The top of Bobby Bentley’s wish list? A ‘dominant’ back

Most football coaches want a deep stable of running backs.

Depth is always good. So is competition. It’s a position where players are always in line to get hurt.

South Carolina returns its top four runners from last season. Position coach Bobby Bentley said he has all the pieces for a rotation, but that’s not exactly what he’s looking for.

“We want a dominant person to step up,” Bentley said. “I think you’ve got to have another guy to step in, but I don’t want to rotate for the sake of, hey, we’re rotating. I want somebody to step up and be the guy that everybody in the stands knows, he’s going to get the ball on third and 2 and get the first down.

“That’s what the great ones do.”

Bentley went as far as a saying that back should get the first down even when his wife knows what’s coming.

The Gamecocks have gone a few seasons without a dominant tailback. Last year, injuries to Rico Dowdle and Ty’Son Williams’ inconstancy left A.J. Turner as a feature back with Mon Denson often rotating in.

USC didn’t have a back carry the ball more than 100 times last year. The last back to carry more than 150 times was Mike Davis in 2014, and he was hurt at points that season. Davis, in 2013, was the last back to surpass 200 carries (he had 203). And one has to go back to Marcus Lattimore, who had 249 as a freshman (he carried heavy workloads before getting hurt his last two years).

Lattimore is often a player the coaches bring up when looking for a model of what they want. He averaged 19 carries a game in his career, a number USC backs have hit only four times in the past 29 games.

And it just so happens he now works in the building.

So even with the depth returning – Turner, Williams, Dowdle, Denson and a few others – USC wants one guy it knows will carry the load.

“We’re really focusing on who is the cock of the walk,” Bentley said. “Who is the guy that’s going to be the dominant person in the room. Who’s going to take over another person’s space. Marcus Lattimore, the first time he touched the ball as a freshman, scores a touchdown on national television. That’s the mentality we’ve got to have in the room.

“I’m not sure we’ve had that in the past. I think we’ll have it this year.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2018 at 3:21 PM with the headline "The top of Bobby Bentley’s wish list? A ‘dominant’ back."