South Carolina likes its chances with Rocket Sanders heating up at the right time

It’s easy to look back and wish you could’ve done something differently to change how a certain outcome turned out. But that’s not how life works. There are no do-overs.

While do-overs may not exist, there are such things like second chances. There’s also living in the moment and taking advantage of the next opportunity ahead. That’s been the mindset Rocket Sanders in his first season at South Carolina.

Here’s the thing, though. This is the end of the line for the star running back, at least at the college level. He’ll surely find a home at the next level in the pros. But right now, for him, it’s about making the most of what time he has left as a Gamecock.

“Just looking ahead of me and not in my mirrors,” Sanders said. “Not looking in the mirror and just looking forward. That’s the main thing I’m trying to do, just life in general.”

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There are certainly plays or moments from games this season where Sanders would like to have another crack at it. Through the first six games of the year, he only rushed for more than 100 yards once, coming back on Sept. 14 against LSU. After that, he only ran for 141 yards in the next four games before the Gamecocks’ second bye week.

To put it into perspective, that’s two yards less than what he amassed in that LSU game alone, where he went for 143 yards and two touchdowns. There was nothing Sanders could do to change how things had been going. But since coming out of the bye week, he’s looked like the player South Carolina signed up for.

Something about him has looked completely different. It’s hard to pin it down to one thing. He looks to be making quicker cuts. He’s finding lanes to run through. He’s been using his 230-pound frame to his advantage, which has made it tough for defenders to bring him down.

“That’s what’s great about Rocket,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “I mean, he’s able to run through contact. He’s able to move the pile. He’s able to make people miss.”

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And that’s been the case over the last two games. Sanders has been setting the world on fire with a great start to the final month of the regular season. He’s rushed for 270 yards and four touchdowns while also being equally as good as a pass catcher, something he has worked to improve on. He’s caught seven passes for 144 yards and one touchdown.

In a matter of two weeks, he’s changed the course of how his season had been going. He’s now up to 11 total touchdowns on the year and is well on his way to accumulating over 1,000 all-purpose yards.

While it’d be easy to look at the numbers and believe Sanders has done this all on his own, he’s actually had a lot of help around him. Much like him, South Carolina’s offensive line has looked plenty better since the bye week. The Gamecocks haven’t allowed a sack since Oct. 19, but they’ve also been more physical in the trenches, which has given Sanders more holes to run through.

“The offensive line did a really good job last night,” Beamer said of the group’s performance after Saturday’s win over Vanderbilt. “Like I said, they played physical and with great effort and covered people up. And that was what was good to see. They covered guys up and gave Rocket and our backs places to run.”

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Though the blocking has been marginally better, it doesn’t take anything away from how explosive Sanders has been in the run game. Since November began, he’s had six runs of 10 yards or more, making it much harder to bring him to the ground.

“I mean, on the long touchdown run that he had to make it 14-0, we run the ball over to the left side and they’ve got a safety that’s a free hitter that they expect to make that tackle at the line of scrimmage, and Rocket makes the guy miss in the hole and it turns into a long touchdown run for us,” Beamer said.

“So that’s a combination of Rocket being really talented and our offensive line doing a good job of covering people up and blocking people. When you’re able to get your running back one-on-one anybody in the secondary, or really anywhere, we like our chances.”

With at least four games to go in the season after South Carolina became bowl eligible on Saturday, Sanders seems to be heating up at the right time. If he’s got nothing but green grass in front of him, he won’t be going down easily anytime soon.

“A lot of people don’t understand that. Seeing green grass is harder than not seeing green grass,” Sanders said. “When you see green grass, it’s like you tend to go where your mind want to take you. … When I see green grass, I’m like, ‘Man, lovely. Gotta take advantage of it.'”

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