Muschamp mostly tight-lipped about those missing from SC lineup. Here’s what he said
South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp said he wasn’t talking injuries anymore this season during the COVID-19 pandemic. He even went as far as not releasing the traditional travel or dress list before Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt, a change from the usual operation that goes years back.
But his team was missing a few faces against the Commodores. Keir Thomas, Jaylin Dickerson didn’t travel, while corner safety Israel Mukuamu played early but didn’t see the field much if at all after the first quarter.
His answer when asked about Mukuamu: “He’ll be all right.”
Later he got a question about whether or not Thomas and Dickerson would be back next week for Auburn: “We’ll see.”
That style of answer about Mukuamu is not out of character for Muschamp. Usually when a player is down for a few plays, he’ll gloss over what happened with an answer like that. The junior had been dealing with a nagging groin issue that’s limited him in the first three games.
The Thomas and Dickerson answer was a little more opaque.
Muschamp had long talked about not wanting outsiders to be able to identify players who might be out because of COVID-19. He shared general information about the virus’ impacts to the team in the regular season, then moved away from those updates once games began.
College football teams vary in how much they acknowledge COVID-19 impacts. Some provide little to no information; others release how many players or coaches are out because of the virus, without naming names and without specifying how many positive cases there are; and others simply provide an inactive list without further explanation.
This was the first week when Muschamp locked down the flow of information about inactive players even more.
An absence doesn’t mean a player is sick. He could be out for any reason — injury, discipline, an unspecified family situation or because of contract tracing after being exposed to someone who is positive with COVID-19.
Middle linebacker Ernest Jones referenced Thomas being out and what it meant for the defense.
“One of our brothers was down today, so we definitely had to do (it) for him,” Jones said. “He’s a big part of our defense and without him being there, we just had to go get the job done for him.
“With (Thomas) not being there, I think we took that and put that on our shoulders and tried to carry that with us.”
Any quarantine for coronavirus usually keep players of for two or so weeks. Vanderbilt was down to 56 scholarship players because of opt-outs and recent impacts from the virus.
“The situation we’re going through, we never know who’s going to be up and who’s going to be down,” Mushcamp said. “You don’t ever know. A guy will walk up to me Friday afternoon, and say so and so’s down, well I’m sitting there thinking, ‘You got to be kidding me.’ Well, that’s the situation we’re in right now, and we’re all going through it. But our guys got to be ready to play.”
