Jackson Muschamp is a walk-on in a crowded UGA QB room. How his role is ‘invaluable’

Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken empathizes with his walk-ons more than most coaches.

He played his college football at Division III Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Like a Division I walk-on, he received no scholarship money to play quarterback for the Prairie Fire.

Now, 31 years after earning his degree, Monken is in his first season at the helm of the Bulldog offense. While much of the attention is focused on the starting quarterback competition between Jamie Newman and J.T. Daniels, Monken sees a bit of himself in freshman walk-on Jackson Muschamp.

“‘Think about what these guys sacrifice to be here,” Monken said he tells his scholarship players about walk-ons. “‘They go through everything you go through. They lift, they run to just be a part of it. They don’t get paid a dime to just be a part of the Bulldog family. It’s unbelievable. These guys just want to be a part of it, to be able to run out of that tunnel and represent the University of Georgia.”

Muschamp’s connection to Georgia goes back much longer than his commitment to the Bulldogs in February. His father, Will, now the head coach at South Carolina, played with Georgia coach Kirby Smart in Athens. Both were safeties, and Smart redshirted during Muschamp’s senior season in 1994.

The pair reunited on the coaching staff at Valdosta State in 2000, spending a year together before Muschamp departed for LSU. Now, 20 years later, Smart is coaching his friend’s son at their alma mater.

Spending his college days in Athens wasn’t always a sure thing for the younger Muschamp, who originally committed to Colorado State. But the star at Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina had a change of heart, deciding he wanted to stay closer to home.

“Georgia was the place for me to go,” Muschamp said on National Signing Day. “I love Georgia and have always wanted to go there. Everything is there for me to be successful on the field and off the field.”

Muschamp threw for more than 5,000 yards and 63 touchdowns the past two seasons at Hammond.

Monken said it’s still too early to properly evaluate Muschamp and the other new quarterbacks on the roster with the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the 2020 practice schedule. There are five scholarship QBs: Newman and Daniels, the high-profile transfers; as well as Carson Beck, D’wan Mathis and Stetson Bennett.

Monken, however, already has a plan in place for how Muschamp and the other walk-ons can contribute.

In meetings, they will be active participants in question-and-answer sessions about what to do in certain situations. On the practice field, they will be involved in signaling in plays to the offense while also giving the first-team defense looks at the opposing offense as part of the scout team.

“We need those guys to give us looks,” Monken said. “They’re invaluable to what we do.”

Being the son of a coach, that type of role seems suitable for a player like Muschamp. His football IQ should allow him to simulate the upcoming opponents’ offense well in an effort to get the defense ready to play on Saturdays.

Jackson and his brother Whit celebrated with their father on the Sanford Stadium field last season after the USC-Georgia game Oct. 12, a 20-17 upset win for the Gamecocks.

Perhaps one day Jackson will follow in his father’s footsteps on the sidelines.

“Having Jackson in here, being a coach’s son, it’ll be interesting down the road,” Monken said.

This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 1:40 PM.