He transferred from Gamecocks after less than a season. He landed at school near home
Derek Boykins departed from South Carolina’s football program less than two months into the start of his first season.
He landed with a smaller program closer to home.
Boykins will join the Charlotte 49ers next season. He was announced as part of their early signing class. He played his high school ball at Central Cabarrus High School, just north of Charlotte.
Boykins told 247 he had also been considering N.C. State.
Boykins entered the transfer portal on Oct. 8. He played in one game and made three tackles this season. He drew praise after the spring game for some hard hits.
“Derek Boykins on the goal line, for a freshman, that was a heck of a play,” Muschamp said. “To go up right there and light it up in the A-gap.”
“He’s a physical, downhill, heavy-handed kid, who can do a lot of different things,” linebackers coach Coleman Hutlzer said in the spring. “He played running back in high school He played tight end. He did a lot, Wildcat quarterback.”
He was one of two linebackers who enrolled in South Carolina’s 2019 class. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound linebacker seemed to have the size and speed to help at several spots, but spent most of the offseason as only a middle linebacker behind Ernest Jones and Rosendo Louis.
Charlotte went 7-6 this year under first-year coach Will Healy.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 4:19 PM with the headline "He transferred from Gamecocks after less than a season. He landed at school near home."
