Carson breaks out for Gamecocks
South Carolina spent most of the offseason searching for someone to help Pharoh Cooper as an offensive playmaker. An unlikely candidate proved to be a difference-maker Thursday night in Charlotte.
Senior Shon Carson, an afterthought at running back on the USC depth chart, had four carries for 75 yards, including what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown, in South Carolina’s season-opening 17-13 win against North Carolina.
After USC managed 58 yards of offense in the third quarter, Carson took his first carry of the game 48 yards to the end zone early in the final period to give the Gamecocks a 17-13 lead. It stood up as neither team scored the rest of the way.
“My guys were a little bit banged up, so I had to come in and step up,” Carson said. “It felt good to see all of that green grass. I just hit it once I seen the green grass.”
USC quarterback Connor Mitch, who completed 9 of 22 passes, said Carson’s run came at a critical time after South Carolina’s offense had struggled.
Mitch’s first thought when he saw Carson break into the open?
“Relief,” he said. “Just to know that we were getting the lead, and I had confidence in our defense the way they were playing all night. I felt like we had the ballgame then.”
Carson entered Thursday’s game third on the depth chart behind fellow senior Brandon Wilds and sophomore David Williams. He had rushed for 406 yards in his career before his breakout game against the Tar Heels.
Mitch said Carson offers a different dynamic to the running back position.
“I say he has roadrunner feet, he’s going so fast,” Mitch said. “I’ll tell you that man is a little bullet right there.”
As a whole, South Carolina rushed for 254 yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. In addition to Carson, Wilds had 14 carries for 51 yards and Williams had 10 carries for 42 yards. Mitch added 44 yards on the ground.
“It feels good that we can trust everybody and we can put the ball in anybody’s hands and they can take care of the ball,” Carson said.
The Gamecocks specifically had success on the ground in the fourth quarter, rushing 16 times for 118 yards to run out the clock. USC took over at its 20 with 3:29 left and a four-point lead and ran seven plays, all on the ground, to clinch the victory.
“I told Lorenzo Ward if we’d have made two first downs at the end of three other games last year we’d all be smiling a lot better, but we didn’t do it,” USC coach Steve Spurrier said. “Tonight, we did and we ran the ball. Brandon Wilds ran it for us. That was very, very encouraging to run out two first downs.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Carson breaks out for Gamecocks."