When Montario Hardesty was at Charlotte, he was recruiting the Washington DC area, so it was hard not to know who MarShawn Lloyd was.

The then-Charlotte assistant coach never got the chance to recruit him to his school, but the two are linking up now that Hardesty is the Gamecocks’ new running backs coach.

“Lloyd didn’t get to play last year but I was at another play seeing his recruitment. I recruited the DC area,” Hardesty said. “Seeing him, he was one of my favorite guys coming out of the area.”

Lloyd, one of the crown jewels of gem of South Carolina’s 2020 recruiting class, didn’t get to showcase the talent that made him a five-star back and the No. 33 player in the country last season.

He had an ACL injury two days into preseason camp and missed his first season, but is back and ready to go for this season.

Lloyd’s already gotten to meet with Hardesty, who offered a little bit of wisdom coming off that injury.

“To have him in the fold and coming off injury, I was able to talk to him today. the craziest thing, I had the same injury my freshman year and bounce back and be an All-SEC player. I was talking to him about how I can help him through those things.”

Opposite Lloyd the Gamecocks have arguably the best returning back in the SEC with Kevin Harris, who rushed for almost 1,200 yards in a shortened season.

Hardesty did watch a little of Harris last season, including the first game against Tennessee, and left very impressed by a bigger back being able to create big plays.

"Seeing Kevin Harris last year, I watched the opening game against Tennessee last year and just to watch more games, early on he wasn’t the main guy but he persevered through that running the pill last year,” Hardesty said. “He’s a big, stocky, sturdier guy but he runs the ball hard. He has explosive plays.”

Both are undeniably talented, and Hardesty is excited to work with those two skillsets on the field, but what impressed him most during a meeting with both Tuesday morning is the intelligence level of both.

Hardesty, who played in the SEC and NFL, thinks that’s going to go help both in learning Marcus Satterfield’s NFL-style offense.

“The other thing about those two guys after meeting this morning, those guys are very smart. That’s what you need in our system. It’s going to be running-back centric but it’s NFL style so you have to know pass protection and how to run routes and different types of zone plays with inside and outside,” he said. “Those guys are engineering majors. They’re really smart as well. They’re good kids. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. I’m excited for those guys.”

Spring practice starts at the end of March with Harris fully in the fold and Tuesday Beamer offered a bit of an update on Lloyd’s progress as well.

“He looks great. He’s a guy that during his rehab he didn’t take that time off. He got bigger and strong.er that’s obvious to see. When you hurt a knee you’re not able to do much cardio,” Beamer said. “It’s important for him to get back in shape but I like his mentality and demeanor right now. He’s working. We’re still a month and a half from starting spring practice. He has time before we get into it. We’re excited to see what he looks like when we get cranked up.”