Tennessee football at South Carolina: Five Gamecocks to watch
Marshawn Lloyd. 2. player. Running back. r-Sophomore. 850. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
5’9″ 212 pounds
Spencer Rattler and the passing game is a bit of a threat to Tennessee football, but the most crucial aspect of this game is stopping running back Marshawn Lloyd. South Carolina is 5-0 when they hit 100 yards on the ground, and Lloyd is a huge part of that. Him against the Vols’ elite rush defense will actually be a pretty intriguing matchup.
Lloyd has 100 carries for 556 yards on the year and nine touchdowns. He also has 17 catches for 173 yards and two more touchdowns, so he’s a threat in multiple ways. The Vols have been victims of certain busted coverages on wheel routes with running backs at times this year, so Lloyd could be dangerous for them.
Juju McDowell and Christian Beal-Smith are also part of that rushing attack, and it’s the attack as a whole that Josh Heupel needs to worry about, but Lloyd is the key guy in all of that. If the Vols stop Lloyd, they will cruise to an easy blowout victory. Failure to do so could cause problems.
Part of this is getting some tackles for a loss on Lloyd. South Carolina is one of the worst in the nation at avoiding being tackled behind the line of scrimmage, so UT needs Jeremy Banks, Aaron Beasley and Juwan Mitchell to step up in a big way on that front.