South Carolina LB Bam Martin-Scott declares for NFL Draft
After filing an appeal to the NCAA, South Carolina linebacker Bam Martin-Scott announced on Friday that he will not return to school in 2025 for his seventh college season but has, instead, declared for the NFL Draft
A month ago, it was a certainty that Martin-Scott’s college career was over after the 2024 season.
The sixth-year senior was going to be out of eligibility after spending two seasons at Dodge City Community College before transferring to South Carolina in 2021 — the first season for head coach Shane Beamer.
Then Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia offered a possible legal assist.
Pavia sued the NCAA for its eligibility limits, arguing that his time spent at a junior college should not count toward his DI eligibility. In late December, he won his injunction and the NCAA created a waiver that allows Pavia and other junior college players to gain another season.
The one problem? It didn’t apply to Martin-Scott.
The waiver is only for student-athletes who would have used their final year of eligibility during the 2024-25 season and are still within their five-year eligibility clock. Because Martin-Scott began playing college football in 2019 (Pavia began in 2020), he found himself in this gray area.
Martin-Scott admitted he filed an appeal to the NCAA with the backing of South Carolina, but — as of the time of his draft announcement — the NCAA still had not released the ruling of the appeal.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM with the headline "South Carolina LB Bam Martin-Scott declares for NFL Draft."
