South Carolina football lands transfer wide receiver with local ties

After losing over a dozen players to the transfer portal over the last week, South Carolina football has added another big addition via the portal.

Vanderbilt transfer receiver Jayden McGowan — a Laurens, South Carolina native — announced Wednesday he is committing to the Gamecocks.

“Sorry for the wait, I’m coming home,” McGowan posted on his X (formerly known as Twitter) page.

He’s the third skill player to commit to USC this week out of the portal, joining former Coastal Carolina receiver Jared Brown and former North Texas running back Oscar Adaway III. The Gamecocks are also in position to land former All-SEC Arkansas running back Rocket Sanders via the portal, per reports, though Sanders hasn’t formally announced a commitment.

McGowan, a 5-foot-8, 181-pound receiver is returning to the Palmetto State with two years of eligibility after playing in every game for Vandy in his freshman and sophomore seasons.

In those two dozen games, McGowan caught 80 passes for 836 yards and three touchdowns. He had 987 all-purpose yards in 2023 (383 receiving) and was fourth in the SEC in kickoff return average (24.3).

A former three-star 2022 prospect, McGowan graduated from Laurens District 55 High School with plenty of interest, but only one Power Five offer (Vanderbilt).

He announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on Dec. 1 before announcing he had been offered by South Carolina and Indiana.

In the end, he will join Shane Beamer’s squad that will need to continue to replenish a wide receiver room that lost Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown to the draft as well as Juice Wells and O’Mega Blake to the transfer portal.