12/20/2020 football Edit

Looking deeper into Kevin Harris's SEC rushing title

Collyn Taylor • GamecockScoop

Beat Writer

GamecockCentral.com offers in-depth & insider coverage of South Carolina Gamecocks football, recruiting, baseball, basketball. News, rosters, schedules, scores, message boards, rankings, stats, polls.

Saturday Kevin Harris locked up something no other Gamecock has ever done.

The Gamecocks' sophomore running back officially won the SEC regular season rushing title after the games Saturday, leading all rushers with 1,138 regular season yards.

He's the first South Carolina rusher since the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1992 to win the title, and he did it with one of the best rushing performances in South Carolina history.

Harris ended with over 1,100 yards, the first 1,000-yard rusher since Mike Davis in 2013 and had 54 more regular season rushing yards than Alabama's Najee Harris (Harris ended up with more total yards after rushing for 178 in the SEC title game).

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But, Harris was one of the best backs in the SEC this year and arguably the most explosive back in the league.

Harris finished second in both yards per carry (6.2) and rushing touchdowns (15), behind Kentucky's Chris Rodriguez and Alabama's Harris, respectively.

In terms of explosive runs, Harris was one of the best in terms of explosive runs this year.

Even with Saturday's games, including the SEC title game, Harris finished second in the SEC with 31 rushes of 10-plus yards, behind only Najee Harris.

He was first in the league in rushes of 20-plus yards (11), 30-plus yards (8) and 40-plus yards (6).

Harris ended the season with 1,138 yards on 185 attempts and 15 touchdowns. It's the fifth-most rushing yards in a single season at South Carolina and ties Harris for the second-most rushing touchdowns in a season behind only Marcus Lattimore.

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His 6.2 yards per carry tie him for eighth in a season in school history (min. 40).

The most impressive part is all of that happening in a 10-game season against all SEC teams. If Harris played in 12 games, he'd be on pace for 1,365 yards on 222 carries and 18 touchdowns.

If he did that, it would be the the fifth-most carries, the third-most yards (behind only George Rogers in 1979 and 1980) and the most rushing touchdowns in a season.

He'll most likely get a chance to rush in a bowl game too, with South Carolina's bowl fate coming down Sunday afternoon.