'It's insane to see': Rocket Sanders slowly but surely returning to form in fall camp
When the words “Rocket” and “didn’t practice/play today” mix together, hitting the panic button is the next thing that might come to mind.
This is not just some ordinary player we’re talking about. No, this is the big add from the transfer portal — the one that could potentially help South Carolina run the football well again. So to hear Rocket Sanders didn’t partake in the Gamecocks’ first scrimmage this past Saturday, it caused quite a stir for a moment.
But then came the good news. Head coach Shane Beamer assured everything is okay with the Gamecocks’ star running back. Sanders is a guy coming off injury, and the last thing anyone wants is to rush him and suffer a setback.
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“Rocket has done everything in practice, so before the story becomes, ‘Oh my God, Rocket Sanders is not healthy,’ Rocket Sanders is 100 percent healthy, he’s done everything in practice,” Beamer said. “If anything, I’ve got to like tell him to like slow down a little bit because Joe (DeCamillis) has a special teams drill and he pops up and wants to be the first one in line to go do a special teams drill.”
*Big sigh of relief*
At some point, though, Sanders is probably going to have to play in one of these upcoming scrimmages before the season starts in a few weeks. It’s the closest test he’ll get to playing in a real game. But from everything he’s doing in practice, it looks like he’s on the right track, if not better than that.
“We’re doing 1-on-1 blitz pickup, running backs and linebackers, which is as physical of a drill as those will get in a short area, and he’s blocked blitzing linebackers pretty regularly in the SEC, yet he’s up there just taking rep after rep after rep after rep. So he’s getting his work in during practice,” Beamer said.
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Even the players are seeing firsthand what Sanders looks like as he starts to return to form. Quarterback Robby Ashford saw the peak version of him when he ran for 171 yards on 16 carries against Auburn in 2022. Now in practice, it’s like he’s been getting some Déjà vu watching him run the way he has.
“Things I’ve seen these past couple days, it looks like Rocket Sanders is coming back. Looks like the Rocket Sanders I saw that ran for about 180 on us at Auburn,” Ashford said. “Just for him to be that big, I mean, you see a guy that big in the backfield, he could just cut on a dime, cut like he’s a 5’9, 170 (pound) guy. It’s insane to see.”
*Another sigh of relief*
Ashford, who also joined from the portal, is happy to not be on the other sideline when Sanders is on his A-game. Instead, he could potentially be handing the ball off to him as he runs through defenders for big gains like he thinks will happen.
Of course, Sanders is still working his way back to being the player he was before. These things take time. But rest assured, he seems to be well on his way.
“Rocket Sanders, to me, that’s the best running back in the SEC,” Ashford said. “I think he’s going to show a lot of people why. … I know it’s going to be a great season for five.”
