Inside the summer that has Rocket Sanders feeling great heading into USC’s 2024 season

Rocket Sanders was getting to the football operations building before Shane Beamer.

The fourth-year South Carolina head coach strolled into the weight room at around 6 a.m. on summer mornings and, lo and behold, there was the Rocketman, already putting in work bright and early.

All summer, Sanders’ alarm clock rang around 5:15 a.m. He was at the facility 15 minutes later, getting the hot tub going and his shoulder taped up.

Then, at some point before 6, he headed to the weight room, probably already in a sweat by the time the Gamecocks coach strolled into the building.

If this is the season of Sanders, it will be because of his summer.

Already through four preseason practices, Sanders is not limited in any way. He feels great. His shoulder feels great. And whether coaches or fans want to hear it, he’s already “throwing my shoulder in there” during camp.

It seems to answer one of the two major questions folks had about Sanders after he transferred from Arkansas to South Carolina in December and missed all of spring ball recovering from a surgery to repair a torn labrum.

Question 1: Is he healthy? Check.

Question 2: Can he be the Sanders of 2022?

The second question is what still needs to be proven. Can he be the dude he was as a sophomore, the Arkansas tailback who galloped for almost 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns? Can he once again be one of the best running backs in America?

“The best version of Rocket we can get is the version where he was leading the SEC in rushing (yards per attempt in 2022),” said USC running backs coach Marquel Blackwell.

That required his shoulder to be fully healed. It required Sanders to drop his weight back around 225 pounds. It did not require him to be the first guy in the building every day or staying after workouts, but he did that anyway.

“He’s been a pro about it,” Blackwell said. “I don’t think he put $240,000 (into his body) like Derrick Henry, but he put a lot of time into it.”

Helping along the way this summer was strength and conditioning coach Chip Morton, a 27-year NFL strength coach who joined Beamer’s staff in 2021.

Morton, Sanders said, showed the running back patience. When he arrived at South Carolina, his arm was in a sling and he was in a hurry. Sanders was in a rush to recover. He did not want some long, drawn-out rehab. He wanted everything all at once.

Morton explained that hurried rehab is not smart rehab. Morton did not just want to get Sanders’ shoulder back to 100% — he wanted Sanders back to full strength. Of course, the shoulder was focus No. 1, but they also worked extensively on strengthening his mobility, knees and his hips.

Sanders’ rehab, which Morton nicknamed “Rocket Science,” was a holistic endeavor.

What that means for his body remains still to be seen. But as the Gamecocks threw on pads this week, Sanders already saw the effects on his psyche. He was back on the football field. Back taking handoffs. Back getting hit.

And he wasn’t nervous.

“I feel like we did a lot of the stuff in the summer for me to be prepared for fall camp,” Sanders said.

The next test will come on Saturday. For the first time this preseason — and the first time with Sanders in a Gamecocks uniform — USC will hold an intrasquad scrimmage.

He still has to reacclimate himself with the feeling of getting tackled and stepping up to block a defensive end. He still has to land on his shoulder as bodies fall all around him.

Then he has to get up and realize things are OK.