Shane Beamer praises South Carolina running back Juju McDowell

Running back Juju McDowell had a solid freshman campaign in 2020 in South Carolina‘s offense, and head coach Shane Beamer is even more excited about his potential moving forward.

As a true freshman last year, McDowell saw 52 carries and turned that into 248 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.8 yards per rush. He also caught nine passes for 53 yards.

“I love Juju McDowell,” Beamer said at SEC Media Days. “I love his competitive spirit on the field, I love his energy off the field. And you’re right, to come in and do what he did as a true freshman was really impressive.”

Even though McDowell finished fourth on last year’s team in rushing, he came up big in some key moments. He is a former three-star recruit and the No. 44 rated running back in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. But even not being a top-end recruit, Beamer is still excited about McDowell’s potential for South Carolina.

Beamer: South Carolina is better with McDowell on the field

McDowell saw 12 carries in South Carolina’s opener last season, and his best performance of his freshman campaign came in Week 2 in a tight 20-17 victory over East Carolina. He had 11 attempts for 71 yards in that game, and he also came through with a 63-yard kickoff return that flipped the script for the Gamecocks.

“People that cover us regularly remember this, but to me one of the biggest plays we had last season was at East Carolina. In the fourth quarter, he has a 70, 80-yard kickoff return after East Carolina scores that totally flipped the momentum of that game after we were down 14-0. Then we ended up winning that game, going 2-0, and kind of spring boarded us to the season that we had. So Juju made an impact early. He’s continued to get better and get stronger, and have high hopes for him. Our team is a better team when Juju is on the field, I know that.”

McDowell went on to play mainly a backup role throughout the rest of the year. He came through with a big touchdown against North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, capping a 52-yard performance.

With another year and offseason of experience under his belt, McDowell is a breakout candidate as a sophomore. And based on the praise from Beamer, it appears as if he’s going to get every opportunity to fulfill that.