The South Carolina Gamecocks had a clear offseason goal: Reload the trenches.

South Carolina’s football program is coming off a successful season. They finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and were a fringe playoff contender. A lot of their success was rooted in quarterback LaNorris Sellers and the turnaround they made on the defensive side of the ball.

Now, as they head into the 2025 college football season, it is very clear that the Gamecocks had a main goal in mind this offseason. Reload the trenches.

The Gamecocks lost multiple defensive linemen to the NFL draft this year. TJ Sanders, Tonka Hemingway, Kyle Kennard and DeAndre Jules all made the leap to the professional football league. It left a void on the Gamecocks’ defense and they have addressed that in the portal this year.

So far, South Carolina has gained commitments from six defensive linemen out of the transfer portal. Most recently, Troy Pikes out of Georgia Southern. South Carolina still has two more years of Dylan Stewart, their star EDGE rusher, and it looks like they want to make the most of that.

Other names that South Carolina has taken out of the portal are EDGE George Wilson from Campbell, EDGE Demon Clowney from Louisville, lineman Davonte Miles from Bowling Green, lineman Jaylen Brown from Missouri and lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy from Texas A&M.

South Carolina also signed JUCO star Zavion Hardy this past cycle from East Mississippi Community College.

The Gamecocks have made it very evident that they wanted to stock back up on solid bodies at the defensive line, and they have taken multiple stabs in the transfer portal to make sure there is no drop off this next season.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) – South Carolina lawmakers could receive a higher salary next year, totaling $3 million in taxpayer dollars each year.

Under the proposal, all 170 members of the General Assembly would see an increase of $18,000 each year.

When senators approved their version of the next state budget, they also included a bipartisan provision to give all members of the General Assembly a raise to their monthly in-district compensation, which hasn’t been changed in more than three decades.

“We’ve been dealing with things in the budget to help other people deal with inflation, and I think it’s time that we try to take care, make sure that the people who are elected to serve as elected representatives maintain inflation and keep up with our expenses,” Sen. Shane Martin, R – Spartanburg, said.

Lawmakers’ in-district compensation is a monthly reimbursement that is flexible on what it can be used for, but is meant for legislative work.

This proposal would increase that compensation from $12,000 a year to $30,000.

State lawmakers currently receive total pay of about $30,000 annually between the current in-district compensation, per diem money to pay for food and hotels when they’re in session in Columbia for about half the year, and their annual salary of around $10,000.

Some, like House Democratic Leader Todd Rutherford, who represents Richland County, said that pay is too low to attract candidates for office who represent all South Carolinians.

“It’s the rich, the retired, and the retained: those people that are independently wealthy and can afford to serve and don’t need the salary; those people that are lawyers and can move their time around for their pay; and those people that are retired, so they come down here and do it,” he said. “The average working-class person could never afford to serve in the General Assembly, and unless we do something about the pay, they never will.”

More than a dozen senators voted against this proposal, with some saying it is not needed.

Others believe there’s merit to the idea but that it should’ve been worked out in a way that was more fully vetted and provided a chance for taxpayers and their constituents to weigh in as well.

Members of the House of Representatives would still need to approve this raise for it to be implemented.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

South Carolina transfer Sakima Walker announced on social media on Saturday that she had committed to Cal’s women’s basketball program.

.The 6-foot-5 Walker played in 15 games for the Gamecocks this past season and averaged 1.4 points and 0.7 rebounds. In 2023-24 she played in 31 games and had one start while averaging 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds.

In Walker’s two seasons at South Carolina, the Gamecoack were national champions in 2024 and national runnersup this season.

Cal will be the third four-year school for Walker, who played her first two college seasons at Rutgers. She is a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.

Walker is the first of several transfers Cal coach Charmin Smith is expected to bring in this offseason. Smith has had success with transfers, and they contributed to the 2024-25 Cal team that went 25-9 and got to the NCAA tournament..

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Zahra King, who was a promising freshman on the Cal women’s basketball team this past season before entering the transfer portal, has committed to SMU, according to multiple sites.

Cal has had five players from the 2024-25 squad enter the transfer portal – King, Marta Suarez, Kamryn Mafua, Claudia Langarita and Natalia Ackerman – and three of them – King (SMU), Suarez (TCU) and Mafua (Utah) – have committed to new schools.

Cal coach Charmin Smith has not yet brought anyone in from the transfer portal, but that undoubtedly will change over the coming weeks. Smith has had success pulling in transfers who contributed to the 2024-25 team that went 25-9 and got to the NCAA tournament.

King did not play a lot for Cal this past season, averaging 8.2 minutes, 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in the 19 games she did play. But she did show potential.

Now she joins an SMU team that is overhauling its roster through the transfer portal under new head coach Adia Barnes, who previously was Arizona’s head coach. The Mustangs had nine players leave through the transfer portal since the end of the 2024-25 season, but they have brought in 10 transfers.

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