What’s on Will Muschamp’s Thanksgiving menu? Third down work

Will Muschamp made the bold declaration two years ago: Thanksgiving is a meal, not a day.

His quarterback, Jake Bentley, took the other side Tuesday.

“I’d say it’s a holiday,” Bentley said. “For sure. I think it’s a great holiday, honestly.”

Bentley waxed about the chance to take a break and be thankful. He’ll get two Thanksgivings, one with half his family on Wednesday, another on Thursday with the other half. He’ll get to see his brother Shuler, who wrapped his season at Murray State.

His coach, well he’s not leaving that hill.

“We work in the morning,” Muschamp said. “We don’t take the whole day off. We have practice. We have meetings as coaches. We’ll watch the film, going to go through our third-down reel. We’re going to go through our 1-minute reel. We’ll do the same things we always do on Thursday.”

South Carolina traditionally follows Thursday with a light Friday walk-through before gameday up in Clemson.

Muschamp was in a good mood answering the question, cracking a few jokes. It’s his third Thanksgiving prepping for the Tigers, his umpteenth preparing for some kind of SEC rivalry, and he has his full plan all laid out.

“We’re going to have a wonderful meal when it’s over,” Muschamp said. “And we’re going to be very thankful for all the things we have in our lives. There is part of that game we’re going to work. That’s part of it.”