COLOMBIA – Montario Hardesty smiled during his introductory press conference.
Part of it was because he was back at the SEC, where he played as a forceful 2005-09 Tennessee tailback. Some because he is in charge of the position he knows best, running backs, after being a stick for everything during his first decade as a coach. Some were because South Carolina’s Shane Beamer chose him after there was great interest from across the country.
Most of it was because of the talent that Gamecocks have in the running back position.
“Of course I saw them play,” said Hardesty. “I was elsewhere seeing the recruiting (from MarShawn Lloyd), I recruited the DC area, he was one of my favorite guys going out that year. Seeing Kevin Harris appear last year, early on, he was not the main guy, but how he persevered last year. “
In a cast without depth and proven talent in almost all positions, Hardesty’s running backs are the brightest points of Gamecocks. Harris ran for 1,138 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, the fifth best total for a single season in school history and making him one of nine Gamecocks to break the 1,000 yard mark. As for Lloyd, his university talent is still a mystery after a knee injury (ACL) on the second day of camp last year and missed the season.
But during summer practice, the way everyone was raving about him, at least it looked like Lloyd would have started Harris again. USC lost the versatile support of Deshaun Fenwick, who moved to Oregon, but that shouldn’t be a factor.
Gamecocks will feature Lloyd, one of the hottest candidates the USC has signed since Marcus Lattimore, and Harris, who is not the first thousand yards back in school history, but is the only one who has done it in 10 games against all -SEC Competition (playing with a bad ankle in the last five games).
South Carolina’s Kevin Harris ran 210 yards against Kentucky last season and ended the 10-game season with 1,138 yards and 15 touchdowns. Bryan Woolston / AP
“These two guys are very smart. This is what you need in our system, because it will be in the NFL style, ”said Hardesty. “These guys are engineering graduates, man!”
Lloyd and Harris give Beamer’s first team an instant source of attack. There is no guarantee that Beamer will want to stick to the SEC’s tried and true approach to “running the ball and playing a good save”, but he may have no other choice this season. There is no proven quarterback on the team and no proven receivers.
Beamer is expected to work hard on the fast and choppy attack he learned during his career, most recently under Lincoln Riley in Oklahoma, but Gamecocks (at least looking at their spring squad) simply don’t have the horses to do. this this year. This turns the spotlight on both your back, and your coach position.
“More than one coach used the word ‘star’ to describe him,” said Beamer of Hardesty. “His story is also fantastic, certainly in relation to the running backs that we have in our team.”
Hardesty will be the Gamecocks’ third running back coach in less than a year, after Thomas Brown (who trained Harris and recruited Lloyd) and Des Kitchings stayed a season at USC and left for the NFL. Brown split in February 2020, Kitchings was hired in April and left in January.
Hardesty played 23 games in the NFL before a knee injury ended his career and he started his nomadic life as a coach. He was an intern at tiny Chowan in northeastern North Carolina, before training running backs and coordinating special teams at Norfolk State, and then testing the strength and conditioning aspect of the game at Florida Atlantic.
He was back in Tennessee in 2018 as an offensive QA analyst, then trained receivers in Charlotte before Beamer invited him back to the SEC.
Hardesty’s philosophy was simple. “Running backs are the starters,” he said. “These guys bring compassion and energy to the field. We will be the source of energy for the team ”.
That was the approach last season. Harris was the only consistent offense Gamecocks had.
And again, it should be the backup.
“MarShawn, MarShawn is fast,” said former linebacker Ernest Jones, shaking his head ruefully. “This is something that I witnessed first hand. He’s trying to take this to the older guys. He caught me, but I also caught him. “
Beamer and all of his assistants will begin to be judged for their performances as soon as the season arrives. Hardesty, with the talent inherited in his office, is already at the head of the class.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.