Former Gamecock running back David Williams headed to UConn

Per reporting by David Caraviello at the Charleston Post and Courier, former Gamecock running back David Williams will spend his final year of eligibility with Uconn.

The decision was announced Tuesday by the Huskies, and Williams would be able to play immediately since he’s a graduate transfer. It’ll be a good move for him considering AJ Turner and Rico Dowdle — both freshman -- were ahead of him on the depth chart by seasons end.

The move also puts Williams closer to his hometown of Pennsylvania, a mere four hour drive from the UConn campus compared to the nine hour quest to Columbia. Though he won’t be guaranteed the starting job or even playing time when he gets there, as UConn returns both of their running backs from last season — seniors Ron Johnson and Arkeel Newsome.

This is a bitter end to what was supposed to be a promising career for Williams. He was one of the ten best running backs coming out of the 2013 recruiting class and was a consensus four star prospect. Everything was looking up for him to seize the starting role in 2015 after Mike Davis was drafted, but Brandon Wilds — injury prone as he was — earned the role of top back in the horrific 2015 campaign.

As Caraviello’s story details, Williams and Will Muschamp didn’t see eye-to-eye early on in the head coaches tenure here — probably dooming any shot Williams was going to have of making an impact this season.

His career culminated with 794 yards rushing at 4.2 yards a rush with five touchdowns. Williams never topped 300 yards rushing in a season, and his only 100 yard game came against Furman in 2014 where he gained 110 yards on 11 carries.

It’s unfortunate Williams never panned out to be the running back he was supposed to be, as coming out of high school he seemed destined to be the next great back at South Carolina. Either way, we hope he does well at UConn this season as South Carolina should be fine in running back depth without him.