South Carolina football: will the offense be better or worse in 2021?
By Jacob Elsey
RUSH OFFENSE – Better
While the Gamecocks struggled though the air in 2020, they excelled with a potent rushing attack. Kevin Harris led all SEC ball carriers with 1,138 yards in the regular season, and he found the endzone on 15 different occasions.
Harris is looking to build on that All-SEC campaign next year, and he should have some more help returning in his backfield.
Five-star prospect MarShawn Lloyd will return after recovering from an offseason ACL tear, and ZaQuandre White is back at running back after splitting duties on defense late last year. Both were blue-chip recruits upon signing with the Gamecocks.
The added depth should help Harris out, but the wildcard could be quarterback Luke Doty. Doty is an athletic runner that could create problems for opposing defenses out of the South Carolina backfield. His ability to pull the ball on a zone read already has folks linking him to the Gamecocks’ last great dual-threat signal caller, Connor Shaw.
South Carolina finished seventh in the conference in rushing last year, despite having a completely one-dimensional attack. With a few more weapons in the backfield, and an experienced offensive line returning, we expect this number to improve.