Neff Giwa, a 20-year-old Irish rugby player from County Tipperary, committed to South Carolina without ever playing a down of American football.
In a small town in County Tipperary, Ireland, a 20-year-old was playing rugby a few months ago with no connection to American football whatsoever. By Sunday, he had scholarship offers from some of the most recognizable programs in the country and a signed commitment to play in the SEC.
That is not a slow build. That is a three-second video.
South Carolina lands Giwa with a roster that needed him
The timing of Neff Giwa’s arrival at South Carolina is notable beyond the novelty of his background. Head coach Shane Beamer is heading into 2026 with significant uncertainty at offensive tackle. His top tackle, Jacarrius Peak, a transfer from NC State, was ruled out for the spring after sustaining an injury while playing basketball in February. Two-year starter Josiah Thompson is expected to miss the entire 2026 season due to a separate injury. Five-star recruit Darius Gray is scheduled to join the program in the summer and could develop into a tackle option as a true freshman, but the depth is thin.
Into that gap steps a 6-foot-7.5, 295-pound Irishman with a 4.88-second 40-yard dash, a broad jump of 9 feet 10 inches, a 37-inch arm span and exactly zero games of American football experience.
247Sports rates Giwa as a three-star recruit and ranks him No. 191 among offensive tackle prospects in the 2026 class. For a player who had no recruiting profile at all three weeks ago, that rating represents something between a placeholder and an educated guess. What Beamer is betting on is the frame, the movement and the instincts, all of which first showed up on a clip posted to social media on March 16.
Big ma @NeffGiwa 2nd visit to @GamecockFB this week and had a lot of time with @CoachSBeamer 1st class! @PPIRecruits pic.twitter.com/XNyAny4knQ
— Brandon Collier (@BCollierPPI) March 23, 2026
The three-second video and what it started
Brandon Collier, an American who played defensive tackle at the University of Massachusetts and now runs Premier Prospects International out of Germany, has spent more than a decade identifying international athletes and placing them at major college football programs. He has placed roughly 100 players at that level, and eight of those athletes started in the SEC last season.
Giwa came to Collier through a mutual connection. He visited Collier for an initial workout, and Collier immediately saw an offensive tackle in a body that had never been anywhere near a football field. When Collier’s group of European prospects made a stop in Toronto earlier this month to evaluate another recruit, he had Giwa run through a series of pass-blocking drills. He filmed a short clip, posted it and walked away.
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal reportedly responded within 60 seconds. Within minutes, messages were coming in from programs across the Power Four. Scholarship offers followed from Miami, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, SMU, North Carolina and others. Giwa received interest from Oklahoma and Texas A&M as well, schools that reached out after the initial wave had already started.
Collier had Giwa immediately create a social media account so programs could follow along. The attention that followed was, by Giwa’s own account, something he had never prepared himself to absorb.
Why South Carolina over everyone else
Giwa visited South Carolina twice during the recruiting tour. He spent significant time with Beamer, which stood out in a process that moved through multiple campuses in compressed time. The program’s offensive line coach, Randy Clements, had a direct role in the decision. Clements previously developed Sebastian Vollmer, a German lineman who became a second-round NFL pick, and Danny Watkins, a former Canadian hockey player who was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Both were international athletes who arrived without traditional American football backgrounds. Giwa looked at that history and saw a blueprint.
Justin Okoronkwo, South Carolina’s leading tackler who is from Munich and another Collier protégé, is already on the roster. That familiarity with international athletes within the program gave Giwa a degree of comfort that other schools could not replicate in a single visit.
North Carolina presented an interesting alternative, partly because the Tar Heels open their 2026 season at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Giwa acknowledged he had not spoken directly with head coach Bill Belichick during the process. The draw of playing in Ireland one day was not lost on him, but South Carolina had built something more tangible over his two visits.
A small-town kid, a new sport and what comes next
Giwa grew up in Cashel, a town of fewer than 5,000 people in County Tipperary. His mother is a nurse and his father is a physiotherapist. He and his three older siblings were the first Nigerian family in town, and he described the community as one that made them feel at home. He played for Cashel Rugby Club, went on to represent Munster Rugby, and was selected to the Ireland Under-18 Clubs and Schools squad in 2022.
When he tries to describe American college football facilities to people back home, he tells them it is a different world. That is not hyperbole from someone who has seen very little. It is a reasonable summary from someone who had no frame of reference for any of it two months ago.
He arrives in Columbia in May. The coaching staff will begin teaching him the fundamentals of a position he has never formally played. He has pointed to Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, a 6-foot-8 Australian who made the transition from rugby league to the NFL, as the model for what the path can look like.
Name, image and likeness opportunities exist for international athletes who structure deals correctly, and Giwa acknowledged thinking about the possibilities. His primary stated motivation, though, is his family. He told The Athletic that a month ago he did not exist in the world of American football. Now he is signed, scheduled and on his way to the SEC.