Shane Beamer provides update on MarShawn Lloyd, Christian Beal-Smith injuries

The South Carolina backfield was down a couple of key pieces Saturday against Florida, as both Marshawn Lloyd and Christian Beal-Smith missed due to injury. As a result, the Gamecocks were unable to get much going on the ground in an eventual 38-6 loss to the Gators at The Swamp.

Coach Shane Beamer spoke with media in his postgame press conference, where he provided updates on the injuries to both Lloyd and Beal-Smith.

“Marshawn, same injury,” Beamer said. “The contusion or deep thigh bruise that he has. He actually practiced on Wednesday and looked really, really good. We didn’t think he was going to practice on Wednesday. He went and he went full speed so we thought everything was gonna be good. Then he came in the next day and just said it swelled up on him a little bit. He just didn’t respond to the swelling like we wanted on Thursday and into Friday. So he stayed home just trying to continue to get that better.

“CBS obviously got banged up a little bit (last week) in the Vanderbilt game — it was a foot — and just wasn’t able to progress to the point that he could give us carries tonight. So Jaheim (Bell) and JuJu (McDowell) were obviously gonna be our running backs tonight.”

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South Carolina struggled to run the ball without both Lloyd and Beal-Smith, totaling just 44 yards rushing on 23 carries (1.9 yards per carry. Bell led the team with 30 yards on 12 carries.

Saturday marked the second consecutive game that Marshawn Lloyd missed due to his injury. Based on Beamer’s comments, it seems he was close to making a return this week before suffering a setback.

Beal-Smith, on the other hand, has already missed four games this season due to a foot injury. He was also seen wearing a walking boot last week according to the Charlotte Observer, making his status going forward even murkier.

Both players will get their next chance to return when the Gamecocks take on No. 5 Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday in Columbia.