Shane Beamer identifies his main concerns with South Carolina run game

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer is still working out the kinks in his run game as the team wrapped up its seventh spring practice Tuesday. The Gamecocks lost leading rusher Marshawn Lloyd to transfer this offseason and have a few options in the backfield fighting to replace him.

South Carolina brought in a transfer of its own in Mario Anderson, who spent the past three seasons at Division II Newberry College. JuJu McDowell is also back and receiver Dakereon Joyner is seeing reps at running back this spring. Still, with all those players mostly unproven, Beamer has concern over the depth of the room.

“I believe we’ll be able to run the ball,” Beamer said. “We don’t have enough running backs, so we’ve got to be able to continue to increase the depth. That’s an area of concern. But the three guys who are working as our top three right now — Mario, JuJu and Dakereon — I’ve really been impressed with and their skillset.

“I like our offensive line and the way they’ve been able to do things. We’ve got athletic quarterbacks as well. So I’ve been pleased with the running game. We’ve just got to continue to hone in on what schemes we’re gonna run. What we’re best at, along with who are the guys that we’re gonna be able to count on.”

Anderson is certainly an intriguing addition to the team after rushing for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons at Newberry. He broke the school single-season record with 1,560 yards in 2022 along with 19 touchdowns on his way to earning first team All-America honors. The main question is how well he will transition to the Division I level.

McDowell is the leading returning rusher for the Gamecocks with 62 carries for 219 yards and two touchdowns in 2022. Joyner, a sixth-year player, began his career as a quarterback before switching to receiver and has also seen time as a kick returner in his career. Now Beamer wants to see how he’ll be at running back, and he’s already impressed the coach.

South Carolina will hope for improvement in 2023 after ranking 12th in the SEC with 118.8 rushing yards per game. As spring practice continues, Beamer will hope one of these players can separate themselves from the pack ahead of the spring game on April 15.

Shane Beamer sees progress in South Carolina run defense

It wasn’t just the offense that Beamer touched on Tuesday, however. The coach also mentioned the progress his run defense has made after giving up 198 ground yards per game last season, 13th in the SEC.

“I’ve seen signs of us being able to really do a good job,” he said. “Our defensive backs tackling. We had some runs Saturday. We didn’t scrimmage, but we had some life (in) 11-on-11 tackling periods and played it like a game. In those situations, we had some runs pop out of there that safeties and corners were able to come up and make tackles. That was good to see. We’re working a lot of guys in there at the defensive line and linebacker positions to trying and figure out who we can count on.

“I think we’re in a good place in terms of installation and showing signs of being able to run the ball and stop the run better than we did last year. Areas of concern would be just continue to develop the depth on both sides of the ball to figure out who we’re gonna be able to count on and the schemes that we’ll be able to use to be efficient.”

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