The South Carolina football team has spent the past few months ramping up and preparing for the upcoming college football season, but with less than two weeks from kickoff, it is still unclear if graduate running back Rahsul Faison will be able to join the team.
“(I’m) proud of (Faison) for how he’s handling this situation and his mindset and spirit,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “As well as his teammates as well and how they’re helping him through this."
Faison transferred to the Gamecocks from Utah State during the winter, preparing to play his seventh season of college football. After enrolling at Marshall in 2018, Faison did not take a collegiate snap until 2022 as a redshirt junior at Snow College in Utah where he rushed for just 355 yards in the season.
Faison transferred to Utah State in 2023, rushing for 736 yards as a redshirt senior before exploding for 1,109 yards in his sixth year this past season.
On Aug. 1, Faison was granted a practice waiver by the NCAA, but the final decision is still in waiting with less than two weeks before the Gamecocks kick the season off against Virginia Tech on Aug. 31. Looking for a potential seventh year, the decision on Faison’s eligibility sits in the hands of the NCAA.
South Carolina is hoping to have its big ticket transfer back on the field to begin the season, but there is more talent in the backfield being prepared.
Seventh-year graduate student Oscar Adaway III is slotted in at second on the Gamecocks' depth chart and has the opportunity to get first team carries. Adaway finished third on the team in rushing yards last season with 295 yards and three touchdowns.
Adaway walked onto North Texas’ campus as a college student for the first time in 2019, and is now considered to be the veteran of the running backs by his younger teammates. While he hopes Faison will be cleared to play, Adaway said he is grateful for the opportunity.
“I hope he is ready to go week one,” Adaway said. “But it’s a blessing and an honor just to come out here and run the football for the University of South Carolina.”
Beamer spoke on Adaway’s leadership as an older player in the locker room.
“He’s an older guy that (has) seen it all and has worked really, really hard,” Beamer said. “Really good football player who’s gotten better in his last year of college football and has great leadership skills.”
Other options following Adaway include junior Colorado transfer Isaiah Augustave and redshirt sophomore Jawarn Howell. Augustave rushed for 384 yards with 85 carries last season under head coach Deion Sanders, while Howell saw just 19 carries with the Gamecocks last season after rushing for 809 yards in his freshman season at South Carolina State.
In April, Howell noted how strong the running back room is and how each of them has the ability to compete.
“From top to bottom, I feel like that running back room is loaded with talent,” Howell said. “It’s a very talented room, and it should be a special season coming up.”
Despite the handful of running backs who seem to serve as contingency plans to head the depth chart, the Gamecocks would benefit from Faison getting his waiver cleared as a 1,000-plus yard rusher at the FBS level.
An argument for Faison to be cleared seems plausible as he has only played three full seasons of college football with just 25 total games in FBS.
After months of waiting, the South Carolina team and its fans are on the edge of their seats with the hopes of having an established lead running back available to begin the season against Virginia Tech.
“I’m confident that they will do the right thing when that time is,” Beamer said.