1. I don’t want to get on a soapbox, but …

Will Muschamp is in a familiar position, one that requires an unfamiliar response.
Now is not the time to be timid or safe. Now is the time to be bold and daring – and avoid another failed offensive coordinator hire.

When South Carolina begins the 2018 season, Muschamp will have a new offensive coordinator for the fourth time in seven years as a head coach at South Carolina and Florida.

The failures at the most important assistant coach job on staff already has led to Muschamp losing his dream job at Florida. He can’t let it happen again in Columbia – especially with so much momentum growing within the program.

One SEC coach told me this week that Muschamp is at times “too stubborn for his own good” and that he could be a great coach – not good, a “great coach” – if he dialed it back and realized there’s more than one way to win a game.

The first step was firing offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper, his close friend whom he fiercely defended at both Florida and South Carolina. The next step will be tougher.

Muschamp can go one of two ways with his new OC: pick someone he’s familiar with and who knows the SEC (former Texas A&M OC Noel Mazzone, UConn OC Rhett Lashlee, UCLA OC Jedd Fisch), or take a chance and hire based purely on scheme, vision and proven ability to score points.

Just like James Franklin did two years ago when he hired Joe Moorhead, and the offense at Penn State was – and this isn’t overstating Moorhead’s impact – completely revolutionized.

Franklin was a lot like Muschamp in that his offenses at Vanderbilt and Penn State weren’t exactly beautifully efficient machines. In fact, they were, for the most part, secondary in the grand scheme of playing defense and controlling tempo.

Then Franklin took a chance on an FCS head coach (Moorhead was the head coach at Fordham) he heard during a coaching clinic, and the Penn State offense changed early, developed late and was the driving force in the Lions’ 2016 Big Ten championship.

Now Muschamp is staring at his own critical hire, his offenses at Florida and South Carolina eerily similar – in a bad way. He has an elite quarterback (Jake Bentley), one of the SEC’s top three playmakers (WR Deebo Samuel) and a deep group of talented tailbacks. All he needs is the one coach to bring it all together.

Now is not the time to be timid or safe. Now is the time to be bold and daring – and avoid another failed offensive coordinator hire.

“We evaluate our program in all three phases,” Muschamp says – but don’t kid yourself, the offensive side of the ball needs a major shakeup from what it has been since he began his head-coaching career at Florida in 2011. The overriding question: Where does Muschamp find a Joe Moorhead-type hire?

He doesn’t necessarily have to be an FCS head coach. He just needs a proven track record of a wide-open offense, one with distinctly different principles than what Muschamp has used the last six seasons.

The top candidates all have one common theme: spread option offenses.

Brian Wright, Toledo offensive coordinator: His offenses have finished in the top 10 in total offense and top 20 in scoring offense in each of the past two seasons. More important for Muschamp, whose quarterbacks at Florida and South Carolina have a touchdown to interception ratio of 83-to-59 (that’s 10 INTs a year): Wright has proven he can develop quarterbacks.

In two seasons under Wright at Toledo, quarterback Logan Woodside has a 73-14 touchdown to interception ratio. He has gone from a player who twice lost a quarterback competition to Alabama transfer Phillip Ely, to one who has finished the past two years in the top 5 in the nation in quarterback efficiency.

K.C. Keeler, Sam Houston State: Longtime FCS coach who has had championship success at Delaware and Sam Houston State, and whose team plays Friday in the FCS national semifinals at North Dakota State. SHSU leads the FCS in scoring and total offense, and has led the FCS in total offense the past two seasons.

While Keeler might not leave a top FCS job, Moorhead’s path after leaving Fordham is a cause for pause with every FCS coach. Without Moorhead’s two years at Penn State, he has less than zero chance to not only get an FBS head-coaching job, but one at the highest level (SEC, Mississippi State) that will pay him nearly $3 million a year.

If you’re an FCS coach who wants to see if he can make it at the FBS level (all coaches have egos), Moorhead has suddenly carved a new path that could also make the Gamecocks’ OC job intriguing for elite FCS offensive minds.

John Grass (Jacksonville State): A one-time legendary high school coach in Alabama, Grass’ offenses at Jacksonville State have annually been among the best in FCS. The Gamecocks haven’t lost an Ohio Valley Conference game under Grass (31-0) – and nearly won at Auburn in 2015 when Muschamp was defensive coordinator for the Tigers.

