What does Spurrier have against Garcia?
Spurrier drew laughs when he said coaching Garcia was “not a lot of fun” and joked that the redshirt freshman might push the 63-year-old Ball Coach into an early retirement.
Yes, it was funny, but there was some truth to the remarks, as well.
More telling was Spurrier’s response today on the SEC teleconference when asked whether the two spring practices Garcia missed while suspended slowed his development.
“I certainly think everything he misses the last two years has been harmful to his development,” Spurrier said. “He’s got a lot of training to do and learning to do if he’s going to be an accomplished player.”
Note the verb tense: Spurrier made a point to say everything Garcia “misses” has hurt him.
Is Spurrier hard on his quarterbacks? Sure, he is; and he expects a lot out of them.
What he does not expect is to have his starting quarterback missing classes, workouts and other team activities, as Garcia occasionally does.
All of this ties in to the retirement talk, as well. In Spurrier’s perfect world, his exit strategy would be to ride off into the sunset after taking the Gamecocks to the SEC championship game for the first some in school history, preferably in the next three to four years.
To do so, he knows he needs a talented quarterback committed to taking care of business off the field, even going above and beyond what’s expected in terms of film study, workouts, etc (think Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel).
There’s no question Garcia has the physical tools to be successful. But Spurrier believes he needs to get more serious about learning the position.
Until then, he can expect to hear more comments like yesterday’s.
30 Comments to “What does Spurrier have against Garcia?”
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USC football beat writer Joe Person has covered the Gamecocks since the start of the 2002 season. He's been on the college football beat since 1993. 
I agree! Garcia is a good athlete, but he has nothing but himself to blame for the criticism from the Ol’ Ball Coach! On the other hand I hope he gets it together because I think he is the better quarterback! We shall see!
Is it telling that SOS is not recruiting a QB this year?
SOS must have some faith in Garcia or the other guys if he’s not even bringing in a QB this year.
Just a thought.
It’s amazing to me how USC fans who complained when Lou Holtz gave preferential treatment to the so-called “stars” are the same ones whining that Spurrier is being too hard on a player who isn’t (apparently) doing everything he can to help his team get better.
there is a reason he is called COACH and we are blogging or whatever, let him work his MAGIC!
As far as Spurrier leaving and or retiring…if I remember correctly that has been going on now for about four years, right? Its been the longest send off I’ve ever seen. When will the media stop beating a dead horse? I guess never, all this stuff gives them a job. For Garcia, we don’t know his commitment (take the medias comments with a grain of salt). We will see next year. I hope it’s solid because we have nobody else (no new QB recruits in sight). Thats what really puzzles me. Spurrier usually has 3-4 QBs ready to go without missing a beat.
Now if only we can get SOS to hold the OLine “HALF” as accountable as he’s holding Garcia. Here’s a thought, coach…get the OLine to show up and maybe you won’t have to play Garcia. Stop redirecting public scrutiny away from the most evident problem on the team and fix the friggin’ thing. 4 yrs of the same substandard OLine play and all we’re hearing about is Garcia.
Maybe what Garcia needs is for someone to push him for the job – Garcia has no respect for Chris Smelly – But there is a quarterback in the wings
Mr. Hillary please step forward. SOS likes his work ethic and he is talented and he has been through one more spring trainig. Could be SOS knows what is behinf Garcia- After all if he wasn’t sure he would be recruiting
and he is not – Again Hello Mr. Hilary
Maybe what Garcia needs is for someone to push him for the job – Garcia has no respect for Chris Smelly – But there is a quarterback in the wings
Mr. Hillary please step forward. SOS likes his work ethic and he is talented and he has been through one more spring trainig. Could be SOS knows what is behind Garcia- After all if he wasn’t sure he would be recruiting a
quarterback and he is not – Again Hello Mr. Hilary
Spurrier has 10 4 stars commited this year. He wil get it done.
Looking at the level of players Florida fielded this past weekend against the spur-less Cocks reminds me that until S.C. finds a way to lure more than one or two successful high school athletes to Williams-Brice a competetive football, much less an SEC Champion, will remain a very wet dream. Smelley will not be playing beyond college; the jury is still out on Garcia b/c he’s not really playing yet in college. It’s a toss up that I never can seem to come to grips with when some coaches put winning this year ahead of fielding a young QB for the duration come what may. Beecher, proved to be the oddest of choices on that score, started the season out that way but when he choked and got wounded in battle way too early, that idea got tossed out the window.
