USC head coach Shane Beamer and running backs coach Montario Hardesty were not finished adding to the running back room from the Transfer Portal Wednesday after gobbling up Rocket Sanders of Arkansas and Oscar Adaway of North Texas. Thursday night the Gamecocks added a commitment from SC State transfer Jawarn Howell.
Howell (6-1, 215), the Rookie of the Year in the MEAC, completed his official visit with the Gamecocks on Thursday morning. “Great hospitality and everything like that, so I really can’t complain about that,” Howell said in an interview Wednesday night. “Pretty much they’re saying the same thing as all the other schools. I will be a valuable part to the offense, to add another element, things like that. They think that I can get developed to be an NFL player. I love the coaches. I love everything here.”
The fact the Gamecocks have already taken a pair of running back transfers, and have three other running backs on the books, won’t have an impact on Howell’s final decision. “That doesn’t affect anything with me,” Howell said. “At the end of the day, you are always going to have more than one running back ready to play.”
Howell was a freshman at State this season and emerged as the Bulldogs top running back rushing for 809 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games. He averaged over eight yards per carry. He capped off his season with a 27 carry, 283-yard, three touchdown performance against Howard.
He had planned to take an official visit to Indiana this weekend. He said Charlotte and James Madison were two other programs of interest.
Howell is from the heart of NASCAR country, Mooresville, NC (Martin Truex Jr. is his favorite driver).