These four Gamecocks are crucial to South Carolina’s offense against Texas A&M

South Carolina has hit the back half of the schedule.

With a wild win over Vanderbilt last week, the Gamecocks limp into their final five games at 4-3 and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play. Saturday, USC will take on a Texas A&M team that’s only two weeks removed from upsetting then-No. 1 Alabama. The Aggies have also never lost to the Gamecocks since beginning SEC play in 2014.

While the defense has been ahead of schedule, South Carolina has to get more from its offense if it hopes to hang around, let alone spring an upset in College Station. Here are four Gamecocks to watch:

QB Zeb Noland

This might sound like an obvious answer, but South Carolina’s offensive prowess — or lack thereof — starts at the quarterback position.

Fans clamored for a change under center in recent weeks, maligning Luke Doty since his return from a foot injury that sidelined him the first two games of the year. With Doty now done for the season after aggravating his foot last week against Vanderbilt, it’s Zeb Noland’s offense barring something unforeseen.

Noland was solid in his two full games as South Carolina’s starting quarterback. In wins over Eastern Illinois and East Carolina, the former Iowa State and North Dakota State signal-caller completed 26 of 45 passes for 346 yards and five touchdowns.

That said, an average of 13 completions and 173 yards may not cut it against a Texas A&M defense that’s forcing opposing quarterbacks into just a 60.3 completion percentage — good for fifth-best in the SEC.

The Gamecocks’ run game has been limited this fall (more on that in a second). If South Carolina has aspirations of putting any kind of pressure on Texas A&M, it’ll have to find ways to stretch the field as it did early in the season.

RB Kevin Harris/Juju McDowell

ZaQuandre White was solid a week ago in anchoring a South Carolina run game that’s struggled throughout the year. But assuming Kevin Harris and Juju McDowell are back in the fold, USC’s ground aspirations run through that pair.

Harris finished last season atop the SEC in rushing with more than 1,100 yards and 15 touchdowns. In a topsy-turvy encore, the Georgia native is on pace for roughly 470 yards. That’s not to mention he didn’t find the end zone until two weeks ago against Tennessee.

Some of Harris’ limited numbers are in part due to the offseason back procedure that forced him to miss the season opener along with an undisclosed illness that bothered him early on. Health aside, South Carolina’s offense can’t function at full throttle if he’s not involved.

While Harris has been limited, McDowell has proved a sparkplug for the Gamecocks as the clear-cut No. 2 running back so far this fall. After missing last week’s game due to an undisclosed disciplinary issue, he’s expected to play on Saturday in the Lone Star State.

South Carolina’s rushing attack has looked closer to form in recent weeks. The Gamecocks have eclipsed 110 yards on the ground as a team in each of the last two games after not doing so for four consecutive contests following the season opener against Eastern Illinois.

If USC hopes to find a balance in its offensive approach and alleviate some pressure off Noland, it has to come through Harris and McDowell hitting another gear out of the backfield.

WR Josh Vann

It’s difficult to overstate how good Josh Vann was in the opening few weeks of the season. After recording just two receptions for 27 yards against EIU, Vann exploded for more than 250 yards on eight catches in games against East Carolina and Georgia.

Since then, things have gotten a smidge more difficult for the former four-star recruit. Vann hasn’t caught more than three passes in a game since the ECU contest. He also hasn’t gone for more than 45 yards in a game in four weeks and he hasn’t recorded a touchdown reception in more than a month.

Vann is the best field-stretcher South Carolina has this side of running mate Jalen Brooks — who’s “iffy” for this weekend’s matchup according to head coach Shane Beamer. With Brooks potentially missing a second consecutive game, it’ll fall on Vann to bring a dynamic impact on the outside.