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Until Aug. 19, 2020, everything was going MarShawn Lloyd’s way.
The highest-rated running back recruit for South Carolina football in a decade, Lloyd arrived on campus with a flurry of excitement and sky-high expectations. He seemingly met those expectations, too, through spring and summer workouts, so much so that he was considered a favorite to start right away.
Then, he planted his foot the wrong way in a drill, and his left ACL tore. His seemingly charmed football career was on hold.
“I just didn’t feel myself,” Lloyd said Friday, speaking with reporters for the first time since the injury. “The thoughts going through my mind was, ‘Why me? Why it’s happening to me?’ I had a great camp, I was ready to go, it was time, like a month away, everything was going great in my way. So, it definitely was a hard pill to swallow.”
Lloyd, a burly, powerful 5-foot-9 back, couldn’t run. He couldn’t even jog. Unable to exercise, his weight bounced from 205 to 235 pounds, he said. And while he may have put on a good front, he was deeply disappointed.
Strong support
“I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s easy to show people that you’re feeling good when you’re really not,” Lloyd said. “I actually, I struggled a lot with the process. My mom definitely helped a lot.”
His Christian faith did too. Before the injury, Lloyd said, he went to church “here and there.” After it, he felt drawn to the positive thinking Scripture offered.
“Reading the Bible, and reading verses that relate to me and everything, it really changed how I thought and how I was feeling throughout the whole process when I was down,” Lloyd said.
His mindset changed in other ways too. Before he was hurt, Lloyd said he didn’t put much emphasis on recovery and treatment. He didn’t need to.
“I learned that the little things count, as far as recovery. … So it taught me to prepare better,” Lloyd said.
Change on the horizon
After about four months, things began to feel better. He could do a little more activity. But around that same time, Will Muschamp, the coach to whom he had committed, was fired. Almost immediately, fans worried that Lloyd might follow Muschamp out the door, jumping into the transfer portal where he would surely be a prized commodity, just like he was in high school.
Instead, he stayed.
“First of all the atmosphere, the people of South Carolina,” Lloyd said in explaining his decision not to leave. “I love the fans. I love my teammates … I came here for coach Muschamp and (running backs coach) Thomas Brown — I thought I did. Actually, I came here because of the people, and because of the atmosphere and just the football love here in South Carolina.”
One of the teammates who was especially key in helping Lloyd bond to the school and the program was tight end Jesse Sanders, a walk-on from Aiken. They were united by a strange twist of fate, both tearing their ACLs on the same day. While Lloyd’s injury prompted an official release from the school and headlines, Sanders’ was hardly noticed. But it was consequential all the same.
“Actually 10 minutes apart, we tore our ACL the same exact day,” Lloyd said. “So it was good having somebody like Jesse helping me through the process, getting me stronger, pushing me, I’m pushing him. It definitely made me stronger and got me a brother for life.”
Also important in Lloyd’s decision to stay was the hiring of new coach Shane Beamer. Beamer knew of Lloyd thanks to his East Coast recruiting responsibilities at Oklahoma, and the new coach made sure to make the prize back know he was valued at USC.
“He actually called me when I was at my friend’s house,” Lloyd said of their first conversation. “He just let me know that he still wants me here, he wanted to gain a relationship when I came here and that’s exactly what he did,” Lloyd said. “I love Coach Beamer right now, he’s a great coach and you know everything he said, he stuck to, and everything’s going pretty good in South Carolina right now.”
Looking forward
Things aren’t 100% just yet — Lloyd seemed to throw some cold water on the idea that he would participate in the annual Garnet & Black game, saying he planned to “take it easy” this spring before being full-go come June. In the meantime, he’s continuing to rehab alongside Sanders under assistant athletic trainer Rachel Sharpe, who has been an important figure in his recovery.
But there have been moments of excitement along the way. Just last week, Lloyd took to Instagram to post a video of himself pushing a weighted sled during the team’s nighttime workouts. That video caught the eye of Marcus Lattimore, the star Gamecock running back to whom Lloyd has been compared and who also went through a devastating knee injury, and he reached out.
“It was shocking. When he was here, I talked to him here and there. But getting to hear from him, because he went through the same thing, was definitely special for me,” Lloyd said. “… He texted me recently and just told me he’s proud of me and he’s looking for big things this year. And that really meant a lot to me because when I first got hurt, I watched videos on Marcus Lattimore and his rehab process, as well as Adrian Peterson. I’ve been watching different things of them to help me go through to everything that I’m going through.”
And the end goal, for Lloyd and the Gamecocks, is tantalizing and clear — he and junior Kevin Harris teaming up in the backfield, one year after Harris exploded for more than 1,000 yards, earned All-SEC honors and made USC history.
“Me and Kevin’s relationship actually grew (in the last year). We definitely got closer. He’s going to push me and I’m going to push him every single day. Kevin’s a great player, he had a wonderful year,” Lloyd said. “And I can’t wait to tear up the SEC with Kevin. It’s gonna be definitely a one-two punch, you know, thunder and lightning, we call it.”
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