Deshaun Fenwick wanted to transfer. What Muschamp said to get him to stay
Deshaun Fenwick had his mind made up, but South Carolina coach Will Muschamp had other ideas.
Early in the season, Muschamp had a heart-to-heart conversation with the redshirt freshman running back, who was thinking about transferring because of the logjam of tailbacks for USC. Fenwick listened to the advice his coach had in that meeting and decided to stick it out.
Fenwick’s faithfulness was rewarded Saturday night against Vanderbilt. The Bradenton, Florida, native rushed for a season-high 102 yards in the Gamecocks’ 24-7 win over the Commodores at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“I told him, you need to stick this out. You really do. You are a talented guy and you need to stick it out,” Muschamp said. “Life isn’t fair all the time. Things don’t always go your way … you got to sometimes stick it out. You can’t take your ball and go home. He stuck it out and I brought him in front of the whole team and told them that.
“It is a great example of guy who sticks around and when your number is called, he played well. He did a nice job and hopefully get more opportunities as we moved forward. Great example of a guy who handled adversity and fought it a little bit. It’s really neat.”
Fenwick came to South Carolina as a three-star recruit who rushed for 1,400 yards as a senior at Braden River High in Florida. But he redshirted as a freshman, appearing in just two games last season and admitting he wasn’t engaged all the time and acted “immature.” But Fenwick credited Muschamp and new running backs coach Thomas Brown for helping straighten him out.
Before Saturday’s game, Fenwick hadn’t carried the ball since last year’s regular-season finale against Akron. He had 115 career rushing yards total, with 112 coming against FCS school Chattanooga.
Against Vandy, the Gamecocks were already down a running back with Rico Dowdle missing his second game due to a sprained knee. Then, Tavien Feaster started battling a groin injury early in Saturday’s game, and Mon Denson was benched after a red-zone fumble. That left the opportunity for Fenwick to shine, and he did.
“Sometimes life is hard and it is what you do in hard situations,” Fenwick said. “We got a good team of guys who fight through adversity and that is what I did. I stuck it out and had a great opportunity tonight.”
Fenwick’s teammates praised him for his performance and his determination to stick things out.
“He is finally finding his way, and I am really happy for him,” USC senior receiver Bryan Edwards said.
“We went through the same things and we motivated each other every day,” redshirt freshman quarterback Dakereon Joyner said.
Joyner, in particular, could relate to Fenwick’s position because he could have possibly transferred early in the season after the emergence of Ryan Hilinski. But when Jake Bentley went down, Joyner moved back into a backup role at quarterback and was in on several different packages Saturday night.
Fenwick’s emergence won’t just help USC for the rest of this season, but potentially going forward. Dowdle, Feaster and Denson all are seniors, so he could wind up playing a big role in the running game next year, alongside fellow freshman Kevin Harris and highly-touted recruit Marshawn Lloyd.
“Going forward I am going to continue to work hard and when my number is called, it is called,” Fenwick said.
This story was originally published November 3, 2019 at 1:04 AM.
