Bobo’s scheme lets one South Carolina tailback ‘get downhill fast’
South Carolina running back Deshaun Fenwick’s voice perked up when the subject was broached.
He’d been through only a few days of practice in the Gamecocks’ new offensive scheme under coordinator Mike Bobo. Under-center runs were back in vogue. He was seeing a big, powerful fullback in front of him.
And it found some harmony with his approach.
“I love it,” Fenwick said. “I love coach Bobo. Love the offense and I love the way we’re going.”
This was something new for the third-year back. Going back to high school, he’d been a shotgun back. Even with a frame big enough to now be 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, he wasn’t ever in a scheme that had him deep in the backfield coming vertically in the same way.
And he’s taken to Bobo’s more pro-style ground game.
“Me personally, I think it’s just easier,” Fenwick said. “Just because under center, like me being as big as I am, I want to get downhill fast, so me getting downhill fast, that makes the linebackers have to adjust really quickly, which allows me to do what I have to do, and it plays in my favor at the end of the day.”
Fenwick has come through some ups and downs and faces an interesting competition going into next season.
He had a breakout game against an FCS squad in a freshman year in which he redshirted, ripping off more than 100 yards. But through the offseason, the sense he might not get much of an opportunity (the staff added a grad transfer in the summer), almost had him in the transfer portal.
But he held off. He only played in one of the Gamecocks’ first eight games, then he exploded for 102 yards against Vanderbilt, a second 100-yard performance in just seven games.
And in an abbreviated spring, he caught some attention from a new coach.
“I’ve been pleased with Fenwick,” Bobo said. “A guy that hasn’t played a lot around here.I think he’s a guy that has embraced with open arms a clean slate mindset. He’s a big, good-looking guy and he’s running physical. He’s showing some toughness in a competition, blocking drills that Coach Muschamp puts him through offense vs defensive guys, and he’s got, you know, he’s got good hands and he’s a smart kid.”
Fenwick will be working with a new position coach as Des Kitchings came in, replacing Bobby Bentley, who in turn stepped in for Thomas Brown. He’ll also be heading into a wide-open competition.
The Gamecocks will have five scholarship tailbacks come fall. Borderline five-star MarShawn Lloyd figures to have a prominent role, but coming into Year 3, Fenwick is the most experienced back on the roster.
The rest of the backfield includes sophomore Kevin Harris, who ran for 179 yards last season and drew praise from the staff, and newcomers in junior college rusher Zaquandre White and true freshman Rashad Amos.
Only Lloyd, Fenwick and Harris were part of the shortened spring practice. Fenwick said he felt the need to lead by example as the now elder presence, but it didn’t change his approach to work.
And before he was getting the chance to come downhill in this new scheme or getting the carries he hoped for, he tried to take what he could from everyone else, learning even when he wasn’t getting the chance to play.
“I study each and every guy every day in the film room,” Fenwick said. “I try to make myself better based on just the reps that they got. Mental reps and stuff like that.”
