GamecockCentral.com continues our annual “Inside the Class” series, which takes subscribers behind the curtain of how the Gamecock football recruiting class was built.
This year, we have opted to structure this multi-part series a bit differently. Each installment will cover just one position, whether it’s prospects that South Carolina signed or did not sign.
Miss the first two installments?
Part I - QBs - GO HERE
Part II - OL - GO HERE
Next up: South Carolina’s recruiting class at the running back position was one of the most interesting to track in the 2021 class in terms of its evolution and how it ultimately took shape.
Things started off with a bang in the ’21 class when Georgia four-star Lovasea Carroll made a surprise commitment to the Gamecocks, becoming the first pledge in that class.
Former running backs coach Thomas Brown was instrumental in landing Carroll’s pledge. When he camped later that summer at South Carolina, he watched from the sidelines as eventual quarterback commitment – and good friend – Colten Gauthier threw for the staff.
Ultimately, Carroll backed away from that commitment, not long after the Gamecocks dropped a shocking 2019 season opener to North Carolina. While South Carolina remained in Carroll’s public top five, he eventually committed to UGA, which held off a big push during the process from Florida.
Earlier in the process, right after his hiring in Columbia, 2021 Sunshine State back Thaddius Franklin was a running back we were tracking closely as it pertained to South Carolina. Franklin was once committed to Miami – while Brown was on staff there – and also went through a period in which he backed off his pledge. He eventually renewed his commitment to Miami in February of 2020.
Brown ultimately jumped to the NFL ranks, taking a job with the St. Louis Rams, and Bobby Bentley was for a short time moved back to his original position as the running backs coach. During that period, Bentley was involved with several prospects.
Carolina took big swings around this time on candidates that were longer shots such as LJ Johnson and TreVeyon Henderson. Bentley was highly involved with Brendon Barrow, a Canadian prospect who played his high school ball in Florida, as well as Illinois product Mar’Keise Irving.
Bentley also had a quality relationship with eventual Clemson signee Will Shipley, but it was too far along in the process to make a substantial play for him.
Further staff attrition took place for Carolina when Bryan McClendon left for Oregon, and Will Muschamp brought Des Kitchings onto the staff to take over the running back position late in April last year.
Bentley had laid some groundwork on North Carolina’s Trevion Cooley, who also had a bond with Kitchings. However, Cooley – due to the COVID shutdowns for recruiting – was unable to visit campus and pledged to Louisville.
South Carolina had – for quite some time – appeared to be in strong position for Hartsville native and junior college product Tiyon Evans, and the staff had been consistently told positive things regarding the chances of him ending up in Columbia. In late April, he made a seemingly random commitment to Tennessee. In doing some checking in the days afterwards, it seemed there were some reasons for Evans to steer clear of a return to the Palmetto State. He backed away from the Tennessee commitment in September, which puzzled observers all around. Then, he ended up recommitting to the Vols and signed.
Kitchings was heavily involved with Florida’s K’Wan Powell as well as Ke’Travion Hargrove, who was at one time committed to Louisiana Tech and eventually signed with Mississippi State. Alabama’s Jaylin White was another that Kitchings communicated with, although a strong push didn’t seem to happen on that front.
In June, Kitchings landed a commitment from Caleb “JuJu” McDowell out of Georgia, a prospect that has drawn some comparisons in terms of versatility to former Kitchings back Nyheim Hines.
There was a question as to whether or not South Carolina would take a second back in the 2021 class, and for a time the answer became yes. USC liked Georgia’s Antario Brown enough to accept a commitment in August, but there was a mutual parting of ways in October for academic reasons.
That left McDowell as Carolina’s lone signee at running back in the ’21 cycle.
This year, we have opted to structure this multi-part series a bit differently. Each installment will cover just one position, whether it’s prospects that South Carolina signed or did not sign.
Miss the first two installments?
Part I - QBs - GO HERE
Part II - OL - GO HERE
Next up: South Carolina’s recruiting class at the running back position was one of the most interesting to track in the 2021 class in terms of its evolution and how it ultimately took shape.
Things started off with a bang in the ’21 class when Georgia four-star Lovasea Carroll made a surprise commitment to the Gamecocks, becoming the first pledge in that class.
Former running backs coach Thomas Brown was instrumental in landing Carroll’s pledge. When he camped later that summer at South Carolina, he watched from the sidelines as eventual quarterback commitment – and good friend – Colten Gauthier threw for the staff.
Ultimately, Carroll backed away from that commitment, not long after the Gamecocks dropped a shocking 2019 season opener to North Carolina. While South Carolina remained in Carroll’s public top five, he eventually committed to UGA, which held off a big push during the process from Florida.
Earlier in the process, right after his hiring in Columbia, 2021 Sunshine State back Thaddius Franklin was a running back we were tracking closely as it pertained to South Carolina. Franklin was once committed to Miami – while Brown was on staff there – and also went through a period in which he backed off his pledge. He eventually renewed his commitment to Miami in February of 2020.
Brown ultimately jumped to the NFL ranks, taking a job with the St. Louis Rams, and Bobby Bentley was for a short time moved back to his original position as the running backs coach. During that period, Bentley was involved with several prospects.
Carolina took big swings around this time on candidates that were longer shots such as LJ Johnson and TreVeyon Henderson. Bentley was highly involved with Brendon Barrow, a Canadian prospect who played his high school ball in Florida, as well as Illinois product Mar’Keise Irving.
Bentley also had a quality relationship with eventual Clemson signee Will Shipley, but it was too far along in the process to make a substantial play for him.
Further staff attrition took place for Carolina when Bryan McClendon left for Oregon, and Will Muschamp brought Des Kitchings onto the staff to take over the running back position late in April last year.
Bentley had laid some groundwork on North Carolina’s Trevion Cooley, who also had a bond with Kitchings. However, Cooley – due to the COVID shutdowns for recruiting – was unable to visit campus and pledged to Louisville.
South Carolina had – for quite some time – appeared to be in strong position for Hartsville native and junior college product Tiyon Evans, and the staff had been consistently told positive things regarding the chances of him ending up in Columbia. In late April, he made a seemingly random commitment to Tennessee. In doing some checking in the days afterwards, it seemed there were some reasons for Evans to steer clear of a return to the Palmetto State. He backed away from the Tennessee commitment in September, which puzzled observers all around. Then, he ended up recommitting to the Vols and signed.
Kitchings was heavily involved with Florida’s K’Wan Powell as well as Ke’Travion Hargrove, who was at one time committed to Louisiana Tech and eventually signed with Mississippi State. Alabama’s Jaylin White was another that Kitchings communicated with, although a strong push didn’t seem to happen on that front.
In June, Kitchings landed a commitment from Caleb “JuJu” McDowell out of Georgia, a prospect that has drawn some comparisons in terms of versatility to former Kitchings back Nyheim Hines.
There was a question as to whether or not South Carolina would take a second back in the 2021 class, and for a time the answer became yes. USC liked Georgia’s Antario Brown enough to accept a commitment in August, but there was a mutual parting of ways in October for academic reasons.
That left McDowell as Carolina’s lone signee at running back in the ’21 cycle.
