South Carolina’s disappointing 2020 campaign began even before the Gamecocks took the field for the opener against Tennessee on Sept. 26.

Many were touting true freshman MarShawn Lloyd as the team’s best running back before he even played a college game as the elite recruit from Maryland quickly turned heads during South Carolina’s abbreviated spring camp and had positioned himself to start for the Gamecocks heading into the 2020 season.

Of course, an injury tragically robbed Lloyd of his debut season in Columbia but the good news is the running back has attacked his rehab since suffering his knee injury in fall camp, and based on what Shane Beamer had to say during his most recent press conference, Lloyd may be ready to compete in South Carolina’s upcoming spring camp.

Here is what South Carolina’s head coach had to say when recently asked for an update on Lloyd.

“He’s doing well. He was in my office this morning… looks great,” Beamer said on Tuesday. “You can tell he is a guy that during his rehab, he didn’t take that time off. He got bigger and stronger, that was obvious to see. When you hurt a knee, you aren’t able to do as much cardio, obviously because you aren’t able to run and do some of that stuff.

“It’s been important for him to get back into shape. Really like his mentality, his demeanor right now, the way he’s working and we are still a month and a half I guess, or a little over a month away from starting spring practice but he’s got quite a bit of time until we get into (spring football) but we are certainly excited to see what he looks like when we get cranked up next month.”

While losing Lloyd appeared to be a massive blow for South Carolina’s offense at the time, sophomore Kevin Harris stepped up and had a breakout season for the Gamecocks in 2020. Harris ended up as the SEC’s leading rusher in the regular season, finishing with 1,138 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 10 games of action.

Now with Lloyd returning to the lineup, South Carolina is poised to have arguably the SEC’s best backfield in 2021.