The mysterious case of Jawarn Howell's usage in South Carolina's game against Texas A&M

On Saturday, South Carolina lost to No. 3 Texas A&M in College Station; however, because the Gamecocks blew a 30-3 halftime lead in the contest, virtually every coaching decision—whether rightly or wrongly—has come under scrutiny.

One such coaching decision that remains a mystery from Saturday afternoon was the personnel usage in the running back room.

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The Gamecocks started the game in a two-back formation, with Matt Fuller and Jawarn Howell playing the position. On the opening drive, Howell played the first two snaps and had a 12-yard run. Then, he came in for one more play later in the series.

His next action didn’t come until the second quarter. South Carolina (successfully) deployed Howell as a blocker for a couple of plays before giving him another two carries for 18 yards. He didn’t touch the ball again until the team’s final drive, when he caught a screen pass and took it for a nine-yard gain.

With what seemed to be extremely positive production, Howell didn’t get as many opportunities as one might assume. He played 20 snaps (a decent number), but he only had four touches. On those four touches, he earned 39 yards. Fellow running back Rahsul Faison had a strong 22-yard carry. Other than that, the non-Howell running backs combined for 20 total yards on 13 touches.

Coming into the game, Howell had seven touches all season and had appeared in just two games. His starting role seemed to indicate a much larger workload planned for the A&M contest. That manifested itself in snap count but not in opportunities with the ball.

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During Sunday’s teleconference, head coach Shane Beamer singled out Howell and receiver Nyck Harbor as the top two offensive players from Saturday’s contest. He even mentioned Howell first.

Beamer said, “Players that played well offensively: Jawarn Howell and Nyck Harbor. Like the way that they got in, or like the way that Jawarn Howell got in.” The Gamecock headman added, “He really has been practicing well. Practice matters around here. Jawarn’s a talented guy. He got in, did some really good things for us yesterday from a blocking standpoint and running the ball.”

Later in the teleconference, Beamer acknowledged that South Carolina utilized some different personnel at the running back position. He said that allowed Howell into the game more often but that playcalls and RPO/read option decisions kept him from more touches.

Based on what he was able to do with his limited chances, a struggling Gamecock running game might benefit from getting No. 22 the ball a little more often.

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Howell’s numbers from Saturday mirrored his past production.

In limited action with the Gamecocks over the past two seasons, he is averaging over six yards per carry. On 29 carries, he has logged 183 rushing yards. Comparatively, Fuller has 197 yards (including a 72-yard TD run) on 63 carries this season, Faison has 376 yards on 86 carries, and Oscar Adaway has 131 yards on 36 carries. Other than Howell, Faison is the only running back averaging better than 3.5 yards per attempt.

Before arriving in Columbia, Howell was an FCS All-American as a true freshman at South Carolina State. He averaged nearly eight yards a carry as one of the top rushers in the country at that level.

A strong effort against A&M, coupled with Beamer’s assertions that Howell has performed well at practice, could indicate that the second-year Gamecock could be in line for more carries this weekend.

On Saturday, South Carolina will take on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks will kick off their penultimate home contest at 4:15 p.m. SEC Network will handle the television broadcast, while the ESPN app makes the game available via streaming.

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