For starters, South Carolina's offensive staff shouldn't have to worry about ballcarrier snafus on third-and-short this season.

The arrival of Clemson graduate transfer Tavien Feaster this week is a shot in the arm for a rushing attack that has ranked in the bottom-tier of the SEC each of the past five seasons, a lack of respect at the line of scrimmage that has pressured quarterbacks into doing too much while leading to noticeable struggles in the red zone during Will Muschamp's tenure.

Forget the fact he has spent the past three seasons producing as a secondary option at Clemson for a moment and consider the positives — Feaster is the highest-rated running back South Carolina has landed since Mike Davis (2012) per the 247Sports Composite and immediately bolsters a backfield as a featured option among a handful of ballcarriers who have shined at times but are missing the elite element.

There's a difference between game-breaker and game-changer and Feaster falls somewhere in the middle. Would he start at most FBS programs? Yes. Is he a guaranteed 1,000-yard back behind a solid offensive front? No. But when he finds a crease, Feaster is a player capable of extending drives (career 6 YPC), bringing a short-yardage element to a rushing unit that has struggled in that category in recent years.

Feaster's strengths are running behind his pads and often bringing two or three players down with him at the point of contact. Doesn't a former All-American South Carolina running back come to mind when you hear that? Primarily used in read situations at Clemson, Feaster picked up most of his career yards on inside zone plays and shouldn't have a problem picking up the Gamecocks' similar philosophy during camp.

He hits the hole with power and precision, has proven ability to bounce off tacklers and in the open field, he'll be one of the South Carolina's fastest players. At the 4:40 mark of this clip from Feaster's junior season, we see the 5-11, 225-pound get bottled up initially before a quick burst with vision leads to an 8-yard gain — small in the grand scheme, but a play like this undoubtedly creates manageable situations.

How many times last season did we see a similar carry from the Gamecocks result in a 2-yard loss?

Later in the clip at 6:20 vs. Louisville, the Cardinals mistakenly brought both safeties to the line of scrimmage and Feaster made them pay with a 70-yard score. At 7:52 vs. Boston College, Feaster makes something out of nothing, disappearing in a scrum before getting out of it for positive yards. Considering last year's red zone struggles for the Gamecocks, he could become a dynamic runner inside the 20.

Playing behind Heisman candidate Travis Etienne and Adam Choice, Feaster didn't get many snaps with the Tigers last fall, the primary he's looking out for himself as a senior and picked a team that, not only will play in the national spotlight almost every weekend, but will give him a chance to shine.

For those expecting a 20-carry workhorse within Bryan McClendon's scheme every week, look elsewhere. There's too much depth for that and first-year running backs coach Thomas Brown has always taken a by-committee approach. South Carolina does however own a justifiable RB1, which it didn't have coming out of spring, who will threaten Rico Dowdle, A.J. Turner and Mon Denson at the top of the depth chart and gives the Gamecocks an opportunity at being creative in various packages.

At Clemson, Feaster finished with 1,330 yards and 16 total touchdowns over three seasons, appearing in 38 games. If he can average between 5.5-5.8 yards per carry in Columbia with, projecting here, seven touchdowns this fall, that would equate to 600 yards on the ground with 110 or so carries. Again, these are just theoretical numbers based on Feaster quickly scaling the depth chart and working with the first-teamers in September.

Competition breeds excellence and Feaster, even if he's not the SEC East's top newcomer, will make the Gamecocks better in the backfield this season.