Spurrier: Not sure who would start at qb if game were today

[Xnex]

It's really looking like coach Spurrier might seriously consider giving Shaw the start at qb in the season opener. I don't think he will open the season with a true freshman at qb, but it's pretty obvious that he's been somewhat impressed with Shaw.

http://blogs.thestateonline.net/jperson/

QB battle heats up

Remember last spring when Steve Spurrier was calling out Stephen Garcia any chance he got while mentioning Connor Shaw as a viable backup quarterback who would push Garcia?

The armchair psychologists, this one included, surmised that Spurrier was trying to get in Garcia’s head to make sure the Tampa right-hander did not go through the motions again during the summer conditioning and passing drills.

Certainly, motivation was part of Spurrier’s message. But the part about Shaw being a legitimate option should Garcia falter?

That’s looking more accurate every time the Gamecocks scrimmage.

For the second consecutive scrimmage, the challenger outplayed the incumbent. And in the only vote that matters, Spurrier left the door wide open that Shaw, a true freshman and son of a football coach, could be the opening-game starter Sept. 2 when Southern Miss visits Columbia.

The fact that Shaw took the first snaps under center Thursday only added to the intrigue.

“Definitely Connor’s going to play in the first game,” Spurrier said. “Right now we’re planning on both of them playing and go from there. Statistically, he’s been the best quarterback on the team in every scrimmage. So that’s where we are with that.”

On the opening series, Shaw directed a five-play, 70-yards scoring drive that he capped with a 6-yard touchdown run. He book-ended his day with another TD drive, hitting freshman Nick Jones for a 17-yard scoring strike.

The highlight of the drive was a 53-yard toss to Kenny Miles on a play when Shaw scrambled to his right to avoid the pass rush. Shaw’s stat line: 5-of-8 for 111 yards and one TD; no picks.

Meanwhile, Garcia finished the day 11-of-16 for 113 yards. But he was picked off twice by safety Akeem Auguste.

Asked who would start the opener, Spurrier said he had two more weeks to make that decision. But he seemed to indicate that Shaw has the edge at this point.

“Well, like I said, Connor has outplayed him in the scrimmages,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes the next two weeks. Stephen may play the best. So we’ll see how it goes.”

Should be an interesting two weeks

[Nicolae]

FWIW, as a UGA fan, I really hope that Garcia starts the first two games.

But tell Spurrier that we all said Shaw. :P

Edited August 20, 2010 by Nicolae

[Lennon]

I got to see both Connor and Jaybo play in high school, Connor was without a doubt the better Shaw in my mind, he's a heck of a player, I wish him minimal success in college.

[SacFalcFan]

not sure why you are surprised xnex.. i have been telling you about shaw and garcia for many months and it was not some mental job being done by spurrier. shaw really showed spurrier a lot and shaw will be starting this coming season overtaking garcia imo. garcia has shown he is no leader and his immaturity has been shown with poor off the field decisions. this is a real qb battle.

[Xnex]

not sure why you are surprised xnex.. i have been telling you about shaw and garcia for many months and it was not some mental job being done by spurrier. shaw really showed spurrier a lot and shaw will be starting this coming season overtaking garcia imo. garcia has shown he is no leader and his immaturity has been shown with poor off the field decisions. this is a real qb battle.

I'll give you the "immaturity" thing as it relates to Off the field stuff. And I know he's made some bad decisions on the field. But he's also made some pretty good ones too. And some of the sacks and backward plays will fall at his feet, but more of them fall at the feet of the o line. I'm glad there is real competition at the spot, IF Garcia isn't putting in max effort. But sometimes I feel like too much of the negative has been laid at the feet of the qb. Shaw offers greater mobility and speed at the spot, but I think Garcia is the more talented of the two. But I don't really care who gets the job, so long as the best all-around player is the man running the offense. Who knows, maybe our passing offense hasn't looked good because it's not been run correctly in several years. Maybe if Shaw gets back there he will make quick decisions and get the ball out of his hands.

[Reeves]

I'll give you the "immaturity" thing as it relates to Off the field stuff. And I know he's made some bad decisions on the field. But he's also made some pretty good ones too. And some of the sacks and backward plays will fall at his feet, but more of them fall at the feet of the o line. I'm glad there is real competition at the spot, IF Garcia isn't putting in max effort. But sometimes I feel like too much of the negative has been laid at the feet of the qb. Shaw offers greater mobility and speed at the spot, but I think Garcia is the more talented of the two. But I don't really care who gets the job, so long as the best all-around player is the man running the offense. Who knows, maybe our passing offense hasn't looked good because it's not been run correctly in several years. Maybe if Shaw gets back there he will make quick decisions and get the ball out of his hands.

it would seem pretty risky to put a true freshman QB in to run the team with the o-line USCe has this year. I don't mean that as a slam to your o-line as I know injuries haven't been kind to you guys (UGA fans should know about that all too well), and we both know a true freshman doesn't have great odds in the SEC.

