South Carolina defense preparing for Achane's 'world-class speed'

Two weeks after facing a top SEC running back in Chris Rodriguez from Kentucky, South Carolina will have its hands full with another top back from Texas A&M in Devon Achane.

Achane comes into Columbia with 528 total rushing yards and three touchdowns to his name. He is currently averaging 88 yards per game, enough for No. 4 in the SEC.

While both Achane and Rodriguez are top-tier backs, the Gamecock coaching staff and defensive players have pointed out this week that there are clear differences between the two.

“They’re definitely different in just the size, one, the types of runners they are,” defensive coordinator Clayton White said. “Rodriguez is a big powerful back and Achane is a obviously fast scat back also with power. He’s a football player that’s really fast and that makes a major difference.”

The key difference between the two players that’s stuck out the most to South Carolina is Achane’s shiftiness and ability to make people miss.

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“He’s a little more shifty and he’s a patient back,” Pickens said. “(Whereas) Rodriguez, he’s more of a physical back where he can gain his own yards by himself. And we just have to really be in our gaps. If we’re not, he can gash us.”

Shane Beamer lauded Achane’s vision this week, saying that while watching film there are several times where he’s turned what should’ve been a zero-gain play into a big one.

Achane get’s a lot of his work done for the Aggies after contact. So far this year he is No. 10 in the conference with 273 yards rushed for after contact. He currently averages just under three yards per carry after contact.

“He’s just built different,” Beamer said. “He’s got great vision, he’s got great feet, he’s got world-class speed.”

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Beamer said stopping Achane from a game-planning standpoint isn’t necessarily too similar to how the Gamecocks planned to stop Rodriguez. Naturally though, there is some carryover.

“A&M and Kentucky are similar in a lot of ways. Formations and the tempo they want to play with and the schemes, there’s some carryover,” Beamer said. “Every game is different so we don’t sit there and say we’re taking the same identical game plan that we did against Kentucky…every single week we’re going to kind of do what we do and tweak it.”

Whatever gameplan South Carolina has stuck to when it comes to run defense recently has worked. In the first three games of the season, South Carolina’s opponents averaged 5.16 yards per carry. In games four through six, that number has dropped to 3.32 yards per carry.

That change is also heavily reflected in the defenses’ Pro Football Focus run defense grade. Through the first three weeks, it was an average of 51.3, and in the last three weeks, the team has averaged a grade of 70.6.

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“In SEC play it’s always about stopping the run and this week they got a shifty back,” MJ Webb said. “Going into this game it’s always about stopping the run.”

Webb said Achane will be the defense’s main focus this week and they’ll attempt to replicate what the team did last week to stifle him. He’s currently tied for seventh in the league with five rushes of at least 20 yards.

“Just controlling the line of scrimmage and the trenches. I felt like that played a huge difference in the game for us up front,” Achane said.

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