“I’m going to run angry next season, and everybody’s going to know about it.”

Strong words for a preseason Heisman candidate from Atlanta.

Now’s the time, Mike.

South Carolina junior running back Mike Davis told anyone who would listen during spring practice that he intended to take the college football world by storm this season in the SEC, packing on 20 pounds of muscle to his 5-foot-9 tank of a frame.

Two games into what’s likely his final season before the NFL Draft, Davis has only partially delivered on his promise.

After missing much of his team’s opening loss to Texas A&M with sore ribs, the Georgia native showed flashes of his vintage self against East Carolina with a highlight-worthy 36-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Davis is averaging 4.8 yards per carry this season, nearly a full yard off his career average, but that could change this week.

[stats team=”south-carolina-football” year=”2014″ position=”running-backs” sort=”rush_yards” num=”3″ ]

A swing game in the East, the Georgia-South Carolina rivalry is always framed as a Top 5 game in the SEC annually and Davis can propel himself back into the Heisman conversation on Saturday with a memorable performance against his off-the-field buddy, Todd Gurley.

The two won’t share too many words under the sun at Williams-Brice Stadium and who could blame them. Georgia’s trying to lock itself into the College Football Playoff’s early-season final four while the Gamecocks have a nationwide group of naysayers to silence and a Top 25 ranking to sustain.

Davis seems to turn it up a notch against Georgia after gashing the Bulldogs’ front seven for 149 yards and a touchdown in Athens last season. His sparkling 9.3 yards per carry average was the second-best output of his career.

Knowing Jeremy Pruitt’s tendency to blitz, Georgia’s going to force Dylan Thompson — not Davis — to move the football, but if ‘run angry’ Davis shows up, it may not matter how many Bulldogs are hovering near the line of scrimmage.

Primed to dethrone the sexy SEC champion pick based on the early eye test, the Gamecocks need No. 28 to have his way.