Oscar Adaway III embracing leadership role in South Carolina RB room
South Carolina’s running back room is in an interesting position heading into the 2025 season.
The Gamecocks return just one running back from last year who logged more than 50 carries and only two who tallied over 100 rushing yards in 2024.
The lone person to meet those criteria? Oscar Adaway III.
Adaway is entering his seventh year of college football — though this will be his sixth season of playing after missing 2021 with an injury — and his second with South Carolina. Last year he supplemented Raheim “Rocket” Sanders (and LaNorris Sellers, for that matter) in the run game, tallying 295 rushing yards on 77 carries.
In 2025, that workload could very well increase. South Carolina brought in Rahsul Faison from the transfer portal with the expectation he would compete for the starting job, but he’s been waiting on a waiver for his own seventh year of eligibility since he arrived in Columbia in January.
The Gamecocks also brought in Colorado transfer Isaiah Augustave to bulk up a room that is relatively young and inexperienced. The experience Adaway brings will be crucial in 2025 regardless if Faison can play or not, South Carolina running backs coach Marquel Blackwell said.
“He’s played a lot of football. He’s played in meaningful SEC games. He’s another year into the program, so he knows what we’re doing,” Blackwell told The State. “He’s had a heck of a summer, so he’s gotten better. It’s a big deal. He understands his role that he’s gonna have.”
Blackwell lauded Adaway for his offseason efforts while speaking at South Carolina’s on-campus media day last week.
“I’ve coached some pretty good ones and they have done a lot of good things on and off the field, but he’s probably had one of the best offseason I’ve seen,” Blackwell said. “Looking forward to him putting it on the grass, looking forward to him being a leader that we know he is and being productive like we expect him to be. His approach, the way he goes about a business — like a straight professional. So happy to have him on his team.”
Adaway, who turns 25 in October, said he’s embraced the role of being the elder statesman in the room. While the other running backs are relatively young, Adaway feels like they’ve done plenty of maturing in the offseason.
“Just to lead, do everything right, stay locked in and stay focused,” Adaway said of his role. “Don’t lose the focus, stay with the same mentality you started with in your first game of your college career.”
Adaway has played in 44 games during his college career — mostly at the University of North Texas — and amassed 2,230 rushing yards in that time. He said that kind of experience not only helps him on the field, but can help his fellow running backs as well.
“It’s very important, experience goes a long way,” Adaway said. “A lot of people can say, ‘Oh, I want to do this. I want to do that.’ But the first thing you’re going to ask somebody is, ‘How do I do it?’ and you’re not going to ask somebody that’s never done it before. You’re gonna ask somebody that has done it before.”
Last year, Adaway said he went to Sanders often to help with the adjustment to playing football in the SEC. This year, he’s hoping to pay it forward and help his teammates the same way Sanders helped him.
“I’m glad that I’m that person now — just like how Rocket was for me last year,” Adaway said. “I never played a lick of SEC football, but this guy’s been SEC Freshman of the Year before. So I used to ask him plenty of questions on this and that. I feel like it goes a long way, having that experience.”
The plan is for South Carolina’s running game to be by-committee until one running back pushes ahead of the pack for the starting job in camp, Blackwell told The State.
Adaway, meanwhile, said he hasn’t thought much about what the importance of his presence is this season. He’s just trying to “go out there and play ball.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
