South Carolina hoping to see more consistency from run game moving forward
It’s no secret South Carolina is struggling in the run game right now, sitting at the bottom of the SEC in both rushing yards per game and yards per carry.
And it’s been a tough enough slog to where the Gamecocks have leaned more on run replacements and RPOs than straightforward runs.
That reared its head Saturday in Athens with South Carolina struggling for consistency yet again on the ground in a 24-14 loss to Georgia.
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“We had a lot of called runs yesterday that were RPOs that Spencer (Rattler) made the right decision and threw the ball out there on the perimeter,” Shane Beamer said. “And if it’s the right decision to get the ball out there on the perimeter, we’ve got to be able to block the perimeter.”
Rattler led the Gamecocks in rushing with 50 rushing yards (sack adjusted), averaging 10 yards per pop. Other than that, the run game was almost non-existent. The rest of the running backs and Xavier Legette totaled 18 yards on eight attempts. They averaged 2.7 yards per attempt.
It wasn’t all bad, though. South Carolina had a 57.1 percent success rate when running the ball in the first half on seven attempts. One of its key drives ended with a two-yard touchdown run from Dakereon Joyner.
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However, outside of Rattler scrambling out of the pocket, the Gamecocks only had one successful run after halftime. It was a seven-yard run from Dakereon Joyner on a drive ending in a punt.
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But South Carolina forced just five missed tackles in the run game with two credited to Rattler. Joyner had a pair with Mario Anderson getting the other.
“We’ve got to be able to make people miss more. That was a key going into the game: we had to tackle well and we had to break tackles. We have to be better,” Beamer said. “When we get opportunities to hand the ball off, we’ve got to lock people up and make them miss. And we will continue to, we’ve got good backs.”
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While Joyner won the starting job coming out of fall camp, the Gamecocks have yet to find their true, go-to running back. So far, Joyner has averaged 2.7 yards per carry with three touchdowns, all of which have come in the red zone.
This could leave the door open for other guys to get opportunities. Joyner played 45 snaps followed by Anderson’s 16. Juju McDowell, according to PFF, didn’t log an offensive snap.
“We’re all competing in practice. So Mario, DK, Juju, Djay Braswell–all these guys —they’re competing in practice,” Beamer said. “We’re trying to get the best people in there week in and week out.”
