Will Muschamp on Georgia’s QB: ‘I don’t think Jake (Fromm) totally gets the credit he deserves’
By Keith Farner
Published:
It’s a mutual admiration society between the coaches and quarterbacks in this week’s Georgia-South Carolina game.
Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp took his turn at his Tuesday press conference to compliment Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, who led the Bulldogs to a 24-10 win over South Carolina last season. Fromm went 16-for-22 passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns. But Muschamp didn’t even mention that game when he praised Fromm.
“I don’t think Jake totally gets the credit he deserves,” Muschamp said. “… To see what he accomplished as the starting quarterback was pretty amazing. To go with his first start up at Notre Dame, to go with a couple of throws he made in critical situations to help win the game, it’s pretty amazing. To go down the line with a bullet on your chest and you’re winning the Southeastern Conference championship, you’re going to the College Football Playoff on that stage in Pasadena and obviously the national championship game, I thought the guy performed extremely well. So I’ve got all the respect in the world for him. He’s very accurate with the football, he’s a competitor, he obviously handles the moment extremely well and he’s got the respect of his teammates. As far as that position’s concerned, I don’t know what else you’re looking for.”
Muschamp, a Georgia graduate, was repeatedly asked about the history of the rivalry, and how his loyalties have changed over the years. Muschamp recalled his first game on the opposite sideline came as a graduate assistant at Auburn in 1995 when the game was in Athens.
“It was a little different there, after I’d finished playing in 1994,” Muschamp said. “The more you move forward, your loyalties reside with who’s writing that check. I’m a Gamecock.”
Muschamp opened his comments by saying that he could not go over Georgia’s depth chart because the Bulldogs didn’t send the Gamecocks a copy.
“Maybe (Senior Associate Athletic Director) Claude Felton’s slipping, I don’t know,” Muschamp said with a smile. “I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with Kirby.”
Being in Week 2, Muschamp said this is the first big-time exposure for a lot of young players, such as the “electric” atmosphere in front of 80,000 people. But, he added, the game plan has largely been in place for both sides since the summer, and this week is largely a brush-up.
Muschamp deflected questions about rankings as they entered the coaches poll, for example, at No. 24.
“If I do discuss it, it will be a solid 15-second waste of our time,” he said.
Muschamp also said he’s not worried about his reaction to the environment, but rather his players.
“This is going to be a physical game and you don’t need to get in this game and start flinching,” he said. “Don’t flinch. This is going to be a physical tough game, just like it was last year, and like it’s going to be every year.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
