South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter plans to enter transfer portal

South Carolina senior kicker Mitch Jeter plans to enter the transfer portal as a graduate, GamecockCentral has learned.

The 5-foot-10, 197-pounder served as the Gamecocks’ starting placekicker for the last two seasons.

South Carolina Transfer Portal Resources:

• South Carolina Target Watchlist
• South Carolina Portal Tracker
• On3 National Portal Tracker 
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The Salisbury (North Carolina) product signed with the Gamecocks as part of the 2020 recruiting class.

The On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of the four major recruiting media services, ranked Jeter as a three-star prospect and as the nation’s 11th-best kicker prospect.

Mitch Jeter South Carolina Bio

* 2022 Outstanding Student-Athlete Award
* 2022 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll
* 2022 co-Harold White GPA Award – Special Teams
* 2021 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll
* 2020-21 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll

Incumbent as both the placekicker and kickoff specialist… dedicated to his craft and very detailed in his performance… has shown outstanding leg strength and became a very accurate kicker… is perfect in field goal attempts in his career (11-for-11), including a pair of 50-yarders… is the only player in school history with two 50-yard field goals in the same game.

2022 (Junior)
Took over the placekicking duties following the graduation of Parker White, the school’s all-time leading scorer… also handled the kickoff duties… one of three player awarded the Outstanding Student-Athlete Award at the team banquet… successful on all 11 of his field goal attempts during the season, including a pair of 50-yarders… joined Eddie Leopold (12-for-12 in 1980) as the only kickers in school history to convert all of his field goal attempts in a season with a minimum of 10 made… also hit on 42-of-44 extra point attempts… connected on field goals of 53- and 51-yards out in his first two career attempts in the season opener against Georgia State… nailed the game-winning field goal from 35-yards out in the fourth quarter in the win over Clemson… handled 75 kickoffs, averaging 62.1 yards per kickoff with 50 touchbacks… recognized as the co-Harold White GPA Award winner for the special teams at the 2022 Garnet & Black Spring Game… named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

2021 (Sophomore)
Sophomore kicker who handled the bulk of the kickoff chores for a second-straight season… appeared in 12 games… took 53 of the team’s 65 kickoffs… averaged 63.0-yards with 29 for touchbacks… connected on both of his extra point attempts against Eastern Illinois… named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

2020 (Freshman)
True freshman who served as a kickoff specialist for much of the season… kicked off 41 times for a 58.2-yard average with 22 touchbacks (53.6 pct.)… named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

HIGH SCHOOL
Graduated from Cannon School in Concord, N.C. in 2020… was 8-for-10 in field goal attempts with a long of 57 yards for the Cabarrus (Cannon/Concord First Assembly Academy) Warriors… coached by Brad Hoover… competed at the 2019 Spring Southern Showcase and National Scholarship camps, and the Kohl’s Kicking Camp… also played soccer where he was an all-conference and all-region performer… was part of a team that made it to the semifinals of the North Carolina Cup… spent a week in England training inside Premier League stadiums including Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest.

PERSONAL
Mitchell Hayden Jeter was born Aug. 27, 2001… is a biological sciences major.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.

*** GamecockCentral.com’s Chris Clark contributed to this report

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