Fenwick providing big value for Gamecocks already

Deshaun Fenwick hasn’t taken a single snap this season, and likely won’t with the coaches planning on redshirting him, but he’s already proving his worth to the team.

The freshman running back is the Gamecocks’ feature scout team back and has been a beneficial practice tactic in getting guys ready for the games as well as making big strides in his own personal game.

“He continues to grow and improve and I think that the weight room is really important for Deshaun to continue to catch up to his body as far as the strength and the endurance and those things are concerned,” Will Muschamp said, “but has done a really nice job in the last month or so on scout team as far as running the football and giving a great look, and trying to give him some reps with our other guys as well.”

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The Gamecocks have played two of the SEC’s top three rushers in Texas A&M’s Trayveon Williams and Kentucky’s Benny Snell.

In the practices leading up to those two games Fenwick mirrored both backs in scout team sessions. In the games, the Gamecocks limited the two backs to less than 100 yards each and they averaged 3.8 yards per carry.

At 6-foot-1, 220 pounds he’s the biggest back on the roster and has been providing a good picture of what the Gamecocks will face each week on the ground.

“He’s coming on,” Danny Fennell said. “He runs hard, he’s a bigger back and he’s really giving us a great look.”

Fenwick was a three-star prospect coming out of Florida (Braden River) and was the second back in the class with the speedier three-star Lavonte Valentine.

Valentine is coming off a knee injury so he hasn’t played this season but Fenwick’s still learning the ins and outs of playing the running back position at an SEC level.

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It’s one thing to do it in scout team and another to do it on Saturdays and Fenwick, who played a lot of receiver in high school, has the raw talent to play but is still learning the techniques of being a feature back in the league.

The Gamecock defenders that have go against him weekly in practice have seen that raw talent and think Fenwick could be a great back in the next few years.

“He’s getting a lot better,” TJ Brunson said. “He’s been a good scout look lately and I think he’ll be someone to look forward to.”

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