Muschamp leaves quarterback battle open ahead of East Carolina game
South Carolina’s quarterback battle appears to still be raging.
During a Tuesday press conference, coach Will Muschamp did not reveal who will start for the Gamecocks against East Carolina this weekend and hinted both senior Perry Orth and true freshman Brandon McIlwain will continue to split time.
Will Muschamp on starting QB: "We have a pretty good idea. We will see on game day. Both guys are repping."
— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) September 13, 2016
Orth has completed a higher percentage of his passes for more yards, while McIlwain has thrown two touchdowns to his Orth’s none. The athletic true freshman also brings an added dimension in the running game — he’s South Carolina’s second-leading rushing with 46 yards on the ground.
McIlwain may have a leg up after breathing life into the Gamecocks’ offense during a 27-14 loss at Mississippi State last Saturday.
Orth started and went 9-of-17 for 83 yards and an interception in the first half before McIlwain took over for the entire second half. The highly touted quarterback completed 11 of 22 passes for 126 yards and a pair of scores, prompting a revealing comment from Muschamp.
Muschamp on McIlwain: He moved our football team. We scored points with him in the game. I thought he gave us a spark."
— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) September 13, 2016
We won’t know for sure who’ll get the starting nod until East Carolina (2-0) visits South Carolina (1-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
After losing to a team South Alabama beat, the Gamecocks can take nothing for granted.
ECU is 2-0 and more than enough challenge to scare the heck out of Muschump. His seat is on fire!
If he can’t win this game, #firemuschump will be trending.
No it wont. Your a dumb ass. Have you seen the recruiting he’s done? It might not be this year, it might not be next year. But the following year we will be real SEC competitors!
As long as we’re going to be giving both quarterbacks playing time, and especially as long as either could potentially start, why would Muschamp give our opponents the advantage of knowing which one they’ll be facing when he could maintain an element of surprise by keeping it a secret until gameday? Of course he won’t announce it. Until one of the two shows they deserve the permanent start, which may never happen, it will be a mystery each week.
That’s our girl ESEC, queen of the uninformed comment. Keep trolling, your dribble is always good for a few chuckles.
I really think Bentley needs to get in. Try as hard as we can to win 6, but most importantly we need to have our guy going into next year weather it Mcilwain or Bentley. I also would like to see Nunez get some wildcat action. We’ve got to get a running game going. As far as I’m concerned kc Crosby and hurst need to see every snap. They were the only part of the offense I was actually very impressed with against msu. Deebo and Edwards have to become monsters. We are a pass first team, we need those two on the outside with the tight ends as check downs.