A look at the most productive tailbacks who played for new USC coach Des Kitchings
South Carolina will have a new man in charge of its running backs room in 2020.
Des Kitchings is coming to Columbia off a long stint with N.C. State, plus stops at Air Force and Vanderbilt. He had a run of three 1,000-yard runners from 2016-18 and worked with the top rusher in the history of the service academy.
A look at some of the top backs he’s worked with:
Warren Norman
Career yards: 1,317
Part of a split backfield at Vanderbilt, Norman ran for 783 yards as a freshman and 459 in eight games as a sophomore. Knee injuries derailed the rest of his career.
Asher Clark
Career yards: 3,594
Kitchings only worked with the second leading rusher in Air Force history for one season. But that year Clark, a senior wingback/tailback, posted 1,110 yards and eight touchdowns on 6.8 yards per carry.
Zac Stacy
Career yards: 3,143
The two years he worked with Kitchings were his two least productive, when he posted 478 yards as a freshman and 331 in an injury-shortened 2011 with Vanderbilt. He followed by running for 1,100 or more yards his final two years and had 973 yards as an NFL rookie.
Shadrach Thornton
Career yards: 2,572
His freshman year was Kitchings’ first in Raleigh. He posted 694, 768 and 907 yards in his first three years before an injury ended his senior campaign with only two games played. He had to share the rushing load with either another back or a quarterback in each of those years. He’s the No. 7 rusher in Wolfpack history.
Matt Dayes
Career yards: 2,856
Dayes’ production steadily increased as his career went on, even as injury bit into an 865-yard, 6.5 yard-per-carry junior season. As a senior, he posted 1,166 yards and 10 scores, the first of three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons under Kitchings. He also posted nearly 1,000 career receiving yards and finished fourth in school history in rushing yards.
Reggie Gallaspy II
Career yards: 2,153
Stuck in diverse backfields early in his career, Gallaspy blossomed late, putting up 1,091 yards and 18 touchdowns in his senior season. He led the ACC in carries that season.
Jaylen Samuels
Career yards: 1,107
Not a full-time running back, but the versatile tight end/receiver/fullback/sometimes tailback had 368 yards on 56 carries as a sophomore and 407 as a senior with 12 touchdowns.
Nyheim Hines
Career yards: 1,400
At times a wide receiver and always a productive player through the air, Hines’ game came together in his final season. He capped his career with a 1,113-yard, 12-touchdown season. He had 933 career receiving yards.
Ricky Person Jr.
Career yards: 700
Only two seasons into his career, he had 471 yards as a freshman backup and then battled injuries as a sophomore.
Jordan Houston/Zonovan Knight
Career yards: 1,271
The pair of freshmen were N.C. State’s leading rushers last season. Knight had 745 yards, while Houston had 526. Both averaged better than 5.2 yards per carry.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 1:55 PM.
