National reactions to Rahsul Faison being cleared to play this season

After nearly nine months of waiting, Rahsul Faison has his answer. South Carolina’s transfer running back will indeed play in 2025.

The NCAA finally came to a decision Monday afternoon to clear Faison, who enrolled at South Carolina in early January, to play this season. He will now be able to suit up when the Gamecocks take on Virginia Tech on Sunday in Atlanta.

In the wake of the news, there have been plenty of online reactions to Faison being cleared.

Of course, starting with Faison himself, he took to X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Thank you God” with three praying hands emojis. Earlier in the day, before the news broke, he had made a post on X with five praying hands emojis, foreshadowing what was to come.

Shortly after that, the South Carolina football X page (@GamecockFB) had a special post ready to go, which has since blown up with more than 220,000 views. In a 14-second video, a team staffer hangs up a black jersey in a locker. When that staffer walks away, it’s revealed to be Faison’s No. 1 jersey, with Kanye West’s “God Is” from his 2019 album Jesus is King playing in the background.

South Carolina athletics director Jeremiah Donati also chimed in with a post on his X account.

“I applaud the NCAA for looking at all of the facts in Rahsul Faison’s appeal and making the right decision today,” Donati wrote. “He has been patiently waiting for this decision, and we share in his excitement to have one more year of eligibility and be a member of our football team this year. #GoGamecocks.”

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Faison’s lawyer, Darren Heitner, who’s been the driving force in helping him get to this point, wrote on his X account, “CONFIRMED. RAHSUL FAISON IS ELIGIBLE. #FREESUL” when the news became official.

Under that post, Heitner shared his gratitude for Erin Abbey, who works as the senior associate athletics director at South Carolina.

“Erin Abbey is one of the best there is in Compliance,” Heitner said. “I worked with her on the eligibility cases for Myles Stute and Rahsul Faison. Her hard work, attention to detail, and dedication to South Carolina athletes deserve praise from the entire fan base.”

Abbey currently serves as the compliance liaison for the football and men’s and women’s basketball programs. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the Office of Compliance Services, as well as providing rules education and interpretations to coaches, student-athletes and staff.

Heitner, who also helped South Carolina men’s basketball guard Myles Stute gain an extra year of eligibility in May, “quote-tweeted” a May 7 post from Faison, saying, “I’m gonna be cheering for you every Saturday.”

Faison’s agent, Bryan Miller of The Familie sports agency, made a statement, which was posted by Matt Zenitz from CBS Sports.

“First and foremost, I want to thank everyone at the University of South Carolina, attorney Darren Heitner, the NCAA and everyone here at The Familie who has been on this lengthy journey together,” Miller’s statement reads.

“God makes no mistakes and I am beyond grateful that Rahsul has been approved to play. His resilience and determination never wavered! Despite the uncertainty, Rahsul never stopped working and he’s been locked in since the moment he got to Columbia. We all know how much this means to him and we are all excited to see against the Hokies in game 1. #SULFREE.”

Before transferring to South Carolina, Faison spent the last two seasons at Utah State, where he rushed for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns on 316 carries. One of the outlets that covered him during his time there was The Aggship, which covers Utah State football and basketball.

“Couldn’t be happier for Rahsul,” wrote Patrick Mayhorn, the creator of The Aggship, on X. “I thought it said a lot about him that he battled through injuries to finish out the 2024 season at USU when a lot of players would have called it a day. He deserves the chance to play, especially after the NCAA spent months jerking him around.”

Many others shared their reactions and thoughts on social media as well.

South Carolina opens its season on Sunday against Virginia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. on ESPN.

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