Shane Beamer: Rocket Sanders looked great in latest scrimmage

With fall camp continuing in Columbia, South Carolina RB Rocket Sanders is getting back to himself again as he participates more in practice.

Shane Beamer assessed Sanders’ play after his in-game debut this weekend in a press conference on Saturday.

“Great,” said Beamer to the media after their second and final scrimmage.

Beamer noted that this wasn’t the first bit of action for the Gamecocks to this point. They actually utilized him in some work prior to their first scrimmage last weekend but didn’t play him too much ahead of that game.

“Like I said last week, we held him,” Beamer explained. “And, again, going into last Saturday – he had practiced, it had been fine. In the preseason game last week, we did some seven-on-seven before the scrimmage started and he participated in that. We just didn’t put him in the actual playing part of it. Today we did.”

Now, a week later, Sanders came off of the injury report to play in the second time out in the fall for South Carolina. The goal for them was to see how he handled the lives hits and it was everything they had hoped it would be

“We wanted him to get tackled,” said Beamer. “That happens some in practice this week where we tackled in practice and he got tackled a couple times. Then it happened today.”

“I thought he looked great,” Beamer said. “He’s a pro. Ran the ball hard.”

Sanders also showed two other important aspects of his game as a blocker and passer respectively.

“People don’t talk enough about him in pass protection. He’s really good in pass protection. That’s so critical, obviously, at the running back position,” added Beamer. “He runs good routes in the passing game. He can catch.”

South Carolina added Sanders after a productive three-year career at Arkansas, specifically with his production as a sophomore. They picked him up out of the transfer portal as the No. 6 RB and No. 43 overall transfer, the highest-rated of all their additions this offseason, per On3’s 2024 Transfer Portal Top Players.

Sanders has been working his way back from an injury to end last season and others that had limited him to start his time with his new team. He’s now getting to show the Gamecocks who he is after finally fully taking the field for them yesterday.

“He’s just a really good overall running back,” said Beamer. “I thought he showed that he’s Rocket Sanders.”