Published Aug 2, 2017
Auburn coordinator credits Will Muschamp
Staff
GamecockCentral.com

South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp is credited by many for leaving Florida coach Jim McElwain with dominant defenses that have helped the Gators win the SEC East in both of McElwain's seasons in Gainesville.

Now a different SEC coach is giving the Gamecocks' second-year coach some credit for his defensive success.

Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele praised Muschamp's work in his one season at Auburn. Muschamp obviously worked as the Tigers' defensive coordinator for one season after being let go at Florida and was replaced by Steele when Muschamp took the Carolina head job.

"Make no mistake about it, I think Will did an outstanding job of setting the table," Steele said. "I thought he did an outstanding job of recruiting. He is an outstanding defensive football coach. Very, very smart, very good football coach."

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Auburn's overall defensive stats in Muschamp's one season on the plains weren't incredibly impressive (26 points per game allowed) off the hoof, but the Tigers did allow just 361.9 yards per game and improved as the season progressed.

Steele says that when he and his staff took over, they kept the process going.

"Will and I are from the same family tree, a lot of the things are very, very similar, and some of the things maybe had changed a little bit, or the word had changed, so we kept as much of it as we could," he said.