With the football season set to begin in just over a month, the Gamecocks added to their roster.
Running back Tavien Feaster, a graduate transfer from Clemson, announced on Monday that he will join the South Carolina football team.
Feaster posted a picture to his personal Instagram page with him posing in front of his new locker wearing an all-black South Carolina uniform, along with a Bible verse caption.
Because Feaster is a graduate transfer, he is only NCAA eligible for one more year, meaning that 2019 will be his first and last season in garnet and black.
Feaster previously told The State that despite coming from Clemson, the rivalry between the Gamecocks and Tigers would not have an impact on which school he would eventually choose for his final season of eligibility. Before eventually choosing South Carolina, Feaster was also looking at Virginia Tech.
"They are recruiting me like most teams. Obviously, they want to talk to me and see where I’m at with everything,” Feaster said. "But, I look at [USC] as a place that’s providing me with an opportunity to better myself and better my future. I haven’t really looked at it from a fan’s aspect because that’s not my job and that’s not what I’m doing it for. That doesn’t really matter to me.”
Feaster, who was part of Clemson's 2018 national championship team, is expected to have an immediate impact by battling for a starting role in a position that was a weakness for South Carolina throughout 2018.
The Gamecocks struggled to produce a consistent running game in 2018 with their three backs, Rico Dowdle, A.J. Turner and Mon Denson. The three of them rushed for between 294 and 654 yards, while rushing for a combined average of 4.5 yards per carry.
Feaster, on the other hand, was listed as second string in the 2018 Clemson depth chart, rushed for 1,330 yards last year, while carrying the ball 222 times. Throughout his time at Clemson, he also had an average of six yards per carry.
Out of high school, when he first committed to Clemson, Feaster was a highly-rated recruit. Coming from Spartanburg, he was a four-star prospect and was rated the 29th-best player in the country in 2016.
Feaster is the second former Clemson football player to transfer to South Carolina in the past year. In 2018, defensive tackle Josh Belk transferred from the Tigers to the Gamecocks prior to the beginning of the season. While Belk is no longer on the South Carolina football roster, he played in six games in 2018. He recorded seven tackles last year, three of them in the Belk Bowl loss to Virginia.
The Gamecocks are set to report for fall practices on Aug. 1, where they will also meet with the media. Practices begin on Aug. 2, leading up to the season opener against North Carolina in Charlotte on Aug. 31.