MarShawn Lloyd Is A Budding Star
Everyone who covers or supports the garnet and black knew when running back MarShawn Lloyd committed to South Carolina during the 2020 recruiting cycle that the Gamecocks were getting a potential game-changer. Of course, in the microwave society we live in nowadays, people expect near-instantaneous results.
So, when Lloyd lost the 2020 season due to a torn ACL in preseason camp and wasn't quite himself in the 2021 season, it left some people wondering if Lloyd would ever live up to the hype he created back in high school. If the last three games were any indication, Lloyd has officially put himself in the conversation of being one of the best running backs in the SEC.
Lloyd has rushed for 359 yards on 48 carries in the Gamecocks' past three contests, averaging 119 rushing yards per game while garnering six total touchdowns, five via the ground and one through receiving.
The Kentucky game, in particular, will be studied by every defensive coordinator who coaches against the Gamecocks, as Lloyd continued to illustrate what makes him a dangerous running back. He constantly finds ways to break arm tackle attempts through his lower body explosiveness, shows elite vision, and an affinity for embracing contact, which catches most defenders by surprise.
"You'd like to think a little bit of both, but a lot of that is just him making a play and our guys just executing," Beamer said on his Sunday night teleconference call. "MarShawn's a guy that's got great balance; he's got great strength and physicality. He can run through people. So a lot of it, we could say, is because of good calls, but it's our guys just executing our base stuff and having confidence in it, our offensive line, tight ends, and receivers doing a great job, and it was MarShawn reading it the right way, and also being able to run through people."
With the schedule not getting any easier on the back end, the Gamecocks will look to No. 1 to maintain some offensive rhythms they found over the past several weeks.
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