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Morris: Coaches agree, Garcia takes steps to realizing potential
Garnet team quarterback Stephen Garcia rushes during Saturday's Garnet & Black Spring game at Williams-Brice Stadium
BrettFlashnick.com/Special to The State
Posted on 04.12.09
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GALLERY: Spring game action photos
THE NUMBERS FROM Saturday’s spring football game at Williams-Brice Stadium looked pretty decent for Stephen Garcia. He completed all but seven of his 20 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Perhaps more importantly, Garcia did not throw an interception. That alone should have brought a round of hosannas and hallelujahs from Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina coaching staff.
That did not happen. Caution was the word of the day when discussing Garcia. The talk centered not on what Garcia did Saturday but what the redshirt sophomore needs to do between now and USC’s Sept. 3 season-opener at North Carolina State.
“I think he did decently today and threw some good ones here and there,” said Spurrier, who saw his quarterbacks throw eight interceptions in last year’s spring game. “He’s obviously better than he once was and still has a ways to go.”
Then there was the evaluation of G.A. Mangus, USC’s new quarterbacks coach who was hired to take charge of Garcia and mold him into an SEC-caliber quarterback.
“He’s got a long summer ahead of him. That’s the big thing between now and August,” Mangus said. “He’s got a lot of work to do. He’s made some strides, just little things, little things, the details. If he works really hard this summer I think he’s got a chance to be a pretty good player.”
Finally, there was Garcia.
“Going through my first spring, getting these 15 practices in, being with the team, it’s definitely a lot better for me,” said Garcia, who twice previously was suspended from spring drills. “Going into summer workouts, that’s a key factor for me, hopefully taking this momentum into the summer.”
From the outset Saturday, Garcia looked like a seasoned quarterback in charge of the offense. There was no deer-in-the-headlights look that led to his disastrous start against Iowa in the Outback Bowl four months ago.
Garcia checked off at the line of scrimmage. He made all the required throws. He even retrieved a loose shoe and returned it to receiver Joe Hills.
On the game’s opening drive, Garcia completed 5-of-6 passes for 41 yards. Included in those completions was a look-in strike to Jason Barnes and a down-and-out to Dion LeCorn thrown to the sideline from the opposite hash mark.
Garcia showed off his running skills, escaping the pocket for 15 yards on one play, then sidestepping defenders Blake Baxley and John Guerry for another 8 yards.
Toward the end of the half the announced crowd of 25,000 got to see Garcia display an arm as strong as any Spurrier has had at USC. He tossed a 28-yard touchdown to Hills, who never broke stride and caught the ball at the goal line.
Although the pass was overthrown, Garcia unleashed a 46-yarder intended for Barnes that carried 65 yards in the air. The throw appeared to be made with little effort and served notice that USC can develop a deep threat this season.
Of course, talent has never been the issue with Garcia. It is more about his maturity on and off the field, refining his skills and developing the leadership qualities required of a quarterback in Spurrier’s system.
All of that appears to still be in the embryonic stage. All of that must reach the advanced stage over the next four months for USC to be considered any kind of challenger in the SEC East.
“There’s no vacationing here in Columbia for the summer,” Mangus said of Garcia. “He can be a lot better player here than he can down in Tampa on his own.”
A summer ago, Garcia completed a regimented workout at his home in Tampa. But it was nothing like he will face this summer. Although coaches cannot work with players, they can map out a workout schedule.
For Garcia, that means 100 to 150 throws daily. Prescribed workouts are four days per week, but Garcia says he plans to throw even on the off days. Spurrier wants to refine his mechanics and eliminate the windup in his delivery.
Mangus says the progress Garcia made this spring was noticeable. But there is more ground to be gained in the summer.
“He needs to just throw thousands of balls with our wide receivers, just taking steps, putting his head in the right position, ball mechanics, head mechanics, everything,” Mangus says. “If he does that, and it becomes automatic and repetitive and he doesn’t think about it anymore, he’s got a chance to be really good.
“But it’s going to take a lot of work because he’s not there right now.”
The more Mangus and Spurrier and Garcia talked, the more it sounded as if Saturday was the quarterback’s first baby step. Now the real work begins and the biggest steps of all need to be taken.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.
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