Where South Carolina football stands as portal closes, including Shane Beamer's late addition
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COLUMBIA — South Carolina football has 23 additions to the 2026 roster via the transfer portal as of Jan. 18, after losing 23 from the 2025 team.
The portal closed Jan. 16, although players in the portal have no deadline to announce their transfer decision.
Coach Shane Beamer went 4-8 last year, the worst of his five seasons, but retained three stars in quarterback LaNorris Sellers, wide receiverNyck Harbor and edge rusher Dylan Stewart.
With those three, his new portal players and four new coaches, Beamer is aiming for a much better 2026.
Here’s where South Carolina made its biggest gains from the transfer portal as it ranks No. 20 in the 247Sports Composite rankings.
South Carolina football has created a new offensive line
South Carolina lost 10 offensive linemen in the portal. Sellers was sacked 42 times, the third-most in the country, so Beamer’s main portal focus was the offensive line.
South Carolina added seven and returned Josiah Thompson, who entered the portal but withdrew before the deadline. Thompson was a five-star recruit in high school in 2024.
Jacarrius Peak from NC State and Emmanuel Poku from East Carolina stand out among the newcomers. Peak has played 2,202 total snaps in his career with only seven sacks allowed, per Pro Football Focus. He allowed just three on 850 snaps in 2025, earning a 73.8 grade for his offense by PFF.
Poku comes with 1,973 total career snaps and three sacks allowed, including 977 snaps in 2025 with zero sacks.
UCF’s Carter Miller didn’t allow a sack in 2025 in 593 snaps and across 1,992 career snaps, has allowed two total sacks.
Armando Nieves from New Mexico State, Seth Smith from Northern Arizona and Hank Purvis from Purdue all allowed six or less sacks at their respective schools in 2025, all playing over 590 snaps each.
Ferris State’s Dayne Arnett’s numbers at the Division II level weren’t available via PFF but according to South Carolina, he played in played in 33 games over the past three seasons.
Beamer needed experienced offensive linemen to protect Sellers, and he looks to have a veteran group.
South Carolina addresses need for running back depth
Beamer returns three scholarship running backs in Matt Fuller, who had 260 total yards, Jawarn Howell, who had 80, and Isaiah Augustave, who had 1 yard on two carries.
He added Texas’ Christian Clark, who had 236 yards on 55 carries and two touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Clark could jump to the top running back spot for the 2026 season.
Beamer also added Sam Dixon from Ohio State and Jabree Coleman from Penn State.
South Carolina football adds three receivers
The Gamecocks added Nitro Tuggle from Purdue, Jayden Gibson from Oklahoma and Charly Mullaly to their wide receiver room. They can help Harbor (618 receiving yards in 2025), Jayden Sellers (337 yards) and Donovan Murph (197 yards) and Mazeo Bennett Jr (62 yards).
Tuggle had 500 receiving yards on 34 receptions, averaging 14.7 yards per catch to go with four touchdowns in 2025.
South Carolina gets Dylan Stewart help, defensive portal depth
Stewart had two solid edge rushers beside him the last two years, but Bryan Thomas Jr, who had seven sacks in 2025, is out of eligibility.
South Carolina brought in Caleb Herring from Tennessee (four sacks in 2025) and Drew Collins from Arkansas State (three) via the portal in addition to Julian Walker, who is a four-star freshman.
Losing two star defensive backs to the NFL draft in Brandon Cisse and Jalon Kilgore, South Carolina wanted help for Judge Collier, Peyton Williams and Vicari Swain in the secondary.
Former Kentucky cornerback Quay’sheed Scott transfers in after 26 solo tackles and one interception for the Wildcats in 2025, giving some help to a group that didn’t need a major overhaul.
Late tight end addition checks key box for South Carolina
The only spot where Beamer didn’t nail with the window open was a tight end.
That changed Jan. 18. Max Drag had 19 yards on three catches as a sophomore for UCF in 2025 and is now joining the Gamecocks.
Tight end Michael Smith left the team midseason in October and in the last month has committed to both Syracuse and now Ole Miss. He had 106 yards in 2024 as a freshman but only 20 before he left the team.
Beamer returns Brady Hunt, a veteran who had 168 receiving yards, and might use Mo Brown at tight end more this season rather than special teams.
South Carolina football transfer portal ranking for 2026
South Carolina’s 2026 portal class ranks No. 20 overall in the 247Sports rankings and No. 9 in the SEC.
Last year Beamer finished No. 15 overall and No. 8 in the SEC.
In 2024, South Carolina was No. 16 overall in the portal rankings, a major jump from finishing No. 23 overall in 2023.
Quarterback Spencer Rattler helped the 2022 rankings, where South Carolina finished No. 9 overall.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football transfer portal update for coach Shane Beamer
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