South Carolina loses WR transfer commitment in flip to ACC school
South Carolina football won’t be adding Vanderbilt transfer wide receiver Jayden McGowan after all.
The former Commodore verbally committed to USC last week. But McGowan flipped his commitment to Boston College on Friday, two days after the December signing day.
McGowan was the only commitment, both high school and transfer, to not sign with USC on Wednesday.
McGowan was a third team All-SEC kickoff returner, returning 19 last season for 461. He averaged fourth in the conference in that category. He finished his sophomore campaign with 383 receiving years and no touchdowns.
Originally from Laurens, McGowan was a 3-star receiver by ESPN and the No. 6 overall player in South Carolina in 2021.
The Gamecocks signed high school receivers Mazeo Bennett and Debron Gatling, and transfer receiver Jared Brown from Coastal Carolina, this week. They lost their three top receivers at the end of the 2023 season in Xavier Legette (NFL), Antwane “Juice” Wells (transfer/Ole Miss) and O’Mega Blake (transfer/East Carolina).
McGowan, in a statement sent this week to SportsTalkSC, disputed rumors regarding NIL and his wavering commitment to South Carolina, saying his “hesitancy” was “due to things other than money.”
“I’m not sure how to go about this situation now that people are lying and saying I asked SC for more money after I committed and also that tried to use the BC offer as leverage. I’ve never done that, and you can ask coach (Justin) Stepp. I never told them how much BC offered to begin with because the money is not that important.
“What’s important is to be somewhere that I will get to show off my abilities and ultimately get me drafted to the NFL. Idk (I don’t know) where these false reports are coming from, but I just wanted to clear the air and state that the NIL situation is completely false.
“Still not completely positive but my hesitancy is due to things other than money because I told SC and BC that my next move isn’t to be paper chasing because I was offered more money somewhere else and I’m not entertaining that school. And if I was so worried about money instead of football, I could’ve simply stayed at Vandy.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2023 at 4:07 PM.
