College Football
Will Muschamp on the challenges South Carolina face replacing WR Deebo Samuel
Published:
South Carolina narrowly escaped with a win last week against Louisiana Tech at home. The task gets much tougher this week with a trip to College Station to face Texas A&M.
Gamecock coach Will Muschamp spoke about the matchup during the SEC’s weekly Coaches Teleconference Wednesday.
Here’s a summary of what Muschamp had to say on the call:
- How has the offense adjusted without Deebo Samuel? “Well, he’s an explosive playmaker but we need guys to rally without him. Shi Smith had a big game, our backs are more involved. Whenever you lose someone like that, it can’t just come from one person.”
- Can you talk about the defensive improvement from your team? “We’ve improved from Game 1 to Game 4 but we need to improve our tackling against this A&M team. We are very thin in the secondary.”
- How much do key injuries take out of a team? “Psychologically it does. I don’t think it’s affected our practice habits at all (yet). It’s a man up mantra, regardless of experience or age.
- What do you remember from your last trip to College Station? “That’s an impressive place, they’ve done a tremendous job there. They have great fans, I’ve tried to paint the picture to our players on what they are about to step into.
- When did you start to see Jake Bentley really start to progress? “I think during bowl practice, I saw him take a step forward. His game preparation took a major step forward at that point.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
