RB Coach Montario Hardesty is no stranger to success. He earned second-team all-SEC honors as a senior when he ranked fourth in the league in rushing with 1,345 yards, the fourth-most in school history, and scored 14 touchdowns. He rushed for 2,391 yards, ninth in Vols’ history, and scored 27 touchdowns during his career on Rocky Top. He was also drafted in the 2nd round by the Cleveland Browns and played in the NFL until he had arthroscopic knee surgery in 2013 and was released.

He's also had coaching success at Tennessee and Charlotte before landing with the Gamecocks in 2021, a season which saw two of his RBs, Kevin Harris and Zaquandre White leave early for the NFL Draft, and also had a breakout season from Freshman JuJu McDowell who landed on the Freshman All-SEC Team. Hardesty spoke with the media for a bit on Friday afternoon, and his message was filled with positivity from the very beginning.

Before he was even asked any questions, Hardesty decided to kick off his time with an uplifting message. "This morning in our running back meeting...we talked about gratitude...so just want to say thankful to be here and everyone just try to be a positive influence in someone's life. One small nugget a day can help someone out, you never know what someone's going through. Every day I'm trying to be a positive influence on my guys and trying to make sure they're doing the same."

I've mentioned before that several recruits have mentioned a family environment and also that the coaches seem to focus on being a good person, not just a good player, and it would seem that Coach Hardesty fits that mold. When it comes to football, Hardesty mentioned each of his RBs by name including MarShawn Lloyd, Christian Beal-Smith, JuJu McDowell, and Lovasea Carroll. He emphasized that with White and Harris now gone, he has an opportunity to show his worth as a coach, and each guy in the RB room has a great "opportunity" to step up. "I always tell the guys don't let opportunity embarrass you, so make sure we ready to go."

With that new opportunity, each RB will have a role to play, and perhaps none bigger than former 5-Star MarShawn Lloyd, who has been battling back from an ACL injury since fall 2020. Hardesty, who has also suffered an ACL injury, said he "knows how it is" to try to come back from one. "You got your muscle memory in you, but you still just can't pull it off yet...but you can see [Lloyd] has his confidence back, you can see him moving around, but the biggest thing is he's understanding football a lot more...you can see him starting to be a leader amongst the team." Hardesty said about the highly touted RS Sophomore.

This offseason, South Carolina added two transfer RBs in Christian Beal-Smith and Lovasea Carroll. Hardesty took some time to fill us in on how they're adjusting to the program and what they've shown this spring. He let us know that one of the big factors in targeting Beal-Smith was his ability to pass protect and play special teams, which he showcased throughout his time at Wake Forest. That doesn't mean he's not a talented runner in his own right though. "He's dynamic you know he has a little bit more wiggle than what you think, and he runs heavy. He's really good."

Carroll is a bit more unproven but has elite speed that the Gamecocks hope can help him be a bit of a game breaker in the open field. "Lovasea, he's fast, he has real speed," Hardesty said about the transfer from Georgia. Carroll played on defense in his time at Georgia, but he's picking up the running back scheme for the Gamecocks well this Spring, and the staff hopes he can slot back into his old position with ease. "I liked his high school tape coming out. He was one of the top backs in the country coming out...he has really good hands out of the backfield...he's continuing to grow and he's having a good spring."

The running back group is arguably as deep as it's ever been, and Hardesty and the Gamecocks hope that depth will lead to success on the field. South Carolina ranked near the bottom of the conference in rushing yards and YPC, but in the games, South Carolina was successfully running the ball, they usually had a good chance to win.