Moore To Miss 2016 Season With Neck Injury

Will Muschamp’s first Gamecocks defense will be without its most proven player.  Tuesday at the SEC meetings in Miramar Beach, FL, Muschamp announced senior linebacker Skai Moore will miss the 2016 season because of a neck injury.  Moore has led Carolina football in tackles the last three seasons.

“We are disappointed for Skai, but we need to support him right now,” Muschamp said.

According to his coach, Moore will have surgery Friday in Charlotte on a herniated disc that he originally injured last season and reaggravated in the weight room before spring practice.  Muschamp said Moore will redshirt the 2016 season and suit up for the Gamecocks in the 2017 season.

“He’ll be fine,” Muschamp said.  “This is not a career-threatening situation.”

Moore seriously considered ending his college career a year early this offseason, but Muschamp helped convince him to return to USC for his senior season.

In 2015, Moore made the All-SEC second team and led the Gamecocks in tackles (111), tackles for loss (6.5), interceptions (4) and forced fumbles (3).  He became the first Carolina player since Tony Watkins in 1992-94 to lead the team in tackles for three straight seasons and was hoping to become the first ever Gamecock and just 12th player in NCAA Division I history to do it four seasons in a row.

Moore has 260 career tackles and needs 47 more to move into USC’s all-time top ten.