South Carolina is quickly addressing some of its portal departures with fresh portal players. The Gamecocks landed Transfer RB Mario Anderson Jr. today from Newberry College. In 2022, Anderson put together an impressive stat line of 211 carries for 1560 yards and a whopping 19 touchdowns. Obviously, it will be a huge step up to play in the SEC, but Anderson has been in close contact with RB Coach Montario Hardesty who gave his seal of approval by extending an offer to Anderson on Friday, December 16th.

Over his 3 years with the Wolves Anderson compiled 3301 yards and 35 TDs across 29 games. He averaged 6.4 YPC and over 100 YPG including an over 150 YPG average in 2022. In short, Anderson dominated at the lower level and earned his chance to show his skills against increased competition.

And he'll have room to compete. With the departure of MarShawn Lloyd and the graduation of Christian Beal-Smith, that leaves room on the RB depth chart to split carries with JuJu McDowell and incoming 2023 commit Dontavious Braswell.

If I'm doing the math correctly, Mario will be a redshirt Junior for the Gamecocks during the 2023 season, meaning he should have at least two seasons to contribute on the field. The former Stratford High School star has solid size at 5'9" 210 pounds, and his film is impressive, albeit against inferior competition compared to the SEC defenses he'll be facing soon.