Teammates welcome OL transfer RJ Newsom: 'I couldn't ask for anything better'
R.J. Newsom stepped foot in Columbia for his South Carolina official visit with an idea of what the veteran offensive lineman was looking for in his next school and it didn’t take him long to find it.
“When I first entered the building, the team was navigating through their schedule or whatever,” Newsom said last week on The Gamecock Club Hour on 107.5 The Game. “And just seeing how they interacted with each other, it seemed like a brotherhood. Everybody looked excited to be there. It was something that I could see myself being a part of.”
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Newsom wasted little time in locking in with the Gamecocks.
The Western Kentucky transfer signed with South Carolina a couple of days after his OV wrapped up without taking any other trips and then enrolled at the school in early January.
The Memphis native is one of three transfer portal additions on the offensive line for the Gamecocks this offseason. The trio will look to help fill the gap left by South Carolina’s three departing interior o-line starters.
But first Newsom will have to make it through his first winter with strength coach Luke Day, a rites of passage of sorts for newcomers.
“The biggest thing for me was being able to adapt to something new, something bigger,” Newsom said. “I mean, the adapting that I had to make was, like jump all in. It was either all or nothing. And that was the only way that I was going to survive throughout this winter process. Luke Day’s program has been working. I went from 283 (pounds) to 310. So it’s been going good.
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“The adjustment as far as getting to know people, making connections with my teammates, my coaches—I’ve just been trying to win over the room, spend time with the people, get to know them and where they come from so I can understand who I’m playing with and building a relationship.”
Those relationships have come easy.
The Gamecocks, much like last season, have a balance of core returning players and newcomers, all with a common goal and the same brotherhood he noticed on his official visit.
“They have been completely supportive, inspiring,” Newsom said. “Every day you wake up and every day doesn’t just feel 10 out of 10, you know, but once you get around the people, once you get up and enter the building, all of that emotion leaves. You’re around like-minded people. That’s what it feels like.
“We all got one goal and that’s to grow, get better. And we’re all there for the same thing, regardless of what your role is in the building. And that’s been completely huge. Everybody that I’ve encountered in our facility has been welcoming. I haven’t had any troubles navigating, finding what I needed. I couldn’t ask for anything better, to be honest.”
