Video: Dakereon Joyner shares what's prepared him to play RB
Heading into his sixth and final season at South Carolina, Dakereon Joyner is everything that’s right when it comes to playing team sports.
Making the move to running back, which will mark his third offensive positional change in his college career, Joyner has committed himself to the team like never before as he heads into preseason weighing 229 pounds. That’s a 13-pound weight increase since April.
“Just eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and lifting with Luke Day,” said Joyner. “The strength staff are the ones who helped me and now I need to do a good job of maintaining this weight so I can play strong and be physical.”
With the departures of MarShawn Lloyd and Jaheim Bell, South Carolina is losing their top two rushers from 2022. That duo rushed for 834 yards on 184 carries. Add in the loss of Christian Beal-Smith and USC is down to just one rusher, of four last season, who rushed for over 100 yards. That player being Juju McDowell.
McDowell returns with the most experience as a USC running back. Last season he rushed for 219 yards of 62 carries. But even when you include the 33 receptions that McDowell has caught in the past two seasons he’s only had 147 touches.
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With Joyner moving over to running back and the addition of transfer back Mario Anderson from Newberry, as well as freshman Dontavius Braswell, it’s clear that the Gamecocks are looking for not only depth at running back but someone that can push McDowell for that starting role.
“My wildcat role that I’ve played throughout my entire career, being able to run the ball in the SEC downhill, that’s definitely prepared me for this moment. I’m ready and I’m physically capable of doing it. I’ve ran between the tackles throughout my whole career.”
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When you look at USC’s running back room there’s a lot of what I often refer to as “unproven depth.” The beauty about unproven depth is that you can change that quickly by the way you perform. Joyner is slowly doing just that. But he knows that starts with just being out there with his team.
“The biggest thing is just being healthy. It’s not even about the position to me it’s just being available for my team. Whenever I’m available I’m the best version of myself and my team is better.”
