Scott has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter (this email) year-round and a column during football season that's published each Monday on GamecockCentral.com.
Scott Davis: Ready to Run?
Where did it all go wrong?
After the dust settled on what was ultimately a disastrous 2025 football season for South Carolina, many of us were left with questions galore. How did a campaign that started with nationwide chatter about a College Football Playoff appearance end with an ignominious, 4-8 thud? How did Shane Beamer go from one of the hottest coaching names in the sport to a man on a hot seat entering 2026?
How did a team that found itself in the Top 10 after week one wind up failing to even make a lower-tier bowl game?
There are, as it turns out, a lot of different ways to go 4-8, and this Gamecock team seemingly tried all of them. But of all the factors that led us down a path that ended in Beamer's worst season in Columbia, perhaps the most glaring was South Carolina's consistent inability to run the football on offense. They just couldn't move on the ground.
That offense, as you may recall, was one of the worst in the SEC last year: The Gamecocks were 15th in a 16-team league in both total offense and scoring offense, which unsurprisingly led to first-year offensive coordinator Mike Shula failing to even finish out the year with the squad.
South Carolina struggled everywhere on offense in 2025, but their issues in the running game were legendary, continuing what has been an unfortunate trend under Beamer. Few Gamecock fans will ever forget this past season's Missouri game, in which South Carolina compiled minus-9 yards of rushing FOR THE ENTIRE FOOTBALL GAME.
Minus-9! It actually happened.
And if that week had been an outlier, perhaps things might have ended differently.
But the Missouri game was an exception only in degree – not in kind.
South Carolina largely spent the season going nowhere on the ground, until the season itself had officially gone nowhere.
Stats Paint an Ugly Picture
Shane Beamer comes from old-school, hard-nosed football coaching stock.
It's clear he wants to deliver a tough-minded team that fights, battles and scraps for four quarters, that can shove their opponents backwards when they need a few extra inches for a first down. He talks about the need for a potent rushing attack often, and there can be little doubt that he and his staff have placed an emphasis on the ground game since he arrived before the 2021 season.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the rushing results just haven't been there for much of the coach's tenure at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks finished 14th out of 16 SEC teams in rushing last year, averaging a paltry 111 yards on the ground per game (and I know what you're thinking – there were actually two other teams with a worse SEC rushing attack than South Carolina?). That lowly performance wasn't too far out of line with what Beamer's other teams have produced.
South Carolina was 11th in a 14-team league in rushing during 2021, 12th in a 14-team league in 2022 and dead last in 14th place in 2023 (when the Gamecocks went 5-7 and missed the postseason for the first time under Beamer).
Indeed, the only season in which one of Beamer's teams has been in the conference's upper tier in rushing was 2024, when South Carolina finished fourth in a 16-team league on the ground. That squad, as you may remember, went 9-3 and almost made the College Football Playoff.
Now we're back to the drawing board.
Beamer replaced Shula with TCU offensive coordinator Kendal Briles during the offseason, and for good measure, the team will also be introducing a new running backs coach and offensive line coach when it next takes the field.
Let there be no doubt: Every offensive position group will need to improve if South Carolina is to turn things around in 2026.
But if the Gamecocks continue struggling to move the ball forward on the ground, an offensive transformation might just be impossible.
The Coach Speaks
Beamer sat down with Gamecock Central recently to discuss a variety of topics, including some of the new additions to the running back room.
Those new additions – as well as the room's returning players – will be counted on to deliver a much more effective rushing attack than what Gamecock fans watched unfold last season. And it's not overstating matters to suggest that whether they can deliver one may go a long way in determining whether the program is undergoing a major overhaul this time next year.
South Carolina added much-needed depth during transfer portal season, bringing in running backs Christian Clark from Texas, Jabree Coleman from Penn State, and Sam Williams-Dixon from Ohio State. They'll be thrown into the fire alongside returnees Matthew Fuller, Jawarn Howell, and Isaiah Augustave in hopes of igniting a spark on the ground.
"We went from a position where we were scared to death because we've only got three (returnees) to sitting there with six scholarship running backs and Neil Salvage, who's a good young player, good walk on," said Beamer. "People want to talk about games, but we had four running backs in the program. You can't practice that way. We really had to get some depth regardless."
Fortunately, that depth has been secured. Now comes the hard part.
To be sure, South Carolina's struggles in 2025 were a team effort – it was far from just a running back problem. Without a push from the offensive line, even the most talented backs will be challenged to find running room. The quarterbacks and receivers will need to open things up through the air, too.
Ultimately, it's hard to see this program taking a step forward in the SEC next season without a drastically improved rushing attack. We'll get to take our first glance at this new-look running game on September 5 when the Gamecocks square off against Kent State.
Here's hoping they run wild.
Tell me what you think about South Carolina's struggles in the running game by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com. (Please do not reply to this email.)
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