, and they have had over ten additions from the portal. However, three of those portal players have flipped their commitments to other schools since pledging to USC.

Two of those recent transfer portal stories around the Gamecocks have been the decisions from class of 2023 4-star linebacker Grayson "Pup" Howard and transfer portal commitment Jayden McGowen to move on from the program. Howard entered the transfer portal on Tuesday and committed to the Florida Gators on Thursday, while Mcgowan committed to the Gamecocks in December and flipped to Boston College right before Christmas.

On Thursday, both players were replaced.

South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer announced two #WelcomeHome commitments on Thursday, and within a couple of hours, both pledges came forward.

The first announcement (and the second #WelcomeHome) was wide receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce. Huggins-Bruce is a South Carolina native who spent the first three years of his college career at Louisville and has one more year to play. Primarily a slot player with the Cardinals, he is a deep threat who is capable of operating in the quick game and is comfortable carrying the ball in the jet sweep/reverse run game, as well.

Huggins-Bruce is not quite as fast in a straight line as Ahmarean Brown, but he has plenty of speed and could play a similar role with the Gamecocks. He is joining a USC receivers room that has a lot of speed as players like Nyck Harbor, Jared Brown, Kelton Henderson, and Tyshawn Russell are all players that defensive coordinators must account for when they are on the field.

The second announcement (and the first #WelcomeHome) came from linebacker Demetrius Knight. Knight spent four seasons at Georgia Tech before playing in 2023 at Charlotte. He still has one more year of eligibility and will fight for a starting role with the South Carolina football linebacking corps. He is fast for the position and will add some needed sideline-to-sideline ability to the second level of the Carolina defense.

A high school quarterback, Knight is a smart player who can play any linebacker spot. He led the 49ers in tackles and interceptions in 2023, and his ability in the passing game compliments nicely the pass rush ability of several of the other South Carolina 'backers.