From The Sideline

Who Will Be Spurrier's Man?

FROM THE SIDELINE

By BRANDON FINLEY

Ever since Steve Spurrier made his triumphant return to the SEC there's been one question on everyone's mind. Will the South Carolina Gamecocks ever turn into the Fun N' Gun team that the Gators were during Spurrier's coaching campaign of the nineties?

So far the Gamecocks have been everything but. Last season, South Carolina appeared to be off to a fast start, and they had big wins. One of their finest moments came early in the season against Tennessee. However, the faltered down the pivotal stretch of SEC games, and ended up just how they have been for years. That is, behind Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Spurrier won't settle for being second fiddle. His answer, Stephan Garcia. Many of you may not know the name yet, but let's just say he's got credentials. Two years ago when working for Rivals.com I had the pleasure of following this athlete. He was the second coming of Tim Tebow in Florida, and chose South Carolina over many fine schools.

After waiting his turn to incumbent quarterback Blake Mitchell, Garcia now has a chance at bringing Spurrier's offense back to the SEC.

The problem with Garcia so far is that he has a tendency to down too many adult beverages. To that I ask which college student hasn't? He'll recover from a bit of bad publicity once he's thrown his first touchdown of the season.

Garcia served a spring practice suspension, but he will be back in full gear when the Gamecocks get together for summer practices. Spurrier has no choice, because otherwise South Carolina will be going with the winner of this spring's quarterback battle involving Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley. Odds are they won't be winning SEC quarterbacks.

It's time for Garcia to put down the beer and pick up the Pigskin. Spurrier's been licking his chops for a guy like this, and you better believe he's got every gas station in the area carding this kid. Now let's see if Garcia can put everything back together to become Spurrier's next great quarterback.