How a key addition makes a massive change to South Carolina, Muschamp’s running game
South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp was exaggerating a little.
Getting all the way to 1,000% in anything is difficult. In recent decades, college teams that run schemes with one back or two have grown more similar, having a tight end do some of the things a second back (fullback) would do. But his team now has that true fullback, and it opens up a different avenue for his Gamecocks.
“To key and diagnose a one-back run versus a two-back run is 1,000% different,” Muschamp said.
Muschamp said he often speaks for former coworker Dan Quinn, now with the Atlanta Falcons, about how NFL teams hope to craft themselves into two-back teams.
This year, Muschamp has a 6-foot, 245-pound tool to become that sort of team in fullback Adam Prentice. His presence opens things up to a degree for an offense looking to get its running game going after a half-decade of inconsistency.
“It’s hard to find guys, hard to find guys like him,” Muschamp said. “He obviously knows the system. He’s very well versed in what we do and how we do things, but he’s also going to be a big special teams contributor for us, as well as a fullback.”
Prentice is a refugee of new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s time at Colorado State. He opened up holes for a variety of backs, catching a few passes along the way.
The Gamecocks haven’t had a true fullback in the Muschamp era, but a good one can create some different looks with power runs, lead runs and some insert looks.
Prentice has been sidelined for parts of fall practice, but after five years of college, all in Bobo’s scheme, he’ll at worst have plenty of feel for what he’ll be asked to do.
When he spoke about Prentice, Muschamp veered into a favorite topic that touches on the California native’s path to his current position. He went to college as a linebacker, one who was a little short and not quite high-end athletic. Muschamp often speaks about tight ends who in high school are either big wide receivers not often asked to block or extra offensive linemen who aren’t much of receivers.
Bobo had mentioned his fullbacks are usually walk-on linebackers, and South Carolina’s sparsely-used ones in recent years have fit the mold. But the contours of high school football and how athletic players are used creates another bit of position changing on the defensive side, one that speaks to the ups and downs of defending the two-back running game.
“A lot of times you’re projecting at linebacker,” Muschamp said. “Generally the guys that have length and have athleticism are rushing the edges, they’re putting those guys on the edge let them rush edges.”
What they’re not doing is sitting back and diagnosing two-back running games in high school, and finding backers used to that is relatively difficult.
It was only about 20-plus years ago that most offenses featured two backs. One-back schemes were an oddity or a change-up, before the spread revolution changed a lot about the sport.
Muschamp wouldn’t admit his offense is going a little more old school, but it presents something a little more rare in the modern game with a kind of player who is not easy to pull in.
“In high school, they might be rushing the passer, or they might be the feature back and any feature back does not see himself ever as a fullback, and that just never happens,” Muschamp said. “So it’s a very hard position to find.”
