USC football coach Shane Beamer hopes to address the shortage of running backs in his program this month through the Transfer Portal. Tuesday, he hit on his first one with a commitment from North Texas transfer Oscar Adaway (5-10 219). The native of Little Rock, AR made his official visit to USC last weekend and was convinced about Beamer and the Gamecocks after that.
“I just want to say the realness of the coaching staff,” Adaway said of what sold him on USC. “In recruiting nowadays, you talk to a lot of coaches, and you never know if they are going to be real or fake. This is my second go-around in the recruiting journey, and I just felt that they were very real and down to earth in telling me what it is and what it isn’t.”
Adaway has been around SEC football as a native of Arkansas and having played the last two seasons in Texas. Now, he gets to realize his opportunity to play the game at the highest level in college.
“It’s a blessing,” he said. “I’ve got two years left, but if I go into this next year thinking I have two years, I think I’m going to play like I have two years. I want to come here and perform as much as I can on the biggest stage in college football in my opinion. Coming to the Gamecocks and playing for coach Beamer, it’s a huge blessing.”
Adaway spent a lot of time with offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and running backs coach Montario Hardesty on his visit. They were meticulous in laying out for him the situation in the running back room and what they could do for one another.
“The offensive coordinator just went down the tree of all the running backs he’s had and how he talks to the running backs and asks them what they like instead of just running whatever he likes,” Adaway said. “They are going to the expertise of the running back. Whatever he’s good at, that’s what they are going to try to run. Coach Mo told me that he’s going to coach me hard and tell me the truth. If he sees something bad, he’s going to tell me it’s bad. If he sees something good, he’s going to tell me it’s good. That’s something I’m looking for in a coach. They also just kept it honest with me in the RB room. They’ve got guys in here and they want me to compete, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Adaway rushed for 1935 yards and 14 touchdowns in two seasons with the Mean Green. He had 344 carries in 31 games. Of course, he wants to get his carries, but more importantly to him, he wantst to do whatever it takes to get the W.
“I’m just a back that likes to win honestly,” Adaway said. “I just want to win. If the coaches say hey bo, we’ve got to give you the ball 27 times today, can you go out there and get us a game, I’m going to say yes sir, let’s do it. If the coach tells me hey, I need you to catch the ball five times today and run the ball once, can you do it for me? I’m going to tell him yeah, as long as we win coach. That’s the only thing that’s on my mind.”
Adaway is the second four-year college transfer to commit to the Gamecocks since the weekend. They also have a junior college transfer. And late Tuesday night Beamer put out his second commitment alert of the evening.