With some shuffling to the Gamecock football staff this offseason, head coach Will Muschamp is set to shift his own position group responsibilities going forward.
Muschamp has personally coached the safeties during his four-year tenure at South Carolina, but will have the MIKE and WILL linebackers beginning this spring. Special teams coordinator/linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler accepted a position as co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Texas recently, and Kyle Krantz was promoted to special teams coordinator.
The position group is one familiar to Muschamp. Although a defensive back himself in college and a DB coach by trade, he has spent nine seasons at the college level as a linebackers coach.
In this feature, we take a deeper look at Muschamp's track record in coaching linebackers.
*** Scoop from Carolina's elite junior day recruiting event ***
Muschamp spent one season of his career (2001 at LSU) as solely the linebackers coach, while the other eight seasons that he coached the position he also served as the defensive coordinator (LSU, Auburn, and Texas).
Here is a closer look at Muschamp's all-conference and NFL Draft selections at the linebacker position, counting his time as a) linebackers coach b) linebackers/defensive coordinator and c) head coach.
For the purposes of this feature, we are counting players that played a more "true" inside type linebacker position, and not counting Muschamp's "BUCK" linebacker slot. Former Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle spent time during his career at both a more traditional linebacker slot as well as defensive end.
The only players on this list that Muschamp did not "personally coach", i.e. serve as the lead position coach, are those at Florida and South Carolina, although he had plenty of time with those players as well with his involvement on defense.
ALL CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
1st Team
Trev Faulk – LSU – 2001 (NFL FA)
Bradie James – LSU – 2001
Bradie James – LSU – 2002
Lionel Turner – LSU – 2004 (1st team coaches, 2nd team AP)
Sergio Kindle – Texas – 2008
Roddrick Muckelroy – 2009 – Texas
Skai Moore – 2017 – South Carolina
2nd Team
Will Herring – Auburn – 2006
Emmanuel Acho – Texas – 2010
Jon Bostic – Florida - 2012
Honorable Mention
Roddrick Muckelroy – Texas - 2008
Emmanuel Acho – Texas - 2009
Keenan Robinson - Texas - 2009
Keenan Robinson – Texas - 2010
*** Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks was also named Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year
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Following is a look at Muschamp's NFL Draft selections at the linebacker position, counting his tenure as a) linebackers coach b) linebackers/defensive coordinator and c) head coach.
FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Jarrad Davis, LB, Florida
SECOND ROUND PICKS
Jon Bostic, LB, Florida
Sergio Kindle, LB, Texas
THIRD ROUND PICKS
Alex Anzalone, LB, Florida
Jordan Hicks, LB, Texas
FOURTH ROUND PICKS
Bradie James, LB, LSU
Jelani Jenkins, LB, Florida
Antonio Morrison, LB, Florida
Roddrick Muckelroy, LB, Texas
Keenan Robinson, LB, Texas
FIFTH ROUND PICKS
Neiron Ball, LB, Florida
Ronald Powell, LB, Florida
SIXTH ROUND PICKS
Emmanuel Acho, LB, Texas
