Veteran defensive lineman leaving South Carolina via transfer portal
South Carolina senior defensive lineman Elijah Davis is entering the NCAA transfer portal, GamecockCentral has confirmed. On3’s Pete Nakos also reported the move.
Davis signed with USC out of East Mississippi Junior College in the class of 2023 but bounced back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end without finding a foothold at either spot.
Out of Wagener-Salley High School, Davis was a 3-star EDGE prospect who played every position in the front-seven during his high school days. However, when he joined the Gamecocks, he was a JuCo 4-star defensive tackle recruit according to On3.
Davis redshirted this season and should have one more year of eligibility remaining at his next stop.
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Elijah Davis South Carolina Bio
Former junior college defensive lineman who is in his second season in the Gamecock program… has some position flexibility, having played both inside and on the edge, but focused on the EDGE position in the spring… is twitchy and has good feet… has one career start at the Division I level.
2023 (Junior)
JUCO transfer who joined the squad in January… considered the top JUCO defensive tackle recruit in the country… was initially penciled in at defensive tackle but ended up working more on the edge… appeared in all 12 games… got the starting assignment against Florida… finished the season with six tackles and one quarterback hurry against Jacksonville State… recorded a season-best three tackles against Tennessee.
2022 (Sophomore)
Second-year starter at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss… helped the Lions to an 8-3 record and the MACCC title… earned first team all-conference and All-Region 23 honors… recorded 35 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss and three sacks as a sophomore… ranked as the top JUCO defensive lineman in the country and No. 4 overall in the 247Sports Composite… listed as the top JUCO defensive line prospect and No. 3 overall in On3 Consensus… rated No. 2 nationally on the 2023 ESPN JC50.
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2021 (Freshman)
First-year player at East Mississippi C.C… led the Lions to a 9-1 record and the MACCC North Division title… collected 25 tackles including 4.5 tackles for loss… coached by Buddy Stephens.
HIGH SCHOOL
Graduated from Wagener (S.C.)-Salley High School in 2021… was the 2020 Region 3-A Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a Class A All-State selection as a senior… member of Team South Carolina (Border Bowl VIII) and the 2020 All-Aiken Standard Football Team, and was an Aiken Standard Defensive Player of the Year finalist… ranked by 247Sports as the state’s No. 9 prospect coming out of high school.
PERSONAL
Elijah J. Davis was born Feb. 19, 2003… pursuing a services management degree.
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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.
