11/13: Muschamp and Spurrier talk Florida-South Carolina, mutual respect; Murphy injury update

Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp made his scheduled appearance Wednesday on the Southeastern Conference‘s weekly coaches teleconference and touched on a number of topics surrounding his team heading into Saturday’s game against the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Steve Spurrier.

INJURY UPDATES

While sophomore left tackle D.J. Humphries (sprained MCL) has already been ruled out of Saturday’s game, Muschamp said redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Murphy (shoulder) and junior cornerback Marcus Roberson (ankle) remain day-to-day. Neither Murphy nor Roberson has practice this week as of press time.

Asked if Murphy’s shoulder was more seriously injured than it had been, Muschamp explained that nothing is torn but the player did experience some swelling and discomfort coming out of the last game. Florida did not think Murphy would start against Missouri, but he felt good enough at the start of the game and wound up playing. The same may happen this week, but he will have to see some practice time first.

Muschamp also said linebacker sophomore Antonio Morrison (torn meniscus) and freshman Jeremi Powell (torn ACL) were going under the knife Wednesday with Morrison’s surgery already completed. He will likely be out 2-3 months and back in time for spring practice.

MUTUAL RESPECT

Squaring off against Spurrier for the third time as coach of the Gators, Muschamp once again reiterated how much he respects the guy who helped build Florida football.

“I admire the job that he’s done as a head coach, period,” he said. “What he’s did and accomplished here at Florida in his 12 years and then the job he did at South Carolina and then the job he did at Duke and the Tampa Bay Bandits and the list goes on. He’s done it the right way, too. He does things the right way, does things first-class. He handles things the right way and I just have a lot of respect for the man.”

Spurrier shared a similar sentiment about Muschamp, saying the two have a good relationship and he very much respects how Muschamp is running the Gators.

“I admire the way he coaches his team, runs the show down there. I made mention that I think last year he was SEC Coach of the Year,” Spurrier said.

“I think they were, after they beat FSU, they were third in the country in that BCS poll. If Notre Dame had lost to Southern Cal, I believe Florida would have been in the national championship game last year. Obviously this year they’ve had a rash of injuries all over the team that has hurt them. They’ve still got plenty of ballplayers and they’re still a hard-nosed, physical-type team.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» Spurrier on losing to Florida 44-11 last season in Gainesville, FL: “I don’t know if we coulda won it, but I think we coulda been closer than being beat by 33 points. But it happened. Some games you drop the ball and the other team gets it and scores touchdowns.”

» Spurrier on South Carolina’s health entering the game: “Our team is actually in really good health, I would imagine, for this time of year compared to the other teams. We got just about everybody ready.

» Spurrier on whether he’s ever coached a team with as many injuries as the Gators in a single season: “No. My teams, our teams, for some reason, we haven’t had a whole bunch of injuries. I don’t know why. I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite as many as they’ve had.”

» Spurrier on going up against Florida: “Looking forward to seeing what happens and playing a very good team that has struggled at times. … A whole bunch of good players, good coaches. We’re going to have to play well if we expect to win the game.”