Juju McDowell assures South Carolina will be just fine at running back for years to come
The end of the road is near in a four-year journey at South Carolina for Juju McDowell. As he heads into his final game on Tuesday, it’s started hitting him that this is it.
“I’ve just been trying to maintain my composure and not dwell in the moment,” McDowell said. “Spend as much as time I can with the rest of my teammates for this season, show them how much I care about them, and try to get this win to finish out strong.”
Over the last two seasons, McDowell’s role as a running back has been diminished. He hasn’t seen the same level of carries like he had when he first came to Columbia. Part of it has been due to bringing in other running backs from the transfer portal over the years. He’s only played 63 total snaps, not including special teams, this season.
Going into the Citrus Bowl, though, he might have a chance to go out on a high note. With lead running back Rocket Sanders opting out to focus on the NFL Draft, a large portion of carries will be up for the taking. McDowell could greatly benefit from this as a result.
But even with more playing time on the table, McDowell sees this game as an opportunity for more players than just him to make an impact. After all, he will be out of eligibility after this season. South Carolina has multiple young running backs coming back who could earn a larger role next season.
“I feel like that’s great for us to show what we can do. Young guys get more exposure,” he said. “But we’ve been handling it pretty good, and we got a pretty good game plan coming into the game.”
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Oscar Adaway III, the backup to Sanders this season, has another year of eligibility to return to the Gamecocks. Regardless of what South Carolina does in the transfer portal, he could be the go-to option in 2025. But beyond that, there’s a promising future with two running backs, Jawarn Howell and Matthew Fuller, having three and four years of eligibility to go.
“With these guys that we have, we don’t have to worry about anything as far as run game wise,” McDowell said. “These guys, Oscar, he’s a vet. He has two guys under his wings that are tremendous athletes, and they know what to do with the ball in their hands. So, I feel pretty good about the coming years with the running back group.”
Neither Howell nor Fuller saw a ton of game action this season. The good news for them is that they’ll be able to use their redshirt and still play in the bowl game. While most haven’t seen a lot of them, McDowell is very high on what they could do moving forward.
“Those guys are dominant competitors, let alone tremendous athletes,” McDowell said. “They’re true running backs. … From personal experience, I can tell you firsthand that those guys are something special to see and they have something in store for Gamecock nation.”
