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Rico Dowdle

  • position Rb
  • height 6-0
  • weight 215
  • class Senior
  • Hometown Asheville, N.C.
  • High school A.C. Reynolds
  • position Rb
  • height 6-0
  • weight 215
  • class Senior
  • Hometown Asheville, N.C.
  • High school A.C. Reynolds

Rico Dowdle Bio

2019 Tenacity Award – Offense

2016 Athlon’s SEC All-Freshman Second Team

CAREER
Solid running back who finished his career ranked 15th on the school’s all-time rushing list with 2,167 yards, scoring 16 rushing touchdowns… was the team’s top rusher in 2018… played in 39 games with 29 starts… had eight 100-yard rushing games, including a career-best 226-yard effort, the sixth-biggest single-game rushing day in school history.

2019
Senior running back who shared the Tenacity Award for offense… finished second on the squad with 108 carries for 498 yards and four touchdowns… also caught 22 passes for 167 yards… started 10 of 12 games, missing a pair of games (Tennessee and Vanderbilt) due to a knee injury… logged a pair of 100-yard rushing games, going for 102 against both Alabama and Kentucky, giving him eight in his career… had a season-high 21 carries in the upset win at Georgia… had a career-high five receptions for 67 yards on Senior Day against Appalachian State… selected to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl… graduated in December.

2018    
Junior running back who was the team’s leading rusher with 654 yards, a 5.3-yard average… played in 12 games, making eight starts… tied for the team lead with four rushing touchdowns… caught 14 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown… had three 100-yard rushing games… led the Gamecocks with 105 rushing yards on 15 carries against Coastal Carolina… it ranked as the 12th-best season opening performance in school history… had a big day in the Vanderbilt win, with 20 carries for 112 yards and a score… posted his best effort of the season in the Tennessee victory, carrying the ball 14 times for 140 yards and a touchdown… left the Ole Miss game with an ankle injury after his first carry and did not return… limited in the next contest at Florida, though he did rush twice for eight yards and a touchdown… did not play against Chattanooga due to the injury.

2017    
Ranked third on the team in rushing with 251 yards on 66 carries despite playing in just eight games with four starts… was the Gamecocks’ starting running back in the season-opener against NC State and started the first three contests… scored twice against the Wolfpack on a 34-yard touchdown pass and a seven-yard run… broke his leg at Tennessee and missed the final five games of the regular season… returned for the Outback Bowl against Michigan and provided a spark with six carries for 45 yards and a touchdown and three receptions for 32 yards.

2016    
Played in nine games, making seven starts… named to Athlon’s SEC All-Freshman second team… led the team with 133 carries for 764 yards, ninth-best among FBS freshmen… second on the team with seven touchdowns… his six rushing TDs tied for 10th among FBS freshmen… had three 100-yard rushing games… had surgery for a sports hernia in the offseason and missed the first four games while recovering from the surgery… made his debut against Texas A&M and rushed nine times for 47 yards… made his first career start vs. Georgia… scored his first rushing touchdown against the Bulldogs… had 16 carries for 87 yards and one score in the UMass win… logged his first 100-yard day when he carried 27 times for 127 yards and a touchdown in the win over Tennessee… paced the Gamecocks with 27 carries for 149 yards and a TD in the Missouri win… also caught three passes for 20 yards and a score… racked up a career-high 226 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries in the Western Carolina win, averaging 10.8 yards per carry… the 226 yards rushing was the sixth-highest single-game total in school history, the 11th 200-yard rushing game by a Carolina back and the most yards rushing since Marcus Lattimore logged 246 against Navy in 2011.

HIGH SCHOOL    
Rushed for 2,545 yards and 51 touchdowns at A.C. Reynolds High, a Class 3AA school in Asheville, N.C… graduated in 2016… also passed for 1,434 yards with 11 scores and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass… earned first-team all-state accolades and was a PARADE All-American… the Rockets went 11-2 in 2015 under the direction of head coach Shane Laws… played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, where he scored a pair of touchdowns… Rivals listed him as the 29th-best player in the state and the No. 17 all-purpose back in the country… 247Sports considered him the 11th-best player in the state of North Carolina and the 11th-best running back in the nation… ESPN ranked him as the 39th-best player in North Carolina and the No. 72 running back in the country… an All-Atlantic Region pick by PrepStar.

PERSONAL    
Rico Sharod Dowdle Jr. was born June 14, 1998… earned a degree in retailing in December 2019.