Thankfully, our defense has kicked it up to a respectable level; maybe we can get some offense going against the Dread-tigres del norte, if not, recruit some hot freshman with churning legs and devil may die disposition to balance out.
Turning around mediocrity after 100+ years of it remains a challenge but it’s not impossible.
Every one now expects the Coach to be down on Garcia but from my seats and even on t.v. there is no way you can compare the two quarterbacks.Why it was only last Saturday that S
Can we really afford to skip a year in recruiting a quaterback? There is no reason why we cannot find a top rated quaterback somewhere in this country who wants to be a hero for a program that has been waiting for a quaterback since Mike Hold. That will get the ball rolling, get the quaterback and the receivers and running backs will follow. UGA found Stafford in Texas, maybe we need to open our eyes beyond the southeast.
With all due respect to Mr. Hilary I am not sure he is the man to push Garcia. We need a guy who can drop back 5 steps and throw a rope fifty yards if he needed to. That guy this year is Stafford for UGA, 3 throws on a drive TD, SS needs to go back to the drawing board and update his play book, many times we look like a JV squad in the SEC.
I beleave we should be recruiting a QB this season because I don’t know if the guy we need is on campus this season, obviously Smelley is committed and he trys hard to improve but he is limited physically and does not see the field well, while Garcia has plenty of natural talent he seems to be less committed to improving and lacks the leadership qualities that this offense needs to be succesfull, I’m sure that the Oline problem will be addressed after the season and I wish we could pick up some quality recruits for those positions as well.
Bobby and BQ make good points. We are recruiting much better than we ever have in my memory but we are missing one key ingredient a 5 star type QB. Living in Houston there are about 20 top QBs that come out each year that can step in and play and make an impact for any Div 1 school in the country . Every kid in the state there wants to play for Texas or Oklahoma and some at TTech but thats obviously not going to happen. We do need to branch out and look for specific talent in other places. I know SC is along way from Texas (the punter we recruited from Katy got home sick) but SC would be a great place for a talented kid with NFL dreams. These kids out here are BIG fast and have been playing in spread offences for years (single back/no back 5 wideouts). USC/Spurrier and all the other coaches should at least take a look.
Why would a 5 star Qb want to come to a school where the coach’s history is pulling you out if you make mistakes? Where you are constantly beat down in the media. Is there another coach in Div 1 that does this to his players? Most of the Qb’s from the Houston are were allowed to grow and make mistakes. Yes, Garcia has made his fair share, but he is the guy that SOS said was the man after led us to victory against Kentucky and then beat Tennessee. What happened between the Tenn game and Ark game?
I hope that SOS takes a serious look at the Gilmore kid from Rock Hill coming in next year, He reminds a lot of people of the kid that plays at West Virgina,Pat White.
SS is smart enough to know he has got to get serious about recruiting a top QB, running back and OL. Bottom line is if he doesn’t get the OL why would star QBs or RBs come here? Without the OL, they get flattened…Fast. Watch what happened to Smelly against fla….they pushed him to one side of the field and while he is running sideways and slightly backward…smelly does the big NO NO…throws a floater into traffic for an easy pick 6…USC was smacked down right there. Did we have the guts to get up? Not really, you all saw what happened next…you only had to wait a total of 2 minutes to see 2 more bush league plays (some say they were JV plays) that resulted in 2 more quick fla scores. After that we were just playing to try to keep it close and get out of gainesville. I fault the play calling and the freaking OL for failing to BLOCK! NO blocking means you are going to get beat. We have a big game on 29 NOVEMBER. If John Hunt does not get these so called Offensive Linemen to BLOCK then he should be run out of town on a rail after we tar and feather his bottom. If the coaches study the film they will know how clempsin plans to attack us and be able to counter it. Heck clempsin has a clown coaching them right now and we BETTER not lose to those pukes! USC deserves a champion and SS can deliver it but he has to fix the freaking problems on this team and get serious about RECRUITING the BIG BOYS! Am I frustrated? Yeah, I am. Heck, with a win on 29 NOV and the bowl game, USC will have 9 WINS but for some reason it doesn’t yet feel like a big 9 win year. Maybe after we get the 9 wins it will feel better. I sure hope so. BTW, I was at the womens’ BB Game last night…Dawn Staley is a champion; SHE will build that program into a champion…NO DOUBT. Hey, SS….you can do the same but you got to get some LINEMEN!
