The big man is off the board.

For the first time since Javon Kinlaw went No. 14 overall to the San Francisco 49ers in 2020, a South Carolina defensive tackle was selected in the NFL Draft.

This time the man was Zacch Pickens, a mainstay of the last four seasons of Gamecock football who will now be heading to Chicago after the Bears drafted him with the first pick of the third round, the 64th overall selection.

Pickens played in all 12 games for the Gamecocks as a true freshman and never looked back from there, never missing a game in his entire career until he opted out of the 2022 Gator Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft. Add it all up and you get 47 games and 32 starts under two different head coaches for the man who was instrumental in helping Shane Beamer establish his early culture in Columbia. Pickens had an opportunity to go to the NFL after last season, but opted to come back for his senior campaign to bolster his stock.

Pickens made 131 tackles — 69 of them solo — in a South Carolina uniform and had 7.5 sacks with four passes broken up.

“I shocked a lot of people,” Pickens said at South Carolina’s Pro Day. “I knew what I could do, my mom knew what I could do, my family knew what I can do. I’m just proving what I can do to everyone and showing them that I can.”

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