Quarterback should be least of fans’ worry

IF HISTORY TELLS us anything about Steve Spurrier’s quarterbacks, South Carolina fans should not be concerned about his starting and playing a couple of neophytes on Saturday.

In fact, let me go on record as saying that Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher will more than hold their own against Louisiana-Lafayette. The reason? No coach in the country does a better job of slotting in a secondary quarterback than Spurrier.

That is why you never heard Spurrier complain about the one-game suspension of returning starter Blake Mitchell. Spurrier has been here before, and his teams and his quarterbacks almost always have responded with big performances.

“All suspensions are disappointing,” Spurrier said Tuesday, “but I’m not going to sit over here in the corner and cry about it. I’m going to coach my tail off and be excited about who we’ve got on the field playing.”

That is what Spurrier did at Duke in 1989 when Dave Brown substituted for an injured Billy Ray against Wake Forest and completed a 76-yard touchdown strike to Clarkston Hines on the game’s first play. Brown finished with 444 yards passing and four touchdowns in a 52-35 Duke win.

That is what Spurrier did in 1997 at Florida when Jesse Palmer stepped in for a suspended Doug Johnson and led the Gators to a 24-10 victory against previously unbeaten and sixth-ranked Auburn.

That is what Spurrier did in the 2002 Orange Bowl when Brock Berlin passed for 196 yards in a little more than one quarter after starting in place of Rex Grossman, who was penalized for missing curfew. Berlin left with a 14-10 lead in Florida’s eventual 56-23 victory.

Spurrier has moved a second-string quarterback into the starting spot 13 times during his 17 seasons as a head college coach. Only once has a new starting quarterback failed to lead his team to victory.

Unfortunately for USC fans, that one instance occurred in 2005 when Antonio Heffner filled in for Mitchell at Auburn. The results were disastrous. Heffner had a difficult time getting plays called, and before he could gain any confidence, the game was out of reach.

USC lost, 48-7. Auburn was not ranked at the time, but eventually climbed into the top 10 and finished as the nation’s 14th-ranked team with a 9-3 record. Against Louisiana-Lafayette, Smelley and Beecher will not face a team of Auburn’s caliber on Saturday.

What Saturday’s game does is help Spurrier develop a backup quarterback or two under live conditions.

“This will give us an opportunity to look at these two guys, Chris and Tommy,” Spurrier said. “It’ll be interesting. It’ll be interesting to see how they play. Tommy’s going into his third year, Chris into his second year. They’ve thrown thousands of passes. They should know what to do.”

Only a few of those thousands of passes have been thrown in games. Smelley completed nine of 15 in two games a season ago before being redshirted. Beecher completed both passes he threw a season ago, including a 3-yard touchdown toss to Mike West against Middle Tennessee.

So, we do not know how either will perform once the lights are turned on and 80,000 fans are watching their every throw. Of course, Spurrier had no idea how Noah Brindise would play when he trotted the former walk-on out against Vanderbilt in the ninth week of the 1997 Florida season.

Spurrier said he was on a recruiting visit this spring when a high school coach said he was a teammate of Brindise at Wingate (N.C.) College. Brindise was not a starter at Wingate and figured if he was going to sit on the bench it might as well be at Florida.

Brindise transferred, and, lo and behold, he found himself as Spurrier’s starting quarterback. Brindise looked every bit like portly former Washington Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer ... only without the strong arm.

But Spurrier somehow coached Brindise up. He started the final three games of the regular season, all wins against Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida State. Against the No. 1-ranked Seminoles, Brindise and Doug Johnson alternated at quarterback on nearly every play. Brindise completed five of nine passes for 100 yards in the 32-29 victory.

Brindise quickly became part of Florida football lore. That is why you should not be surprised if Smelley or Beecher or both shine in Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette. One of them could be the next Dave Brown, Jesse Palmer ... or Noah Brindise.

Listen to commentaries by Ron Morris weekdays at 8:05 a.m., 2:05 p.m. and 5:58 p.m. on WCOS-AM 1400.