South Carolina running back coach Marquel Blackwell excited about "really talented but unproven" group

South Carolina football running backs coach Marquel Blackwell spoke with GamecockCentral this week during the Gamecocks’ annual Birdies with Beamer event. The veteran assistant coach is heading into his second season at the helm of the Gamecock backfield, and year two will look different than 2024.

According to Blackwell, last season was pretty simple. “When you’ve got older guys, it’s sort of like ‘Alright, just don’t let them slip off.'” Rocket Sanders was the clear starter in Blackwell’s first year, and Oscar Adaway was right behind him. Between the two of them, they entered the year with eight years of college football experience. This year, though, the Gamecocks have six scholarship running backs in Adaway, Rahsul Faison, Isaiah Augustave, Jawarn Howell, Matt Fuller, and Bradley Dunn. Those players have run the football just 117 times combined for the Gamecocks. Not including Adaway, that number drops to just 40 carries.

That presents a challenge that excites Blackwell.

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The 2025 Gamecocks have a mixture of veteran talent and younger faces at running back. Their position coach described them, saying, “Talking about the room, I think we’re really talented but unproven. Which, for me, I’m excited about that as a coach…Learning about each and every one of the guys has been pretty good in the spring.”

Blackwell knows that the Rahsul Faison situation is at the forefront of most conversations about his position unit. He got out in front of the “#freeSul” question. “I know your next question is probably going to be about ‘Sul,” he laughed. “This is the deal, and this is our conversation every week: He’s in a tough spot right now. But he has done a great job with it. Just ‘Control the controllables.’” Blackwell explained, “[Faison] can’t control this. But he can prepare and get ready to go so that when that green light goes on, he’s full-go. That’s all he can do. In life, and into adulthood, there’s going to be stuff…He’s been battle-tested.”

Though things remain murky regarding a potential NCAA decision, Blackwell is hopeful. “I’ve got a good feeling about the situation,” he said. “Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know. I’m going to stay positive.”

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Having an 1100-yard rusher leading the way in the backfield would be nice, but Blackwell believes his group has what it takes to get the job done, regardless of what the NCAA decides (or doesn’t decide). However, he thinks a Faison-less rushing attack might be at its best via a group effort.

“We’re going to do it by committee until someone steps up to become the guy,” he said. “I’ve done it when we’ve had a guy, I’ve done it when we’ve had two guys, and I’ve done it when we’ve had three. So, the players are going to determine what the rotation is going to be. We’ve got about 25 more days to let that flow happen.”

Fall camp begins on Friday, and the month of preseason practice will be extremely important for the Gamecock backs. Their position coach believes the next four weeks will determine how the South Carolina offense lines up in week one against Virginia Tech. “We will get a lot of good situations in practice, you know what I mean? We will give those guys every opportunity to win it out,” he said. “[But] I’ll tell you this: if you don’t protect the football and you don’t protect the quarterback, you probably won’t be out there…We’ve got to do a great job doing the small, intangible things, allowing everything else to fall into place.”

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