South Carolina Football: Gamecocks stay hot in the transfer portal, add another #WelcomeHome

South Carolina football fans have been lucky enough to have their team making tons of transfer portal recruiting headlines over the past week. After losing 17 players to the portal last week, the Gamecocks have added 8 commitments (7 Division-1 transfers and 1 junior college transfer) since Sunday.

Defensive tackles Jerome Simmons and Deandre Jules, wide receivers Jayden McGowan and Jared Brown, EDGE rusher Kyle Kennard, and running backs Rocket Sanders, Oscar Adaway, and Jawarn Howell have all announced their intentions to transfer to the South Carolina football program, putting the Gamecocks near the top of the transfer portal recruiting rankings.

On Saturday, Gamecock head coach Shane Beamer dropped another #WelcomeHome tweet to announce yet another transfer portal commitment to his South Carolina football team.

Beamer did not provide any hints to the commitments' identity other than #AboveAllEl23 (indicating the player is from the transfer portal). Presumably, the pledge is from a player who has visited Columbia since the transfer portal window opened.

Some of the big-name non-committed players who checked out the South Carolina football program are Ball State transfer tight end Brady Hunt, Vanderbilt quarterback defection AJ Swann, former Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy, Texas Tech offensive line transfer Monroe Mills, former Tennessee Tech defensive back Gerald Kilgore, and previous Texas A&M defensive lineman LT Overton.

Pending the identity of this most recent commitment, the Gamecocks could be still in the market for transfer portal players at quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line, and defensive back. After finishing the 2023 season 5-7, they also are not in a position to turn down other talented players.

After a down 2023 transfer portal recruiting class, the Gamecocks appear to be back to their 2022 form (the year they brought in players like Spencer Rattler and Juice Wells).

The transfer portal will be open until January 2nd and will re-open again after most teams have had spring practice.