South Carolina junior defensive back Israel Mukuamu will play Saturday at LSU after missing the last game and a half with a nagging groin injury.

"Israel is ready to go," South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp said Thursday night during his call-in show. "He had a really good practice Wednesday and a really good day today moving around. He's moving around the best he's moved since training camp."

Mukuamu initially suffered the injury in the Gamecocks' season-opener against Tennessee and it forced him to miss the rest of that game.

He returned the next week against Florida, playing safety instead of cornerback in an effort to lessen the load on the injury, and then started at Vanderbilt before tweaking it and exiting that game.

While it appears Mukuamu is ready to go, the Gamecocks will be without reserve cornerback Cam Smith who suffered a laceration in practice last week when a teammate accidentally cleated him on a deep ball attempt.

ALSO SEE: The Insider Report - Who are the prospects to watch at WR and DB?