Grant Polk will return to South Carolina for sophomore season

South Carolina wing Grant Polk will be back in garnet and black for the 2026-2027 season, he told GamecockCentral on Tuesday. The official news echoes previous GamecockCentral reporting about his expected return.

The freshman was a three-star recruit out of the Washington DC area in the Gamecock’ 2025 recruiting class. During his senior year at St. Albans High School, Polk averaged 22.8 points per game.

Polk showed flashes of his scoring potential early in his first season at USC, logging three double-digit scoring outings. He scored a season-high 13 points in a December win against South Carolina State.

His best game in SEC play was in late January in a win over Oklahoma. Polk played 21 minutes and recorded five points and three rebounds that night.

Polk was also the second-leading scorer of all the freshmen in the program, only trailing Eli Ellis.

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Polk played in more games than all of South Carolina’s projected returners for next season. The 6-6 shooter appeared in 30 games in the 2025-26 campaign.

Though he didn’t have an efficient shooting freshman season, Polk has a smooth stroke from outside. That, combined with his six-foot-six frame and lengthy wingspan, will allow him to compete for minutes on a revamped roster for next season.

After gaining a season’s worth of quality minutes in the SEC, Polk instantly becomes a strong piece in his program’s young core, with the upside of becoming a quality college wing.

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