'This is what I came to South Carolina for': MarShawn Lloyd has career night against Charlotte

Since coming to Columbia MarShawn Lloyd has shown several flashes of just how good he could be, but he’s never quite put it all together. That is, until Saturday night. 

Against Charlotte, Lloyd was firing on all cylinders and put together easily the best game of his young career. 

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“It feels great being able to go out there and showcase what I can do,” Lloyd said. “A lot of you know what I’ve done coming out of high school and it’s just finally showing. I’m healthy now so I’m just able to do the things that I’ve been able to do in high school.”

Lloyd went off against Charlotte on Saturday night, rattling off 169 rushing yards and accounting for three of the Gamecocks’ six rushing touchdowns. The redshirt sophomore came into the game with only 75 yards to his name. 

He also averaged 11.3 yards per carry, much more than his previous season average of 2.8 yards per carry.

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Lloyd’s early season struggles were representative of the ones seen across all of South Carolina’s run game so far in 2022. 

After the game Lloyd said that the offensive coaching staff went into this week emphasizing the run game, Beamer even added that he told Marcus Satterfield he wanted to run the ball 40 times. 

“They put it in our hands and we did what we needed to do,” Lloyd said.

The Gamecocks put up 295 rushing yards against Charlotte, a season-high and the first 200-plus yard game since the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Seven Gamecocks carried the ball and together they averaged 7.4 yards per carry. 

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“We needed to get MarShawn and the running backs going…they got it off,” Spencer Rattler said. “They made so many plays tonight and it was fun to watch.”

Lloyd certainly made his fair share of fun plays throughout the night, most notably one where he hurdled a Charlotte defender en route to a 25-yard touchdown. 

The jump, which Lloyd said was just “instinct,” was just another example of a flash of Lloyd’s athleticism that Gamecock fans have been waiting to see since he arrived on campus.

“It was amazing,” Lloyd said. “Just being able to be out there…This is what I came to South Carolina for. Just the energy to win, and we did, we had a great overall team win and I’m super excited about that.”

Beamer praised Lloyd’s overall performance after the game and joked Lloyd might even get some looks from South Carolina track and field coach Curtis Frye.

“I think everybody on that sideline was excited when he did it,” Shane Beamer said. “MarShawn’s a super talented player…it was pretty cool to see him do that.”

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