Muschamp, S. Carolina are familiar

Georgia assistant coach Will Muschamp is preparing to face his former SEC team. Again.

“He’s had this situation a lot before, because he’s been all over the SEC,” Georgia Coach Kirby Smart said. “It’s not new to him that’s for sure. I know he’ll handle it well.”

The Bulldogs are playing Saturday night at home against South Carolina, where Muschamp was head coach the previous five seasons.

At South Carolina he faced Florida — where he was the coach for four seasons — on an annual basis.

Muschamp, who played at Georgia, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Auburn — one of the Bulldogs’ biggest rivals. When he became an assistant at LSU, he faced Auburn.

Muschamp later had two stints as a defensive coordinator at Auburn, where he faced Georgia and LSU every season.

At Florida, Muschamp also faced LSU annually.

Muschamp, who was fired at South Carolina with three games left last season, initially joined Smart’s staff at Georgia as a defensive analyst. He was promoted to special teams coordinator before the season when Scott Cochran took a leave of absence for health reasons.

Despite Muschamp’s familiarity with many of South Carolina’s players, Gamecocks Coach Shane Beamer said his presence on the Bulldogs’ staff won’t have a major impact on game-planning.

“And that’s no disrespect to Will,” Beamer said. “None of the schemes are alike, what we’re doing here this year as opposed to last year.

“Obviously, he’s going to know personnel and things about certain guys, offense, defense and special teams. He’s going to know about those guys and certainly help them with that.

“He’s got more of a familiarity with our team than I do Georgia’s. But there’s some guys on Georgia’s team from when I was there.”

Beamer, who was a Georgia assistant coach from 2018-20, said Muschamp was helpful with the transition at South Carolina.

“I talked to him a couple of times, when I initially got hired and then in January we talked about some different things,” Beamer said. “He’s someone I have a ton of respect for, and I know he’s doing a phenomenal job for Kirby over there in Athens.”