Don’t expect Will Muschamp to sign up for a subscription to The State newspaper anytime soon. The South Carolina head coach couldn’t hide his contempt, nor did he attempt to do so, for the paper Monday during his appearance at the Chick fil-A Kickoff press conference in Charlotte.

Meeting publicly with the media for the first time since a story was published by The State newspaper connecting two current Gamecock football players, receiver Deebo Samuel and linebacker Skai Moore, to a weekend fight at Five Points bar, Muschamp didn’t hold back from ripping into the paper after running the story. It should be noted that since the story was run, both players have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Not only has Samuel been cleared, according to Muschamp, he wasn’t even present when the fight occurred.

“The gross inaccuracies of The State newspaper sickens me. To take a shot at the University of South Carolina and those two young men — since I’ve been in Columbia, have been phenomenal young men and how they’ve handled their business, there have been no issues for me,” Muschamp said to the media present for the Kickoff press conference. “I’ve talked to both the young men on the day that the article was printed and Deebo said, ‘Coach I wasn’t there.’ I trust our guys. He wasn’t there and Skai said, ‘Coach, I was there but I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong. I tried to defuse the situation.’

“The investigating officer commended Skai. Let me say that again, commended Skai on his behavior and how he handled a very hostile situation.”

After expressing his frustration that no apology or retraction had been run by the paper, Muschamp continued to take shots at the credibility of The State.

“It’s not about getting the story right, or the factual information, it’s about running the story first,” Muschamp continued. “That’s really what it boils down to. I’ll look at The State newspaper like the National Inquirer now. I mean, seriously. Isn’t that the magazine with aliens and stuff?”

It looks like it may be awhile before Muschamp grants an exclusive interview with The State.