USC transfer Xzavier McLeod commits to SEC rival, has stern message for Gamecock fans
Nearly two months after he was dismissed from the South Carolina football team, freshman defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod has found a new home with one of the Gamecocks’ top SEC rivals.
The former Gamecock on Friday committed to the Georgia Bulldogs to continue his college football career.
“The thing that stood out the most about Georgia is their program. They have a much better program than all the other programs,” he told On3’s Hayes Fawcett on Friday.
“The way they do things is organized and neat,” he continued to On3. “I’m happy at my new home and ready to show the Georgia fans that I’m locked in and ready to dominate Sanford (Stadium) and I’m bought into the culture. For all the South Carolina fans that spoke bad about me and don’t know any accurate information, we’ll see them in 2025.”
McLeod, a former Mr. Football in South Carolina during his time at Camden High, played in four games during the 2023 season before not traveling to the Missouri game in late October.
In a Facebook post, McLeod’s father, Herman, said that his son wanted to redshirt and the coaches said no. “So he refused to go to Missouri,” Herman wrote.
Because McLeod only played in four games, he will be able to count 2023 as his redshirt season and move on from South Carolina with four years of eligibility.
In Columbia, the 6-foot-5, 285-pound McLeod recorded just one tackle in four games but snatched an interception against Furman.
McLeod, interestingly, is only the second prospect from the transfer portal head coach Kirby Smart brought in this year, joining Vanderbilt transfer receiver London Humphreys. Still, the Bulldogs racked up 247Sports’ top-ranked high school recruiting class for 2024.
Since Smart arrived in Athens eight years ago, the Bulldogs have played in three College Football Playoff national championship games, winning it all in 2021 and 2022. They were on pace for the same fate this season, but fell to Alabama in the SEC Championship and were left out of the playoff.
Georgia will face Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.
South Carolina portal losses
QB Tanner Bailey
QB Colten Gauthier
RB Mario Anderson (Memphis)
OL JonDarius Morgan (UAB)
OL Grayson Mains
OL Jaylen Nichols
WR Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. (Ole Miss)
WR O’Mega Blake (East Carolina)
WR Landon Samson
WR Zavier Short
WR Kylic Horton
DL Xzavier McLeod (Georgia)
DL Felix Hixon
DL D’Andre Martin (Charlotte)
DL Donovan Westmoreland
DB Kajuan Banks
DB Isaiah Norris
K Mitch Jeter (Notre Dame)
This story was originally published December 22, 2023 at 1:13 PM.
