One of South Carolina’s top defenders is back practicing after missing Auburn game
South Carolina football cornerback Israel Mukuamu got as far as warming up a bit before the Auburn game. But after he went back to the locker room, he came out without pads, leaving the Gamecocks a little short in the secondary.
For the fourth week in a row, there’s a question looming if his nagging groin issue will abate, and for the fourth week in a row, USC coach Will Muschamp sounded upbeat about where he was.
Muschamp said Mukuamu was out practicing for the Gamecocks on Tuesday. He managed to start against Vanderbilt and Florida, but played sparingly.
“I’m hoping to get Cam back tomorrow,” Muschamp said. “We’ll see tomorrow. Israel practiced today.”
Smith had a cleat spike go into his heel and went to the hospital as a precaution against infections (he had to get stitches).
Mukuamu was a second-team All-SEC player last season. Without him, sophomore John Dixon has had to step up, as has the rest of the Gamecocks secondary. They held their own against a slew of talented players from Auburn, but were also extremely thin, with safety/nickel Jammie Robinson, already a starter, being the next man in if either Dixon or Jaycee Horn had been hurt (the pair played basically the whole game).
Muschamp also said former wide receiver Darius Rush had come on as a potential backup there.
Although sophomore Jahmar Brown have yet to play in a game this season because of a knee issue, Muschamp said he is back “functioning very well” at the weakside/dime spot. That freed freshman Mo Kaba up to become the backup middle linebacker behind Ernest Jones.
