How to fix South Carolina’s run game? These 4 things must happen, Shane Beamer says
Shane Beamer spoke about South Carolina’s run game earnestly but calmly.
The offseason was full of uncertainty, between the program’s youth and departures. But three games in, with the Gamecocks’ proverbial first quarter of 2023 wrapped up, they know what they’re working with.
They know their strengths and weaknesses. The run game surely falls in the latter.
South Carolina (1-2) has averaged a Beamer-era low of 53 yards on the ground through its first three games. That puts USC last in the SEC in rushing offense and No. 128 out of 130 teams in the country, ahead of Hawaii and Akron. In 2021, the Gamecocks averaged 144.7 yards against Eastern Illinois, East Carolina and Georgia. In 2022, they averaged 70.3 yards against Georgia State, Arkansas and UGA.
In all fairness, the running back group saw a lot of turnover this offseason. MarShawn Lloyd and Rashad Amos transferred, while Christian Beal-Smith’s eligibility ran out.
To address depth issues, veteran Dakereon Joyner moved from wide receiver to running back — his third position since joining USC in 2018. The Gamecocks added transfer Mario Anderson from Division II Newberry College and signed added freshman DJay Braswell. Kamron Sandlin signed as a tight end and moved to the running back room, but he’s been hurt.
Junior Juju McDowell returned as the most experienced back in the bunch.
With all that said, here are the four things Beamer said South Carolina needs to improve on to help the run game along:
1. Call some runs, then run the football
Beamer explained that against UGA (where South Carolina netted 53 yards on the ground), USC called a lot of RPOs, or run-pass options.
If the box wasn’t conducive for handing the ball off, the Gamecocks simply wouldn’t. They’d throw instead. That’s exactly what happened on the first play of the game, Beamer said, when quarterback Spencer Rattler threw to Luke Doty. Beamer praised Rattler’s decision-making in that vein, but also said he’d like to switch the play calling up a bit more moving forward.
“There’s times where you just want to say, ‘Let’s call a run and hand it off no matter what,’ ” Beamer said. “But we also want to make sure that we’re running into favorable looks without a doubt as well. So, one, be consistent from that standpoint.
“... But we certainly got to have some runs that we just call, and just run the football as well.”
2. Consistency on the offensive line
The difference between a 10-yard run and a two-yard loss, Beamer said, can be just one offensive lineman being out of sync for one play. Consistency in that group has been one of his major talking points throughout the season.
Offensive tackle Cason Henry is out indefinitely, while freshman lineman Markee Anderson was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Freshman Tree Babalade got his first start against UGA in Athens and is listed as a starter at left tackle for Saturday’s Mississippi State game.
3. Break tackles, make people miss
The Gamecocks need to add yards after contact.
“When we do hand the ball off, we’ve got to break some tackles and make some people miss,” Beamer said. “And I told our running backs that after practice today (Tuesday). They want to run the ball more than anybody. But I don’t want to see us, we hand the ball off, and we’re getting tackled by the first one-on-one in the open field, or one-on-one by a linebacker or a safety. We gotta break some tackles as well, and be able to keep the chains moving.”
4. ‘Staying ahead of the chains’
“The other one would just be staying ahead of the chains. We had some running plays called on Saturday where it’s first-and-10, next thing you know we got a false start or something, and now we’re backing up, and it’s first-and-15. And it just kind of changes how Dowell (Loggains) and our offensive staff are calling the game, too.”
Every penalty committed by South Carolina’s offense against UGA:
First quarter:
False start on Babalade, five yards
Second quarter:
False start on O’Mega Blake, five yards
False start on Eddie Lewis, five yards
Third quarter:
Holding on Trey Knox, seven yards
Delay of game, five yards
Fourth quarter:
Illegal formation, declined
False start on Nick Gargiulo, five yards
False start on Sidney Fugar, five yards
Chop block on Fugar, six yards
Holding on Jakai Moore, 10 yards
Total penalties for total yardage: 10-53
In summary
All in all: “Basically just coach better, play better,” Beamer said.
They Gamecocks will do whatever it is they have to do to win games, play calling wise. Even “if that means throwing it 50 and running it 10,” Beamer said.
About the game: USC vs. Mississippi State
Who: South Carolina (1-2, 0-1 SEC) vs. Mississippi State (2-1, 0-1 SEC)
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Stream: via the ESPN app
Line: South Carolina by 6.5
