South Carolina linebacker enters the transfer portal

One of the big winners of the transfer portal has been Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Plenty of impact players will be joining a program looking to take a significant step forward during the 2022 season.

However, just as the portal can provide, it can give away.

According to Matt Zenitz of On3, South Carolina freshman linebacker Kolbe Fields has entered the transfer portal. He appeared in four games this season for the Gamecocks, recording his lone tackle against Florida.

Fields is a native of Metairie, LA, and was a three-star prospect coming out of high school according to the On3 Consensus. He just made the cut as a top 25 prospect in his home state, coming in at No. 25.

One of the main reasons Fields could be in the transfer portal is because his position coach, Mike Peterson, recently left South Carolina to join Billy Napier’s staff at Florida. The Gators did not originally provide the linebacker with an offer.

Fields had a roller coaster of a recruitment, originally committing to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Jan. 2020. After six months, he reopened his options for about two weeks. This time, it was the Memphis Tigers getting the verbal commitment.

Fast forward to early Jan. 2021 and Fields made his second de-commitment of the cycle. One day later, he committed to South Carolina and stayed put, as far as high school recruitment goes. The linebacker will go through the process of picking another school once again in the transfer portal.

Shane Beamer explains transfer portal strategy for South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina has been active in the transfer portal, with quarterback Spencer Rattler being one of the top players brought into the program. Head coach Shane Beamer explained how the Gamecocks approach the portal.

“If there’s a great player, certainly we’ll pursue him. Having said that, we’re kind of wide open from that standpoint. If you look at December recruiting, maybe what we didn’t get done that we needed to get done — defensive end, outside linebacker, which was a major need for us in December. We didn’t quite get where we eneded to get there in my opinion,” Beamer said. “We already took one in the transfer portal, doesn’t mean we’re going to take another one but we potentially could.”

Beamer said that the South Carolina staff essentially re-surveyed the roster after December’s early signing period to help identify additional positions of need, perhaps positions that they can seek in the transfer portal. In addition to defensive end and outside linebacker, he mentioned running back as another room for improvement.