South Carolina expected to hire RB coach from Big Ten

Veteran running backs coach Stan Drayton is expected to be tabbed as South Carolina football’s next running backs coach, GamecockCentral.com has learned.

A contract for Drayton would need to be approved by the University of South Carolina’s Board of Trustees. Public notice was given on Wednesday morning of a Board meeting set for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, with multiple athletics personnel agreements on the docket.

GamecockCentral.com previously reported on Drayton’s candidacy, including a members-only update on Wednesday morning.

Drayton, who spent the 2025 season at Penn State, is a 32 year coaching veteran with 25 years of experience tutoring running backs. He will replace Marquel Blackwell, who was relieved of his duties after the regular season in Columbia.

At the college level, Drayton’s tenure also includes stops at Allegheny, Eastern Michigan, Penn, Villanova, Bowling Green, Mississippi State, Florida, Tennessee, Syracuse, Ohio State, and Texas. Drayton captured national championships at Florida and Ohio State.

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The stop in Starkville in 2004 featured Drayton and Beamer serving on the same staff under Sylvester Croom.

Drayton was also Temple’s head coach for three seasons, and he spent two years as the running backs coach for the NFL’s Chicago Bears

He was a standout athlete at the college level, capturing first-team All-American honors three times as a running back at Allegheny College. He won a national championship with the program in 1990 and was also a two-time All-American as a track sprinter at the school.

Running backs who have thrived under Drayton’s tutelage include Brian Westbrook, Jerious Norwood, Carlos Hyde, Ezekiel Elliott, Bijan Robinson, Matt Forte, and Jordan Howard. All told, Drayton has coached seven backs who have rushed for 1,000 yards, five NFL Draft picks, and two All-Americans.

At Texas, Bijan Robinson was a first-team All-Big 12 selection after breaking the school’s single-season yards per carry mark and finishing third in the conference in rushing.

Howard set the single-season rookie rushing record for the Bears in 2016. At Ohio State, during the program’s national championship season in 2014, Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 1,878 yards, ranking third nationally.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Drayton has a wife and two daughters.

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