Beamer pleased with Rocket Sanders' first scrimmage outing, depth outlook in RB room
At some point, South Carolina was going to have to pull the band-aid off and let its star running back run loose. In the team’s second and final fall scrimmage on Saturday, Rocket Sanders was finally unleashed.
Sanders, who has been practicing this entire fall camp, was notably held out of the team’s first scrimmage last Saturday. But this time around would be a different story as head coach Shane Beamer wanted to make sure he got him some game-type reps before the season opener.
“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,” Beamer said. “Today, we did. We wanted him to get tackled. That happened some in practice this week, where we tackled him in practice, and he got tackled a couple times, and then it happened today.”
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Throughout camp, Beamer has made it clear Sanders is “100 percent” after working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery. For this being his first scrimmage action, Beamer was impressed to say the least with how he played.
“I thought he looked great,” Beamer said. “He’s a pro. Ran the ball hard. People don’t talk enough about him in pass protection — he’s really good in pass protection — and that’s so critical, obviously, at the running back position. He runs good routes in the passing game, he can catch.”
When healthy, Sanders has proven to be one of the best running backs in the SEC. Back in 2022, he ran for more than 1,400 yards and scored 10 touchdowns at Arkansas. Last year was a different story, with Sanders facing the injury bug. He only went for 209 yards and two touchdowns on 62 carries — 157 less than what he had the season prior.
But as the new season approaches, Sanders has continued to look healthy and good in the team’s practices so far.
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“He’s just a really good overall running back,” Beamer said. “We got him some carries in there today, and I thought he showed that he’s Rocket Sanders.”
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Once the season does begin, there will surely be some sort of “pitch count” in place for Sanders. Keep in mind, the last time he played in a regular season game was Nov. 18, 2023. So he will more likely than not need to be built up to be the every down back again.
The good thing, though, is that South Carolina should be able to slowly work Sanders in. The Gamecocks have six other scholarship running backs on the roster, all of whom have performed well in camp. It wasn’t always like this where they had plenty of options at that position. To have that now is music to Beamer’s ears.
“I remember we went into the Kentucky game last year, I think we had two scholarship running backs in that game,” he said. “So hopefully we don’t end up in that situation this year, but we have more depth at the running back position.”