Jacksonville State had 538 yards of offense that day, and lost in overtime despite averaging 6 yards per play. Most coaches, when hiring assistants they don’t necessarily know, will hire guys who have given their teams trouble.

Chris Hatcher, Samford: A disciple of the Hal Mumme/Mike Leach offensive system, Hatcher has coached in the South all of his career, and has deep recruiting connections. He runs the Mumme/Leach system as well as anyone, and his offenses have set records everywhere he has coached (Valdosta State, Georgia Southern, Murray State, Samford).

One drawback: The running game isn’t as prominent in his system. That’s the deepest, most talented area on the South Carolina roster, and running the ball with power will always be a critical component of any Muschamp team.

2. Taking a chance, Part II

If Muschamp truly wanted to shake up the offensive side of the program and make a defining statement, he’d hire FAU offensive coordinator Kendall Briles.

The problem: the stench from the Baylor mess still is lingering – whether Briles was officially connected to the problems or not.

FAU did its due diligence and decided Briles was a safe hire, and he implemented Baylor’s combination power run and numbers to numbers pass offense in Boca Raton, and the school records began piling up. FAU coach Lane Kiffin told me in July that were it not for the Baylor connection, “there’s no way I could’ve gotten Kendall here. He’d have been with a (Power 5) program. He’s an incredibly talented coach.”

The only connection of Briles to the Baylor scandal is an attorney for an alleged victim claiming that Briles allegedly used sex to try to persuade high school players to sign with Baylor when he was an assistant under his father, Art Briles.

“I learned so much in such a short time from Kendall,” Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham told me last month. “He knows so much about the game and how to attack defenses.”

Kendall Briles has not been convicted of a crime or proven to be liable in the case.

3. Taking a chance, The Epilogue

No matter where he looks, Muschamp might just find the best option is a few doors down from him in the football facility.

That would be South Carolina running backs coach Bobby Bentley, father of Gamecocks quarterback Jake Bentley.

“No one has taught me more about the position, has gotten me ready to play the game, like my dad,” Bentley told me last spring. “He was hard on me, really hard. There are no excuses playing for him. He demands excellence.”

Bobby Bentley was a legendary high school coach in South Carolina, leading Byrnes High to four consecutive state championships. He was head coach at Presbyterian for two years before deciding to return to Byrnes in both off and on-field positions.

Bentley used to bring 2-year-old Jake to practice with him, and by the time Jake was 9, he was already taking snaps with the varsity at Byrnes in 7-on-7 drills.

The Bentley combination has high-end potential, but you can’t overlook the unique dynamics of a father coaching his son at the elite level of college football.

4. Sitting out, moving on

The news will leak out over the next week or so, where any number of players will decide to skip meaningless bowl games and heal/prepare for the NFL Draft.

Don’t be shocked if that news includes one or both of Auburn’s tailbacks. Frankly, there’s no reason for either player to risk further injury.

Kerryon Johnson sustained an injury to his right shoulder in the Iron Bowl, and wasn’t the same player in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia. Why risk further injury in Auburn’s Peach Bowl game against UCF, especially if – as expected – he is leaving early for the NFL?

Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Meanwhile, Kamryn Pettway hasn’t played since injuring his shoulder blade against Arkansas in Week 8. He led the Tigers in rushing last season (1,224 yards), and is also draft eligible. The overriding factor for both Johnson and Pettway: any injury limits their ability to earn at the next level.

The running back position is unlike any other, with players staring at a carry count from the moment they become feature backs in college. There are only so many carries (see: punishment) a running back can absorb. At some point, the physical nature of the game takes its toll and a career is complete.

Would one game matter in the grand scheme? Probably not. Unless that one game includes an injury that cuts into playing/earning time. It’s a business decision, plain and simple.

If one or both don’t play in the Peach Bowl, Auburn will go with a combination of Kam Martin, Devan Barrett and Malik Miller – three guys Tigers coach Gus Malzahn had a tough time trusting in critical games down the stretch. You have to trust them at some point; why not in a meaningless bowl game?

5. The Weekly Five

Top NFL Draft selections outside the first round:

  • 1. TE Hayden Hurst, South Carolina
  • 2. WR Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
  • 3. DT Taven Bryant, Florida
  • 4. OT Martinas Rankin, Mississippi State
  • 5. DE Breeland Speaks, Ole Miss

6. The branches of The Tree

The coaching carousel has officially stopped (we think). What better time to take a look at the ever-growing (and ever-impressive) Nick Saban FBS coaching tree.

  • Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M (LSU offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach)
  • Kirby Smart, Georgia (LSU defensive assistant, Alabama defensive coordinator)
  • Will Muschamp, South Carolina (LSU, Miami Dolphins defensive assistant)
  • Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee (Alabama defensive coordinator)
  • Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (Michigan State defensive assistant)
  • Mario Cristobal, Oregon (Alabama offensive assistant)
  • Lane Kiffin, FAU (Alabama offensive coordinator)

That’s seven coaches, and six major jobs. In fact, let’s go one further to illustrate Saban’s impact on the sport:

Those six jobs – Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan State and Oregon – are among the top 40 jobs in the nation. In other words, 15 percent of the top jobs in college football are run by former Saban assistants.

If Kiffin could ever get out of his way off the field (see: tweeting about betting lines), that number would’ve been 7 of 40, or 18 percent.

7. Losing proposition

Say what you want about the Matt Luke hire at Ole Miss, but he already has whiffed on the biggest recruit of the season.

Luke’s inability to keep elite quarterback Shea Patterson in the fold – Patterson announced this week he is transferring to Michigan – clearly hurts the Rebels moving forward on a number of levels.

First, it underscores the uncertainty around Ole Miss’ ability to recover from damaging NCAA sanctions, which include loss of multiple scholarships and a second year of a bowl ban. If your best player is bailing, why should anyone else sign on for what’s to come?

Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Secondly, it’s a direct reflection – like it or not — of Luke’s ability to recruit. More specifically, to reach players. Luke had six months to build and fortify a relationship with Patterson, a player who already had given much to Ole Miss in less than two seasons.

He burned his redshirt season in 2016 to play three games in an effort to get the Rebels bowl eligible (they didn’t make it), and he stayed with Ole Miss prior to the 2016 season when the original NCAA sanctions were announced.

The idea (see: the Ole Miss fan spin) that Jordan Ta’amu – who played well at times for an injured Patterson – is a better player is laughable. Patterson will play for years in the NFL; Ta’amu is a solid option for a college program.

8. Ask and you shall receive

Hey Matt: Talk to me about Jeremy Pruitt. I’m finding it hard to see the difference between he and Greg Schiano. One hothead for another. And yes, I’m one of the social media “lunatics” — as you called us. Thanks.

Greg Fisher, Nashville

Greg: Take a look at the aforementioned Saban coaching tree. Here’s what you don’t see: the three coaches from the tree who have been fired. All three from top 40 jobs: Jim McElwain (Florida), Derek Dooley (Tennessee) and Bobby Williams (Michigan State).

Each case/coach from the Saban tree is unique, and depends on the buy-in from the university and athletic administration. There has never been an issue with Tennessee buy-in as far as financial and facilities commitment.

The one thing Tennessee still must overcome is its ability to recruit nationally – or at least win big in the Southeast like it used to years ago under Phil Fulmer. Butch Jones started making significant headway – had a top 5 class when he was fired – so it can be done.

If Pruitt recruits well – he has been an elite recruiter at FSU and Alabama – and builds the right staff around him, it absolutely can work at Tennessee. But his offense better look more like Jimbo Fisher’s than Saban’s.

When you have the best running backs in the game, the best offensive line in the game, and wide receivers willing to block – and an efficient, smart quarterback – you can run the ball down anyone’s throat. If not, better to rely on an elite quarterback.

9. Numbers game

7: As in, seven days. In seven days, the first ever early signing period will begin. This is important on many levels, but none more than for the nation’s No. 1 player, QB Justin Fields.

Fields committed to Georgia in October, choosing the Bulldogs over FSU and Florida. If Fields doesn’t sign on Dec. 20, it’s a clear indicator that he’s rethinking his decision – and FSU, Florida and Texas A&M suddenly enter the picture.

All three programs have new coaches, and two of the three (Florida and Texas A&M) can offer immediate playing time – something that looks less certain at Georgia with the emergence of Jake Fromm.

Fields could easily sign with Georgia with intention of beating out Fromm – Fromm did the same in beating out 5-star starter Jacob Eason.

10. Quote to note

Georgia safety Dominick Sanders: “Why can’t we win it all? We’re playing as well as anyone in college football right now. We won the best conference in college football. Yeah, we’re confident, but we know it starts with one game. If we win that one, we get another.”