Muschamp has move in mind for him, and it could shuffle the back of USC's defense

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp has something specific he wants out of defensive back Keisean Nixon.

But what he wants him to do is something two of USC’s most experienced secondary players can also handle. If Muschamp does in fact slide Nixon inside to the slot corner position, it will create a shuffling effect in the back end of the Gamecocks defense.

“Keisean can give you a physical presence in there against some of the bubble (screen) teams,” Muschamp said in an interview with SportsTalk. “Quite frankly, we’ve struggled on the perimeter supporting and setting edges of our defense. You look at some of the big plays we gave up last year.”

Nixon spent his first season in Columbia working back from a late start. He didn’t arrive until after camp started in August, and it took a while for him to settle at corner instead of safety. He was never quite fully versed enough in the system for the staff to trust him in big spots.

But he learned through the season, and the staff raved about his physicality. He picked off a pair of passes in garbage time, and after getting the bowl break to work on his skills, he started against Michigan and played well (four tackles).

USC was actually one of the better teams in the country in terms of big-play prevention. But that was slanted toward the passing game, and Muschamp explained why Nixon’s strength could help moving into the box.

“A lot of them were on the perimeter of not setting edges of the defense and tackling well in space,” Muschamp said. “That’s something we put an emphasis on. We did last year and made a little progress. I don’t know that we did much. We’ve got to continue to do a better job there.”

The thing is, USC will return its primary nickel from 2017.

Jamyest Williams played the spot last season, starting well but having to overcome injuries and inconsistency through the latter half of the season. The next nickel was starting safety Chris Lammons, now graduated, followed by Steven Montac, a backup safety who Muschamp said is the only returner he fully trusts at that spot.

So things might well be shuffled.

“Jamyest can be a safety of nickel for us,” Muschamp said. “He can play either safety position. Steven Montac can play nickel or safety.”

If both players are at those spots, plus Rice grad transfer J.T. Ibe, it still means Nixon moving inside creates other questions.

The former junior college star was also USC’s second-best outside corner at the moment, only behind Rashad Fenton. The next man up would be from the group of Tavyn Jackson (hurt last year and this spring), true freshman Israel Mukuamu, former receiver Korey Banks or freshman Jaycee Horn, who has yet to enroll.

That’s a group that boasts some talent, but is also frightfully short on any kind of experience (zero college snaps on defense). But that might well be the way USC has to play things.

“We’ve got some freshmen coming in that we think are talented,” Muschamp said. “We think they can help us, so we’ve got to get those guys on campus and see where it goes.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Muschamp has move in mind for him, and it could shuffle the back of USC's defense."