What does Shawn Elliott's run-game coordinator title mean?

Shawn Elliott was added to the South Carolina staff last week to fill the vacated tight ends coach role but the far more interesting aspect of his addition may be his other title — run game coordinator.

The last time Elliott joined a Gamecock staff was in 2010 when he was hired by Steve Spurrier, then with a different title but a similar goal — help fix the South Carolina running game.

Having just joined the staff officially last Friday, Elliott wasn’t ready to go into detail when he met with the media on Tuesday about what that title would actually entail. And Elliott, as a coaching veteran, likely would have left that answer to his boss, head coach Shane Beamer, anyway.

But even if the nuanced details aren’t yet known, Elliott is too experienced and has been too successful for Beamer not to lean on his expertise to an extent, regardless to which level Elliott’s responsibility ultimately reaches.

“Yeah, well, I’ve only been in the meetings here now, this is just my second day,” Elliott said. “We’re going to sit down. We’re going to talk. And we’re going to see where the deficiencies are in the run game here and see what we can do to improve them. It means adding a couple of things, adding the run game to our personnel that fits it best. Then we’ll probably do some of that. But as we sit here today, we have not sat down specifically and talked exactly how we’re going to do that.”

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Elliott’s addition to the staff comes at the perfect time as Beamer has seemingly spent the offseason deconstructing the Carolina running game, piece by piece.

It started with the addition of three productive transfer portal pieces, led by former All-SEC back Rocket Sanders.

Then there was the dismissal of running backs coach Montario Hardesty, who Beamer replaced with Marquel Blackwell, who most recently coached the position at Texas A&M and Ole Miss and also has offensive coordinator experience.

Much like Beamer harped all last offseason about the need to better protect the football on offense, it appears fixing the running game is one of the top priorities keeping the fourth-year head coach up at night this offseason.

So when Beamer saw the opportunity to add Elliott to the program, he jumped at the chance.

“Awesome, awesome opportunity to bring Shawn Elliott back to Columbia, someone that I have a ton of respect for as a person, as a coach, recruiter,” Beamer said. “Got very close with him when he came here at South Carolina. As an assistant coach, when I was here with Coach Spurrier, saw the impact that he made on our program, particularly on the offensive line, when he came in as an assistant coach and enjoyed our time together.”

While Elliott won’t be coaching the offensive line this time around, his title will still allow him to affect that group and potentially be a resource for offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley.

“I think any staff works well together and works together in all aspects, whether it’s run game, throw game, we all have to work together, and we all have to help each other,” Elliott said. “I think with me coaching the offensive line for several hundred years before coming back here, yeah, I’m going to hopefully help Lonnie and help the offensive line, and Lonnie’s going to help me understand a lot of different things.

“I mean, we’re a staff, and we work for the University of South Carolina, and I think ultimately we all know what the goal is. That’s to be better in every facet, whether it’s a run game, throw game, pass protection, whatever it may be. So if he needs anything from me, I’m going to offer it up to him, and we’re going to work well together.”

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Elliott also joins the program as Carolina is transitioning from having Spencer Rattler at the helm to likely leaning on more of the quarterback running game with LaNorris Sellers and Robby Ashford.

Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains has said from the moment he arrived in Columbia that his goal is for the offense to be built around the skillset of the quarterback and the scheme will surely feature some tweaks this season.

Loggains will likely lean on some of what he learned under Kendal Briles at Arkansas when the Razorbacks had K.J. Jefferson and the previously mentioned Rocket Sanders in the backfield.

But he’ll also have a great resource in the room with Elliott who has had a role with everyone from Darren Graingers at Georgia State to Connor Shaw at South Carolina to Armanti Edwards at Appalachian State.

“And it’s not about egos, you know,” Elliott continued. “A lot of people in coaching think this thing’s about egos, and for me, I don’t have an ego. I just stepped down as the head football coach at Georgia State University, to come here at the University of South Carolina, and I’ve got zero egos. But I want to help everybody I can help, and I need help in every area. I need somebody to tell me. You know, about the stick route and how we need that run. So I’m going to need people to come to me and offer some advice to make me the best coach I can be. Ultimately, we want to win, and that’s the bottom line.”

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