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Rahsul Faison is seeking additional eligibility after transferring from Utah State to South Carolina. The running back is entering his seventh season with a fifth school.
Faison was initially a member of the 2019 high school recruiting class. Unexpected turns in his playing career have brought about uncertainty.
The Gamecocks landed his pledge in the portal after an 1,100-yard season with the Aggies. His eligibility became an immediate concern.
Faison has spent time at four different school, both at the D1 and JUCO levels. He originally committed to Marshall as a two-star prospect. The Thundering Herd opted to grayshirt him before his freshman season.
Grayshirts occur when teams push a player’s enrollment back a semester with the assumption that said prospect will provide little impact on the field in Year 1. It keeps a roster spot open while allowing for an extra year of development.
In some cases, it’s a good thing. In Faison’s case, he didn’t see it as the best fit.
He moved onto Lackawanna College where he didn’t play football. He then transferred to Snow Junior College where he again sat out his first football season.
In ’21, Rahsul Faison finally saw the field. He buoyed a year of JUCO success into a Utah State offer. The tailback ran for more than 1,800 yards with the Aggies across two seasons before again hitting the portal. His timeline goes as follows:
2019: Marshall (grayshirt)
2020: Lackawanna (did not play)
2021: Snow College (did not play)
2022: Snow College
2023: Utah State
2024: Utah State
Rahsul Faison’s fate rests in the hands of the NCAA.
He’s applied for a waiver to scrub his two JUCO seasons following the recent Diego Pavia ruling. That process is moving slowly according to head coach Shane Beamer.
“It’s getting frustrating. I understand that the NCAA has a lot on their plate, but the fact that they’ve had everything they’ve needed from us since January, and we don’t have an answer, is frankly disappointing…
“We just went through a transfer portal window where we didn’t add a running back, but we don’t have an answer on whether we’re going to have three scholarship running backs on our team. That’s tough.”
-Shane Beamer
The Gamecocks could’ve added another running back in the most recent transfer portal window. They chose not to with hopes of seeing Faison’s waiver approved.
Frustrations are growing in South Carolina as the football team awaits an answer. To speed up the process, Rahsul Faison has retained a lawyer.
I have hired @DarrenHeitner
— Rahsul faison🔋 (@__sul3) May 7, 2025
Darren Heitner has history with the Gamecocks. He helped South Carolina basketball player Myles Stute get approval for a medical redshirt in 2024.
“Rahsul Faison submitted his waiver request to the NCAA,” Heitner said in an online statement Tuesday. “I will be urging the NCAA to prioritize providing a decision on his request for an additional year of eligibility.”
Faison’s case is interesting. He’s technically been a football team member for three previous programs not including Lackawanna. Still, he’s technically competed in just three seasons across a six-year window.
The running back hopes to gain an extra season of eligibility with the Gamecocks. He’s taking the necessary steps to speed that process up after running into roadblocks.