South Carolina IOL Rodney Newsom plans to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

South Carolina interior offensive lineman Rodney Newsom plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, per On3’s Pete Nakos. He transferred to South Carolina ahead of the 2025 campaign from Western Kentucky.

Newsom made 11 appearances and three starts for the Gamecocks this season. South Carolina’s offensive line struggled to protect quarterback LaNorris Sellers this season.

The Gamecocks allowed 43 sacks, the most of any team in the SEC. Newsom also only spent one season at WKU. He appeared in all 13 of the Hilltoppers’ games and started 11 times.

Before transferring to WKU, Newsom played at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College. He appeared in nine games for the JUCO program. For his efforts, he was named a Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference North Division honorable mention selection.

Newsom spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career at Memphis. He rarely saw action for the Tigers and left the program midway through his redshirt sophomore season.

Rodney Newsom played high school football at Briarcrest Christian (TN), where he was a three-star recruit. He was the No. 2,256 overall player and No. 158 interior offensive lineman in the 2020 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings.

Newsom is the 12th South Carolina player who has announced his intent to enter the transfer portal this offseason. While the Gamecocks are losing several notable players, they’ve already retained their top talent for the upcoming season.

LaNorris Sellers, wide receiver Nyck Harbor and EDGE Dylan Stewart have each declared they will be returning to South Carolina for the 2026 campaign. The Gamecocks will be hungry for a bounce-back season after posting a 5-7 record this year.

It was a disappointing finish for the Gamecocks, who began the season ranked No. 13 in the country. Nonetheless, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is confident his team will have an excellent season next year.

“I hate that we’ve gone through this,” Beamer said. “I hate it for the seniors that don’t come back. But I can one billion percent promise you this. When we have a hell of a season in 2026 and when I’m doing this press conference after the Clemson game next year and we finished a regular season because of the success that we’re going to have next season, I know we will.

“We’re going to look back at this season and say, ‘It sucked going through it. But, because of what we went through in ’25, it led us to what we just did in ’26.’”

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.