Now I know why my dues went up….all you guys coaching from your couch…lol
If it’s not legitimate to discuss coaches and players, what is the point of a football blog? Any Gamecock fan who did not get upset at that wrong headed 2 minute drill in the first quarter is taking too much Valium.
I don’t have any problem with the staff writers, even when they are wrong. I read all the comments and ignore those that are nasty or mean spirited. That usually includes anything from that cow college.
S.C. has the best coach in college football—he just can’t prove it.
As a fan and ticket owner you have the right to your own opinion.
Mine is that SS doesn’t have a qb in his stable that can get SC to
the top of the SEC. He needs a line coach replacement that can teach
linemen to block or recruit better linemen that already know how to
block. Holtz left him no running backs and it’s sad that the first running
back SS signed was Bobby Wallace. The Defense is great and getting
better. Rbs, Qbs and offensive linemen??Please, come to South Carolina
we need you. You’ll have the best defense in the nation watching your
back next year!!
What is the status of tommy beecher? All forum talk is about Garcia, Smelly, et al. Is he now that last guy to play in a game next year behind all the rest of the QBs? Spurrier say anything about him?
Did you hear SS say anthing about him? Are you deaf? Are you stupid? Who you think will start? Who you think will be here next year? Is your name JimP. for real? Are you seriously asking? Do you even know what a forum is? Who is tommy beecher?
Garcia will be fine hes just a freshman. For a person who missed two springs and summers and doesn’t have a running game behind him he really doesn’t look that bad. Solid games against kentucky, lsu, tenn, uab, and ark. Besides Pryor hes the best freshman quaterback. (robert marve and harris miami, kid from lsu,and the kid from temple). I say keep him out there let him make his mistakes and let him prepare for the future. Garcia gives us the best chance of winning. Garcia our man so stop running with this recruit another qb and lets rally behind him!
Calm down USC Gamecock!
“USC Gamecock Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Did you hear SS say anthing about him? Are you deaf? Are you stupid? Who you think will start? Who you think will be here next year? Is your name JimP. for real? Are you seriously asking? Do you even know what a forum is? Who is tommy beecher?”
We need to Recurit a 5 star Rbs, Receivers, and O linemens in Nationwide not just Southeast.
We need to start looking at OL in the mid west and plain states. There is no reason why a 6-5 300lb lineman should end up going to a crap school out west, when they could come play at an SEC school. Look outside the southeast Gillispe!
Joe:
Your article today was provoking to say the least. Smelley EARNED the right to be the starting QB? Sorry Joe: it’s just not true or accurate. He cost us 2 TD’s against the Gator’s last week and has not learned to THROW THE G-D BALL out of bounds when there is nothing there. I’m surprised you wrote that. Geraldo
What your forgetting is that Stephon Gilmore played some quarterback in High school and was recruited by some schools for that position. And if no one else steps up I wouldn’t be surprised to see yet another safety moved back to QB because no one else could step it up.
Be patience and have confidence in COACH SPURRIER! He will get the job done. He’s building a weak program into a contender in the toughest conference in college football. We are playing and beating some of the top tier teams now with less talent than what they have. As our talent level increases we will be contenders for the SEC championship, but it’s a tough up hill battle. The top tier teams are not just waiting for us to become equals, they are working as hard as they can to keep us where we are. They know that with equal talent the HEAD BALL COACH will bury them. It’s just a matter of time as the recruiting classes are getting better and better and instilling the “winners” attitude is beginning to take hold. Winning is total commitment and hard work on everyplay in practice as well as games. It’s hard to achieve that 100% commitment from every player on every play for the full 60 minutes. We are not there yet but we’re moving in the right direction. A few more key players here and there and we’ll be winning SEC championships and competing for National Championships. Like they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day and beating the top tier SEC teams consistently won’t happen in a day either. Building our program to a top tier level is much harder than building programs like Auburn and Tennessee back up to the top tier level. Giving the support and talent COACH SPURRIER will get us there. Nobody hates to lose anymore than the HEAD BALL COACH. GO GAMECOCKS!