USC’s best cover guy couldn’t handle Tiger receiver. So a freshman took the challenge

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp had a problem against Clemson.

Well, he had many problems, but one was the matchup between 6-foot-4 Tiger wide receiver Tee Higgins and his best cover guy, 5-foot-11 Rashad Fenton. Higgins did what he wanted, first against Fenton and then against the stouter Keisean Nixon.

So USC turned to a freshman in Israel Mukuamu, a 6-foot-4 option who has been used some but not a lot this season. And he held his own.

“I thought he did a really good job,” Muschamp said. “They’ve got some really talented long guys. We tried to match him with Higgins, and I thought he did a good job. Had a couple knockdowns. They caught one ball on our sideline late, but you’re in a 1-on-1 with an accurate thrower and some really talented guys, that’ll happen sometimes. He got his hand on some balls to get the ball down. He’s just going to keep getting better.”

The only completion he gave up was a strike down the sideline when Higgins used an extended arm to create some space.

Mukuamu registered his first career interception a week earlier. He has seven total tackles on the season.

This year, he hasn’t been all that needed as Nixon, Fenton and Jaycee Horn took the lion’s share of the corner reps. But Nixon and Fenton are gone after this season, and USC will need more options.

The Gamecocks have their own fearsome array of wide receiver talent, but their quarterback, Jake Bentley, admits Mukuamu has been a handful in practice.

“He’s a guy that we don’t like to throw fades against,” Bentley said. “He’s long … He knows how to use his length.

“He’s going to be a great player, and he wants it. I think that’s the biggest thing. He wants to be great, and he’s going to put in the work to do that. Definitely a guy that when he’s on the field, we definitely take notice.”