Shane Beamer reveals how South Carolina landed Drew Tuazama weeks before season
South Carolina added the rare fall transfer this past week in former UAB edge rusher Drew Tuazama. After graduating mere weeks ago, Tuazama wasted no time in entering the transfer portal and getting in touch with teams.
He ultimately landed on the Gamecocks and now arrives in Columbia with less than two weeks to go before the regular season. Tuazama will be immediately eligible to play as he is a graduate transfer, and South Carolina coach Shane Beamer opened up on what factored into his decision.
“He had a connection with (defensive tackle) Elijah Davis,” Beamer said. “They both spent some time at East Mississippi Community College so they knew each other. He’s from Raleigh originally, so he had connections to the Carolinas and wanted to get back closer to home. (Associate head) coach (Pete) Lembo and some other of our coaches were familiar with him from high school recruiting that area as well.”
Time was of the essence when Tuazama entered the portal given how close it was to the start of the season. As soon as Beamer heard of the news, he reached out to the 6-foot-5, 275-pound edge rusher through Twitter.
“He was a guy that he needed to graduate from UAB,” Beamer said. “He wasn’t able to graduate until a week or so ago and he graduated. We were made aware. He went in the portal. Before I even found out he was in the portal he had offers from Mississippi State, Florida and some other places as well. We immediately started following him on Twitter and sent him a direct message and he hit me right back and it kind of went from there.”
Tuazama played in all 13 games for UAB last season, being an honorable mention for All-Conference USA. He recorded 33 tackles with 6.0 tackles for a loss and 5.0 sacks. He figures to make an impact on the Gamecocks defensive line as he enters his fifth college season.
With little time to learn the playbook and scheme, there is some question about how involved he will be early on. However, Beamer said Tuazama has been strictly business since arriving at South Carolina to make sure he is prepared. The coach added that he will be available to play in the season opener.
“He literally got here late afternoon, got all of his paperwork done, did the stuff he needed to do in the training room and was in my office,” Beamer said. “I’m like, ‘We’ve got a team meeting in about five minutes. You wanna go?’ So he was in there in the team meeting and was full speed ahead. He’s grateful for the opportunity to be here. He’s a great young man and, realistically, we expect him to play Saturday night against North Carolina.”
Tuazama will hope to continue to learn the defense ahead of kickoff against the Tar Heels at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 in Charlotte.