Marquel Blackwell is officially a part of Shane Beamer’s coaching staff, as his contract details have also emerged.

Blackwell will be South Carolina’s running backs coach after he spent last season at Texas A&M, the 2022 season at Ole Miss and the previous 3 seasons at Houston.

Blackwell’s contract was approved by the Board of Trustees as a two-year deal worth $400,000 in his first year and $575,000 in his second year. He replaced former running backs coach Montario Hardesty, who was a part of Beamer’s initial coaching staff, but was fired earlier this month.

At Ole Miss, Blackwell coached a Rebels unit which ranked 3rd in the country and led the SEC with 256.5 yards per game. Freshman Quinshon Judkins led the SEC with 1,565 yards and 16 touchdowns in his debut season.

Blackwell began his time at Houston as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019 before he coached the running backs for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

In his second season as running backs coach, Blackwell saw the total rushing production improve by 847 yards, South Carolina noted in his release. Cougar running backs found the end zone 27 times in 2021 compared to 12 in 2020.