Do you think USCe has a better shot with Shaw or Garcia? Just curious to hear your opinion as I would say it seems like a no brainer, even if Garcia isn't playing great or whatever.

[Xnex]

it would seem pretty risky to put a true freshman QB in to run the team with the o-line USCe has this year. I don't mean that as a slam to your o-line as I know injuries haven't been kind to you guys (UGA fans should know about that all too well), and we both know a true freshman doesn't have great odds in the SEC.

Do you think USCe has a better shot with Shaw or Garcia? Just curious to hear your opinion as I would say it seems like a no brainer, even if Garcia isn't playing great or whatever.

Yeah, on the surface it's seems obvious that Garcia will give us the best shot at winning. But Shaw seems much more capable of getting out of the pocket and throwing away, or running with it. He's a pretty fast kid.

Personally I don't want to see Shaw start at all this season, or even next year. I want to see Stephen get the job done and I think he can. But it seems pretty clear that Spurrier likes what he's seen from the freshman, and wants to give him a chance at playing in live game situations. I'll hold my breath and wait, I suppose. Guess that's all I can do. Maybe we try to do what UF did when Spurrier was there and go with a two qb system.

[gamecocknfire]

I think Garcia still gets the job, but I dont mind Spurrier scaring the heck out of Garcia by starting Connor.

[pr0d1gy]

Oh no, they Gamecocks might use a freshman QB!!! Poor Spurrier, how does he still have hair? lmao

[ChuyDawg]

I don't buy the argument about Spurrier scaring Garcia. You can see the body language on the sidelines between both of them. I think Spurrier has had issues with every QB while at South Carolina. Maybe Spurrier could be the problem by not coaching them up, just saying.

[SacFalcFan]

I'll give you the "immaturity" thing as it relates to Off the field stuff. And I know he's made some bad decisions on the field. But he's also made some pretty good ones too. And some of the sacks and backward plays will fall at his feet, but more of them fall at the feet of the o line. I'm glad there is real competition at the spot, IF Garcia isn't putting in max effort. But sometimes I feel like too much of the negative has been laid at the feet of the qb. Shaw offers greater mobility and speed at the spot, but I think Garcia is the more talented of the two. But I don't really care who gets the job, so long as the best all-around player is the man running the offense. Who knows, maybe our passing offense hasn't looked good because it's not been run correctly in several years. Maybe if Shaw gets back there he will make quick decisions and get the ball out of his hands.

A qb is about leadership and sound decision making. What decisions you make on and off the field say a lot about you as a player and a leader. There is a reason Garcia hasn't taken ahold of this job and why his leadership and decision making has been question from day 1 and is still today. I think you are trying to ignore a very impt part that tells us a lot about garcia.

[Xnex]

A qb is about leadership and sound decision making. What decisions you make on and off the field say a lot about you as a player and a leader. There is a reason Garcia hasn't taken ahold of this job and why his leadership and decision making has been question from day 1 and is still today. I think you are trying to ignore a very impt part that tells us a lot about garcia.

What do you think I am trying to ignore? I'm about as objective about Garcia as any Gamecock fan could be, I think. I'm just giving my opinion. It seems pretty obvious that Garcia was allowed to do just about whatever he wanted to do when he was a HS player. I guess he was talented enough to get away with lack of hard work, and his HS coach was maybe just happy to have him. So he arrives on campus and acts like a real idiot and is almost dropped from the team. His history speaks for itself. He never had to work really hard, and wasn't prepared to do it when he came to Carolina.

But there is no denying the fact that this offense has suffered quite a bit for several seasons, both before Garcia took over and after. When Spurrier was at UF his offense was revolutionary and the Gators could put huge numbers on just about any team. FSU just took the attitude that they would hit the qb so many times he would be broken physically, but it didn't always work. Nowadays, defenses are much more complex than they were when Spurrier was at UF and I wonder if he's still trying to run the same type of offense in which the qb has to make very fast decisions and get rid of the ball or risk being killed.

Garcia has been a partier for much of his young life, and he's failed to be a dilligent as he needed to be, I suppose. He's also tended not to be a real bigtime leader, more just another one of the players; and that's not what you want in a qb either. But he did okay on the field last season. He wasn't great, but he wasn't horrible either. Based on the protection he was given I think he did pretty well honestly. He just needs to grow up some more, lead by example, and make smarter decisions on the field.