Hardesty provides NFL comps for every Gamecock running back, except MarShawn Lloyd

As a coach and player, Montario Hardesty has seen his fair share of great running backs, having been everywhere from high school to FCS to the SEC and the NFL. So when it comes to comparing the Gamecock tailbacks he currently oversees with other players he’s encountered in his career, there’s a lot of names that come to mind.

“Honestly they kind of remind me of a lot of different players,” Hardesty said Thursday. “I don’t really want to, just because (junior) Kevin Harris might get mad if I say like Michael Turner, even though he was nice. I really can’t put a hand on it, because some of these guys remind me of some guys that I played in college with, some guys I played in high school with, maybe some guys that I’ve coached that you won’t know as much, but they definitely got different skill sets.”

With a little more reflection, though, Hardesty was able to come up with some pro comparisons for all of his scholarship backs — with one key exception.

“MarShawn Lloyd’s always telling me I can’t compare him to anybody yet, because I haven’t seen ‘college MarShawn,’ his exact words, so I’ll wait on a MarShawn comparison until I see him up close in person,” Hardesty said of the star recruit who missed all of last season with an ACL injury and is still rehabbing this spring.

Beyond Lloyd, though, Hardest stuck with his comparison of Kevin Harris and Michael Turner, a Northern Illinois product who went on to play nine seasons in the NFL, earning All-Pro honors twice with the Atlanta Falcons. Like Harris, Turner wasn’t the tallest back at 5-foot-10, but he packed a burly, powerful physique into that frame, as well as a decent amount of speed.

“The biggest thing with Kev, he’s one of those backs that when you look at him, you don’t think that he’s 230 pounds. He can move, he can run inside and outside, but he can also catch really well,” Hardesty said. “So I kind of said that to him, that Michael Turner was a guy that I used look at and didn’t think he was fast, didn’t think he would break out like that, how he did, and he always had really good hands out of the backfield.”

Harris exploded onto the scene last season, taking over the starting job when Lloyd got hurt in the preseason and eventually rushing for more than 1,100 yards in 10 games. Known primarily as smaller power back out of high school, he emerged a versatile threat, even finishing third on the team in receptions.

Redshirt senior ZaQuandre White only got 16 carries for 69 carries in 2020 after transferring from junior college, but Hardesty had high praise for his ability, comparing him to three-time All-Pro and college All-American back Le’Veon Bell.

“Z White, he got that Florida stick, he got that really good dead leg man, so it’s kind of like he’s a sped-up Le’Veon,” Hardesty said. “Because he also ... has those moves kind of like him, he slithers and slides from side to side.”

Redshirt freshman Rashad Amos appeared in three games last year, going for 99 rushing and 13 receiving yards. At 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, his physique reminds Hardesty of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, who went No. 2 overall in the NFL draft and was named a Pro Bowler and AP Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019.

“The thing about Amos is that he can hit it inside, outside, he has really good feet. And I don’t know if y’all seen how he’s built, he’s built like a tank, man, got those big legs like Saquon, but he also has really good hands out of the backfield,” Hardesty said.

“... Amos, Saquon Barkley, he’s gonna like that because he thinks he’s Saquon Barkley. But he really does move like him, he has a lower body similar to him.”