By Heath Bradley.

By Heath Bradley

CLEMSON – Clemson football has had a recent tradition of great running backs. Thirteen Tigers have been named First-team All-ACC at the running back position. That is not counting CJ Spiller, who was one of the most dynamic players in school history. Clemson may be well on its way to a 14th this season with Andre Ellington, but his backup is also well on his way to continuing the Clemson running back tradition.

Roderick “Hot Rod” McDowell if off and running in his redshirt junior season, the running back concluded 2011 with a touchdown in the Orange Bowl, and has picked right back up in 2012. Through two games McDowell has rushed for 70 yards on just 12 carries, scoring two touchdowns.  According to McDowell, his early success is great, but his focus is on staying humble.

For McDowell, the road to consistent playing time has been a long, hard journey. After strong fall practices in both 2010 and 2011, McDowell was plagued by injuries limiting his playing time in both seasons.

“It is a blessing. I am not the one to boast about how I am playing now,” he said. “I really pride myself on being humble. I could not have done this without my offensive line, God, and without the coaches sticking behind me. I am just a humble and blessed person right now.”

After three seasons at Clemson, McDowell had not seen the returns of what he expected when he arrived at Clemson. This led McDowell to become discouraged about his future in football and his future at Clemson. Luckily for McDowell, the coaches never gave up on him. After meeting with the coaches during this past off-season and recommitting himself to the game, McDowell is now flourishing.

“I decided to buy in,” he said. “At the beginning I got discouraged because I was not seeing the playing time I wanted to. I prayed about it, and the coaches stuck with me, I thought they were going to give up on me, but they didn’t.”

McDowell hopes to continue the legacy of great Clemson running backs in his remaining time at Clemson. He uses lesson taught to him from those ahead of him since arriving at Clemson to become a better player daily.

“I work hard,” he said. “When I first got here, I thought they were going to baby me. They threw me in the fire. We are running backs, and coming to Clemson as a running back, they take pride in that. We make plays, that is one thing I can really say about Clemson, running backs are a tradition.”

With the recent success of players like Davis, Spiller, Harper, and Ellington, McDowell hopes to be the next running back to make Clemson nation proud.