Will Muschamp provides lengthy injury update, touches on status of Jake Bentley, Bryan Edwards
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South Carolina finds itself limping into a critical home game this weekend in Columbia with a rested Missouri team coming off a bye and eager to get back on the winning track.
Both teams lost tough conference games the last time they laced them up, but it would appear the Gamecocks are in much worse shape physically after facing Kentucky in Lexington. The punishing and line of scrimmage-dominant Wildcats (that’s very odd to type) played a chippy game with South Carolina last weekend, and it should be interesting to see how Will Muschamp’s crew responds this coming weekend.
While the perception of Missouri may be that they are a finesse team, the Tigers gave Georgia its toughest test of the season and did so by outplaying the Bulldogs on both lines of scrimmage. If South Carolina cannot match that level of physically this weekend, the unraveling of the 2018 season will continue in a hurry in Columbia.
During his Tuesday afternoon press conference, Muschamp read off the lengthy list of injuries that his program is facing heading into the Missouri game — most notable with Jake Bentley and Bryan Edwards.
“Eldridge Thompson is questionable, practiced today, but I don’t know that he can be in a full-contact situation. I’ll know more tomorrow and Thursday moving forward,” Muschamp said. “Jamyest Williams has a shoulder, he’s probable. He did practice today but I want to see how he handles some contact – it was in a non-contact situation.
“Jake Bentley, with the knee, is probable. He practiced today. He had to get treatment today and had class after that, so I apologize that he wasn’t able to meet with you guys. Jacob August is going thru the concussion protocol right now, I don’t really have an update on that at this time. Bryan Edwards practiced today, he’s probable with an ankle, but he’s moving around – we’ll see what he can do tomorrow.
“J.T. Ibe is out, nothing serious but we probably won’t get him back until after the open week with a sprained knee. OrTre Smith is having surgery on Friday, so he’ll be out for the season. Josh Belk continues to have an ankle and D.J. Wonnum I still think we’ll get back after the open week.”
Goodness, that has to be the longest list of injuries an SEC team has faced to date after only five weeks and an unscheduled bye week thrown in thanks to the threat of Hurricane Florence. Those bumps and bruises won’t feel as bad if the Gamecocks come away with a win on Saturday but drop another conference game, and all those issues will be compounded by the suffering that will come when a season filled with so much promise essentially ends by the first week of October.
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
