Gamecocks' rushing offense the biggest storyline as preseason dawns

COLUMBIA — Any other time, it’d be the proverbial good problem to have. Juju McDowell can play running back? Sure, let him take a few carries along with his duties at slot receiver, kick returner and all-around athlete. But when Juju McDowell has to play running back? Hmm. “Our ideal number of scholarship running backs is five. I don’t think we’re in crisis mode there if we can add another running back,” coach Shane Beamer said. “I’m not getting on the bus (to go to Charlotte for the season-opener against North Carolina) with only three running backs. We’re going to take five, maybe more running backs up there.” As football season dawns, with Beamer and players talking next week at SEC Media Days and preseason camp beginning two weeks after, South Carolina’s running backs will be the biggest storyline of their season. They lost their top two rushers from 2022 — MarShawn Lloyd and Jaheim Bell, each to the transfer portal — and three of their top four, leaving McDowell as the leading returning rusher. He had 62 attempts for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Put him out in space, shovel a pitch his way, the 5-foot-9 jitterbug can make something happen. Send his 5-9, 180-pound frame into an SEC defensive line 10 times per game? Yes, he’ll do it, and enthusiastically so, because McDowell knows how fortunate he is to be a starter in the best football league in America. If told to run through that brick wall over there, he’ll buckle his chin strap and charge. “I guess you could say we are kind of on the short end when it comes to scholarship running backs, but I feel like everyone in our room has the potential to be game-changers for the University of South Carolina,” McDowell said. “Nobody in our room has really had a dominant role here yet, so I feel like it’s a test of testimonies, if you will.” 6 USC connections, Summerville's Hopkins taken in MLB Draft He wants to do it and will do it. But the Gamecocks know if they ask McDowell, or have to ask him to, they’re going to see his body get subjected to all sorts of pounding that could hinder his other marvelous gifts. Yeah, Lloyd was 5-9, too, but he also carries 35 pounds that McDowell doesn’t. They hoped for more help out of the transfer portal. They didn’t get it. USC did add Summerville native and Stratford High School product Mario Anderson, who transferred from Division II Newberry and was an All-American there, and have moved all-purpose athlete Dakereon Joyner from Fort Dorchester High to running back amongst his other duties — receiver, kick returner, wildcat quarterback. Beamer has also talked up the Gamecocks’ walk-on program, which at least offers the opportunity for Nathan Harris-Waynick, D.J. Twitty, Bradley Dunn and Chase McCracken to get on the travel roster and perhaps play, and USC added freshman DJay Braswell in its signing class. He was rated one of the top 15 backs in the country last year. Yet the staff knows, through the assurances and the belief that it will find an answer, that this could be a very big problem. It’s easy enough to say, “Hey, we got quarterback Spencer Rattler and ace receiver Juice Wells and Trey Knox at tight end, plus a dozen other pass-catchers. Just throw it 50 times per game.” Defenses will get wise to that real quick. The Gamecocks have to be able to run the ball and right now, they don’t appear to have the personnel to do it consistently and effectively. “It’s obvious we’ve got a group of guys in there that aren’t as experienced as what was here last year, which is part of the college football world we live in now,” said offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who has been handed quite an exam for his first try at running a college offense. “Our job right now is to figure out what they do well and put them in that situation as much as we can.” Joyner’s of the same mindset as McDowell — ask him to do something and he’s all for it. He’s also had more experience doing it, taking multiple snaps at quarterback with many of them becoming rush attempts, compared to the change-of-pace plays exclusively for McDowell. “When I first met with Dakereon about this, it was, ‘Look around, Dakereon, our depth at running back right now, we’re not very deep in that running back room,’” Beamer said. “It was also, ‘We’re a better football team when you’re on the field.’” Beamer also warned not to sleep on Anderson, who was an elite back at Newberry; just because he was Division II doesn’t mean he can’t play Division I. He brought up the example of Carlins Platel, a transfer from D-II Assumption who played very well in his one season at USC, then stuck with the Pittsburgh Steelers all last season. (It wasn’t mentioned, though, that Platel didn’t play a snap last year due to injury. He was released by Pittsburgh in March and played with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars in the spring). Several South Carolina connections taken on final day of MLB Draft At this point, without a major development, the Gamecocks have who they have and McDowell appears to be first out of the chute. There could be a lot more to like about USC’s running situation, but it’s not without hope. There’s just a lot to be discovered about frequency of plays and use of the different backs during the vital month of preseason camp. “Sometimes, there’s people you don’t expect to play to the level they’re capable of,” Loggains said. “Somebody needs to step up, because there’s not a known returning starter.”