Florida State picked up one of the best talents in the transfer portal earlier today when former South Carolina tight end Jaheim Bell committed to the Seminoles.
As a redshirt freshman in 2021, Bell had 30 receptions for 497 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 40 rushing yards on seven attempts.
Bell was one of the catalysts in South Carolina’s 38-21 win over North Carolina as an 11-point underdog at the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte. He had 21 rushing yards on three attempts and hauled in five catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
For whatever reasons, Bell didn’t get the ball as much in the Gamecocks’ first eight games this year. In fact, he didn’t have any touches in a 23-10 home loss to Missouri.
He had been used at running back occasionally earlier in the year but with injuries to RBs Marshawn Lloyd and Christian Beal-Robinson, Bell lined up at RB almost exclusively in South Carolina’s last four games.
He had a breakout performance in Week 12, sparking the Gamecocks to a 63-38 win over fifth-ranked Tennessee as 23.5-point home underdogs. Bell produced a career-high 82 rushing yards on 17 carries, in addition to catching five passes for 39 yards and two TDs.
For the season, Bell ran for 261 yards and one TD with a 3.6 yards-per-carry average. He had 25 catches for 231 yards and two TDs.
Bell will have two years of eligibility remaining for the Seminoles, who went 9-3 during the regular season and are set to face Oklahoma as eight-point ‘chalk’ in the Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29.
South Carolina has also seen offensive playmakers like TE Austin Stogner and RB Marshawn Lloyd enter the portal. The Gamecocks are installed as 2.5-point underdogs vs. Notre Dame in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 30.