Last year, Stephen Garcia was splitting time with Chris Smelley at quarterback for South Carolina when the Gamecocks traveled to Gainesville.
Smelley’s transfer to Alabama to play baseball left Garcia as the team’s only option for the starting quarterback job, and Garcia has grown from the lost player who was just 6-of-13 passing for 28 yards and an interception in the Gamecocks’ 56-6 loss to the Gators in 2008.
“He has a pretty good idea of what’s going on now,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. “We asked him the other day if he knew what was going on in The Swamp last year, and he said ‘I had no idea what was going on.’ He was a lost Gamecock down in The Swamp last year.”
Garcia will face his biggest challenge this season against Florida’s pass defense, which ranks first in Southeastern Conference and second in the nation. The Gators’ 134.4 pass yards per game are about 25 yards less than the next-best team.
UF coach Urban Meyer has taken notice of the Gamecocks improved aerial attack, though.
“They aren’t running the ball quite as well, but they are throwing it much better,” Meyer said.
Garcia has increased the team’s passing average more than 20 yards per game to 246, good for second in the SEC, and a big reason has been his decision making.
The redshirt sophomore has thrown just six interceptions this season in his 341 attempts compared to eight interceptions in 2008 in just 122 passing tries.
Although the Gamecocks were third in the SEC in passing yards per game last season, they were the worst in the nation in interceptions thrown with 27.
Garcia and Smelley combined to toss three picks in South Carolina’s last meeting with Florida.
Spurrier knows that number will have to stay down against the top interception team in the conference if his Gamecocks will have any chance of pulling off the upset.
“Hopefully, he goes out there and makes good decisions and takes care of the ball,” Spurrier said. “He has done a good job of taking care of the ball this year. Our turnovers are way down from where we were this time last year.”
Spurrier said Garcia’s improvement is largely because of his year of experience and not having to share reps this season.
Even though Garcia has made strides this year, he is still far away from being a premier quarterback in college football.
“He needs to continue making the commitment to learn the game, learn how to play, learn how to audible here and there and get out of a bad play and get to a good play,” Spurrier said.
