Meechie Johnson details what led him back to South Carolina
These days, every college sports season comes with its own insane firsts.
Last year, we had our first player granted nine years of eligibility.
We have a player is about to play in his second Final Four ... with separate teams.
In a few months, South Carolina will have two running backs who are both 25 years old.
USC basketball’s Meechie Johnson is not the first player to transfer three times. That’s nothing, these days. But he is probably the first student-athlete to sign with two schools two separate times.
Even in a college athletics landscape where players can sue the NCAA over eligibility and win, Johnson’s timeline draws a double-take.
He began his college career at Ohio State (2020-2022), transferred to South Carolina (2022-24), then transferred back to Ohio State (2024-25) and will now transfer back to South Carolina.
He announced on Tuesday the latter, that he was indeed returning to South Carolina, a year after he led the Gamecocks in scoring, helped USC to the NCAA Tournament and then hopped in the portal soon after.
A year later, he was back in the portal again, noting that just about every SEC school inquired about him but he largely chose a return to Lamont Paris’ squad over playing at Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Johnson visited Vanderbilt over the weekend.
“I just wanted to be home, man,” Johnson told The State on Tuesday afternoon. “I wanted to go out the right way. I felt I owed it to the fans, owed it to the community. I just thought that it was the right thing to do.”
And it comes after one of the hardest years of Johnson’s life.
This past season, while playing in his home state, Johnson’s battles with depression and anxiety reached such a climax that he stepped away from basketball in December after playing just 10 games with the Buckeyes, averaging 9.1 points per game.
“Doctors said, ‘Hey, you need to prioritize your mental health right now and get back to basketball when you’re mentally better,’ ” Johnson said. “I’m still going through rehab now, still getting mentally better — way better than where I was a couple months ago.”
Johnson has long dealt with mental-health issues, admitting he saw a therapist at South Carolina. But while he was at Ohio State, it was as if all these separate things swirled together to form a brutal tornado.
He was still grieving the loss of his grandfather, William “Pops” Johnson, who passed away from colon cancer while he was at USC in 2023. His grandmother was battling cancer while having to get a pair of knee replacements. His dad’s divorce was being finalized. His siblings were going through “a rough time at home,” Johnson said.
And there was Johnson, in Ohio, perhaps too close to everything.
“Me and (Ohio State coach Jake Diebler) is a great guy,” Johnson said, “but me and him both felt that it was probably best that I go back somewhere else because I had success being away from home. It was just better for me.”
Johnson noted he’s still doing weekly therapy sessions at home with a therapist and psychiatrist, just trying to get better and ensure he’s prepared for the day when he can longer use basketball to cope.
“I just thank God that he’s fully restored me,” Johnson said. “Right now, I wouldn’t say I’m 100%, but I’m in a much better place knowing I’m going to be back (with) people who are going to actually welcome me and enjoy me and love my game.”
If that last sentence sounds like a shot at Ohio State’s coaches, it isn’t. Now, is it directed at Buckeye fans? Perhaps.
In Columbia, Johnson was a fan favorite, beloved for what he did on a basketball court but also appreciated for the small things. It was not uncommon to catch him and a teammate at a South Carolina baseball game last year, walking around the ball park, talking and taking pictures with anyone who recognized him.
When his shots weren’t going in, when his mental health dipped and his nearest family was hundreds of miles away, he could always count on South Carolina fans — ever the optimists — to say something that would lift him to a better place.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we hate you. You’re not for us,’ ” Johnson said. “It was, ‘You’re gonna get it right. We’re a family, we’ve got your back.’ ”
And now, Johnson gets to come back and try and get this Gamecocks program right again.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
