Teammates share first impressions of MarShawn Lloyd

When freshmen get to campus, it might take a little while for their teammates to really see how good they can be.

Even for mid-year enrollees, it takes time to adjust to class, the weight room and practice all while learning the playbook.

If MarShawn Lloyd is having any of those growing pains, his teammates haven’t noticed.

“It’s one of those where he stepped on the field we were able to notice he’s going to be a great player,” Keir Thomas said.

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Lloyd is a little less than two weeks into his first spring at South Carolina, coming in as one of the jewels for South Carolina’s 2020 class, as a five-star prospect and the No. 33 player overall in the class.

It hasn’t taken him long to show why.

“MarShawn’s quick. That’s been one thing I’ve witnessed first hand. He’s very quick, man. He comes out everyday and competes, man,” Ernest Jones said. “That’s what I’m liking about him so far. He’s competing and he’s trying to take it to the older guys. He’s doing his job to earn himself his spot and earn a reputation.”

The old cliché about running backs is the good ones tend to make defenders miss in a phone booth, essentially saying they can break tackles and force a miss in enclosed spaces, like in a backfield or between two 300-pound offensive lineman when an equally huge defensive lineman is bearing down on him.

From all of the reports coming out of the Gamecocks’ spring practice, it looks like Lloyd has some of that.

Jones said Lloyd’s “done got” him, and Aaron Sterling said in team drills he came off the edge and was one on one with Lloyd and didn’t make the tackle.

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“He did a little spin move and got up out of there,” he said.

With quarterbacks or receivers or even offensive linemen, it can be hard to tell how good a player is early, but it’s a little different for running backs.

It’s a position without much coaching needed, relying heavily on physical makeup and natural, instinctive football talent.

That’s why, even just four practices into his college career, he’s been able to make a few eye-popping plays.

“I’ve heard a couple oohs and aahs when he’s had the ball,” Thomas said.

The hype machine started swirling around Lloyd before he stepped foot on campus in Columbia and it hasn’t showed signs of slowing down as spring practice started.

He’s only a freshman, just a few weeks removed from being in high school and there won’t be a game for about six months, but what he’s shown his teammates in just a few days, and even fewer in pads, gives them a lot of hope for optimism.

“It’s every day you see crazy moves from him. I tell him back when we played Georgia last year, the way (D’Andre) Swift moves and gets up on you, I told MarShawn he reminds me a lot like that,” Jaycee Horn said. “He gets the ball fast and hits the hole full speed. I think he’ll have an easy adjustment in the SEC.”