All season it felt like South Carolina had an NFL-type defensive line. The league agreed.

South Carolina defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway went 135th overall to the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, making him the third member of the 2024 defensive line and fifth Gamecock overall to earn a draft selection.

Hemingway was at least a Third-Team All-SEC player in each of the last three years. In 2024 he recorded 25 tackles and had four tackles for loss, all sacks. Three came in a stretch of consecutive weeks in SEC play, highlighted by a forced fumble in South Carolina's upset win over Texas A&M.

The Conway, S.C. native spent five years in the program and appeared in all 61 games the Gamecocks have played since 2020, giving him a tie for the most games played in school history. He had 17.5 career tackles for loss and 9.5 career sacks and even became something of an offensive threat in 2023, scoring two touchdowns in short yardage situations.

His selection means the Gamecocks have had five players drafted in the first four rounds for the first time in program history, and ties the most number of players taken in one draft overall since 2013.

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