The 2024 Memphis Tigers will be looking to build upon a well-fought 10-3 2023 season, rounded out by an impressive win over Iowa State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Ryan Silverfield hoped to build upon an average of seven wins across the previous three seasons and proved that Memphis is right on the cusp of competing with the AAC’s finest amidst his best year yet in charge.
With Blake Watson headed to the NFL as an undrafted prospect for the Denver Broncos, Memphis needed to quickly reinvent their run game ahead of a challenging year of football. The answer was former South Carolina Gamecock Mario Anderson, who decided to head for Memphis despite offers from both USC and Oklahoma.
Anderson’s commitment was a significant step for the Tigers, beating out some of college football’s elite programs for his signature. He posted 712 rushing yards and three touchdowns for the Gamecocks in 2023, his first year of experience in D1 football.
Having seen what he was capable of at South Carolina, I believe Mario Anderson will have just as significant of an impact on the Tigers’ offense as Blake Watson did in 2023. His arrival could prove even more important.
Anderson’s career so far
Mario Anderson was originally featured in the DII program at Newberry, amassing 3,301 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns in three seasons with the team. His standout talent meant opportunities in D1 football, having been named a DII All-American, attracting several top programs nationwide.
He led the Gamecocks in rushing yards in 2023, with two 100+ yard rushing games against Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the SEC. He played in tough environments, including Texas A&M’s Kyle Field and Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. His experience will prove valuable for Memphis, who used their experience to bring him to town…
Ryan Silverfield and the program were able to lure him away from South Carolina and other interested programs with their reputation for developing starting-caliber NFL running backs.
Running backs coach Sean Dawkins played a key role in the recruitment process and is now going into his fourth season with the program.
Mario Anderson’s skillset
Mario Anderson proved himself a valuable asset for South Carolina last season, with a high percentage of his work coming between the tackles against tough SEC opponents and their stacked defensive lines.
Anderson is on the shorter side of college running backs at five-foot-nine but packs out every inch of his frame at 210 pounds, with plenty of power behind his pads.
He made it clear that he could break through the line and pull away from the defense multiple times, none more noticeable than his 75-yard touchdown run against Tennessee. He hits his top speed quickly, as a one-cut running back who will hit the hole and run through whatever stands in his way beyond that point.
Anderson is a tough, gritty runner whose feet never stop churning. He’s able to keep his momentum going through contact to pick up additional yardage, and he sort of reminds me of Maurice Jones-Drew in the way he scampers downfield with choppy feet and a low center of gravity.
He and Blake Watson are the same height and, in a way, similar runners. Memphis benefited greatly from returning to having a 1,000-yard rusher and will now look to reinvent Watson’s production via Mario Anderson in 2024.
Expected Role in Memphis
This will now be Tim Cramsey’s third season as Memphis’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In year two, he truly established the identity of his offense with the introduction of Blake Watson.
It was the first time the Tigers had boasted a 1,000-yard rusher since Kenny Gainwell managed that feat in 2019. The return of the run game immediately brought the Tigers back into the conversation in the AAC, and they won’t be shying away from that production any time soon.
Mario Anderson will not be a rotational piece or a role player in the Tigers’ offense. In all likely cases, he and Roc Taylor will be two of the most important, if not the two most important, weapons in the offense. The run game is crucial for Memphis to remain competitive and win close games. Those keys have been handed to Anderson for the upcoming season, with a supporting cast featuring Sutton Smith and Brandon Thomas.
Impact on Team Dynamics
Mario Anderson comes in with several other transfers, including multiple offensive linemen expected to take starting roles in 2024. Guard Trent Holler comes in for his sixth year of eligibility, having initially spent three seasons at East Carolina before starting the past two seasons for Marshall.
He’s experienced both at guard and center and appears set to play just inside of newly acquired left tackle Jaylen Nichols, a former teammate of Anderson’s in South Carolina. Nichols missed the entire 2023 season through injury but has spent the last five years with the Gamecocks and will now block for Anderson in 2024.
On the right side, former UL Monroe transfer Keydrell Lewis brings three years of starting experience to the right tackle spot. The Tigers have retooled and bulked up on the offensive line, and Mario Anderson will undoubtedly benefit from the experience set in front of him.
The rest of the running back room has seen very little action over the past couple of seasons, with Sutton Smith’s 283 yards and two touchdowns proving to be the secondary role to Blake Watson in 2023. He may see more than the 80 carries he had last year in 2024 and can learn from Mario Anderson this season before potentially taking over the RB1 role the following year.
In my mind, Sutton Smith adds speed as a great compliment to Mario Anderson’s game, and Brandon Thomas will continue to thrive when it comes to finding the endzone.
Brandon Thomas has been with the program for four seasons, consistently offering support in the red zone and finding paydirt. While his yardage totals aren’t all that impressive, his 26 touchdowns over the past three seasons have certainly been important to the offense. Expect to see more of the same this year.
Potential Challenges and Opportunities
Mario Anderson has been extremely reliable, with four healthy seasons. The most challenging of those was the 2023 season in the SEC, notoriously one of the most grueling conferences in the college game.
Having proven himself against SEC opponents, Anderson should, in theory, be able to dominate in the AAC. I’m interested to see how he might perform against Florida State when that game rolls around earlier in the year, as well as some of the best-established rushing teams in AAC football.
The North Texas Mean Green led the way in 2023 with an average of over 191 rushing yards per game last season, which almost helped them over the line against Memphis in a thrilling 45-42 win for the Tigers. South Florida, Tulsa, and SMU all run the football well themselves, so it’ll be interesting to see if Anderson’s arrival puts Memphis into that category of the conference’s top three rushing teams.
With the revamped offensive line and Anderson’s experience across multiple divisions and conferences, I think he could further the mission that Blake Watson started in 2023. I wouldn’t be even slightly surprised to see him reach 1,200 rushing yards in 2024, and I’d like to see Sutton Smith’s role in support reach new heights this year, too.
Conclusion
Establishing the run takes some of the pressure off of Seth Henigan, which proved to be a factor in the Tigers’ much-improved 10-3 campaign in 2023.
While Blake Watson’s eligibility ran out, Mario Anderson is a tremendous replacement and a running back who the Tigers will feel more than comfortable reforming their identity around.
Look out for breakaway runs through the middle, a bunch of added yards after contact while toughing it out with plenty of leg drive from Mario Anderson, and a very healthy selection of touchdowns from all three backs on the ground. This could be a very big year for the Memphis Tigers offense, who have already proven they can be one of the country’s most reliable scoring teams every week.
I think the former South Carolina talent is set for a big year behind what I believe is an underrated offensive line. If all goes to plan and the Tigers boast one of the AAC’s best run games in 2024, there is no reason they can’t challenge for the title and a spot in the newly expanded College Football Playoff this coming season.
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