GoGamecocks.com
Smelley likes team spirit
With a good attitude and faith in his abilities, QB Chris Smelley is back in the driver's seat of the Gamecocks' offense
South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback Chris Smelley
File photo/The State
Written by JOSEPH PERSON
jperson@thestate.com
Posted on 09.04.08
CommentsRelated Content
- Gameday preview: USC vs. Vanderbilt
- Gameday forecast, prediction for USC-Vandy
- Practice report: Spurrier on being ranked
- Vandy's Moore enjoys facing boyhood team
- USC moves up to No. 24 in AP poll
- Soft-spoken Cook lets tackles do the talking
- Morris: Spurrier likes to keep his QB options open
About Chris Smelley
Class: Sophomore
Hgt./Wgt.: 6-foot-2, 218 pounds
High school: American Christian (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
Career highlights:
2006: As a true freshman, played in two games before injuring his heel and being granted a medical redshirt.
2007: Had a 4-2 record as a starter. He completed 92-of-162 passes (56.8 percent) for 1,176 yards and nine TDs with seven interceptions. First redshirt freshman to start at quarterback for USC since Todd Ellis in 1986.
For four months, Chris Smelley was tainted by a horrific, five-interception performance ... in a game that did not count in the standings.
Let the record show the South Carolina quarterback believes the importance of spring games is overblown.
Anointed by the media as the successor to the throne he shared with Blake Mitchell last year, Smelley lost his hold on the job by throwing five picks in the first half of April’s spring game, including three in a seven-play stretch.
Two days after saying he would not name a starter until August, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier reversed course and announced that Tommy Beecher would be the No. 1 quarterback.
Disappointed, Smelley quietly went about his business this summer and waited for his next opportunity. He would not wait long.
“The spring game was a little disappointing for me. Didn’t perform the way I wanted to there with people watching. So that definitely was a big factor in (Beecher being named the starter),” Smelley said this week.
“But it didn’t change my mindset of the way I was going to come out and perform practice-wise and working this summer. I was always working hard to get better so when my chance came, I’d be ready.”
What happened next has been repeated ad nauseam this week: Smelley replaced an ineffective and injured Beecher and led USC to three fourth-quarter touchdown drives in their 34-0 season-opening victory against N.C. State.
The right-hander was 5-for-5 passing for 92 yards and two touchdowns. After managing 161 yards the first three quarters against the Wolfpack, USC tallied for 208 yards in the fourth quarter with Smelley under center.
Smelley will make his seventh career start tonight at Vanderbilt. Those who know him well were not surprised by how Smelley responded.
“I know he hasn’t let himself get down. Really, I think he’s handled it very well,” said kicker Ryan Succop, who hunts with Smelley. “He’s been really enthusiastic the whole time and he’s been ready to go. He certainly hasn’t given up. He’s ready to get out there.”
Smelley went 4-2 as a starter last season, but it looked as though that experience might be wiped out by one meaningless game in April. Spurrier said several times that Beecher, who threw three interceptions in the spring game, would have a chance to start the entire season.
Asked if there is too much emphasis placed on spring games, Smelley did not hesitate.
“Yeah,” he said. “Quarterbacks are going to have good days, bad days. Peyton Manning threw five interceptions in the first half last year in a game. If that was all somebody saw of him, they’d think this quarterback’s terrible.
“But obviously, football’s kind of a whole team thing. It takes the whole team working together to make people look good. So not every day is going to be your best day.”
Smelley had his ups and downs last year splitting time with Mitchell. The redshirt sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Ala., passed for 256 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-23, nationally televised victory against No. 8 Kentucky.
The next week Smelley fired a career-high three touchdown passes in the first half of a 21-15 victory at North Carolina. But he threw two interceptions and struggled to find his rhythm while Spurrier rotated him and Mitchell in a 17-6 loss to Vanderbilt.
After a poor start at Tennessee, Smelley was yanked in favor of Mitchell, who held the starting spot the rest of the season.
“I thought last year I played well sometimes. The offense was really clicking at times,” said Smelley, who matched former USC quarterbacks Ron Bass and Steve Taneyhill by winning his first four starts.
Like Beecher, Smelley is a good student with natural leadership abilities, teammates say.
During his USC recruiting visit, receiver Moe Brown said all the prospects gathered for dinner at the Zone in Williams-Brice Stadium. Black players sat together, while the white players at another set of tables.
“Smelley didn’t care. He just came up to us and started talking to us like we were anybody else,” Brown said. “I knew then that there was something special, something different about him.”
On the same recruiting trip, cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, who was favoring West Virginia, said Smelley helped persuade him to come to USC.
“Both of us are from Alabama. Everybody in our state goes to Alabama or Auburn,” said Munnerlyn, who is from Mobile. “He was like, ‘Let’s try something new.’”
Whenever Brown would bump into Smelley during the summer, he said Smelley was always upbeat about his situation.
“He was like, he’s going to get his chance. And when he had his chance, he’s going to do his best to do what he can,” Brown said. “Smelley kept his head in the right place.”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
Most Viewed Stories
- Spurrier hires new assistant
- Late losses dampen USC bowl spirit
- Outback still likes USC; Beecher demoted
- RB Giles getting closer to decision
- Gamecocks pass Ivy League hoops test
- Spurrier questions Kiffin's call
- South Carolina rolls by Princeton 84-58
- Coaching news may ignite recruiting
- Two Carolina coaches hit the road
- Women's pregame: USC vs. Wake Forest
@Nyx.CommentBody@