The words of advice Stephen Garcia had for South Carolina’s QBs
Stephen Garcia played quarterback at South Carolina with aggressiveness and passion.
That was the message the former Gamecock signal caller had to the current crop of Gamecock quarterbacks Luke Doty and Colten Gauthier when he spoke with them Friday.
Doty took over starting duties near the end of the season and is projected to be the team’s No. 1 QB when the spring practice begins in March. Gauthier arrived earlier this month as a mid-year enrollee after finishing up his high school career last month.
“This was the first time I met Luke in person,” Garcia said. “I talked with coach [Shane] Beamer and some of the other players, and Luke is a leader. ... I told him, you have to get these guys going and you have to be aggressive. Football is an aggressive sport at the end of the day. That is my training technique and what I told him.”
Garcia was the quarterback when the Gamecocks knocked off No. 1 Alabama in 2010 and made it to the SEC East championship. The Florida native, who had his share of ups and downs during his college career, gave some advice to Doty.
Garcia was back in the Midlands on Friday to help the QB1 Camp held at Northside Christian Academy’s football field in Lexington. Garcia and Perry Orth, another former Gamecock QB, hold several camps throughout the state each year in addition to working privately with quarterbacks.
Before the camp, Garcia stopped by his alma mater and talked with new Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer, who was the recruiting coordinator and special teams coach when Garcia was at USC. Garcia remembered Beamer “as one one of us,” running around and bringing a lot of enthusiasm to the team each day.
“We are excited about where the future is. We’ve got a chance,” Garcia said. “We’ve got to be aggressive. You can feel the sense of urgency he has there. He is passionate about being in Columbia and Gamecock football. We’ve just got to take advantage of recruiting and go from there.”
Garcia was one of several former Gamecocks to visit the campus this week. Philadelphia Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery, San Diego Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram and former defensive back Akeem Auguste also made stops this week.
Beamer, whose hire was a popular choice with former players, has made a point of how much he wants former Gamecocks involved on and off the field with the program. He hired former USC QB Erik Kimrey as the Gamecocks tight ends coach while Byron Jerideau is now the Gamecocks’ assistant strength and conditioning coach. Former linebacker Shaq Wilson is a defensive analyst.
Could Garcia ever see himself back at USC in some role? It’s not likely because he loves training high school quarterbacks in Florida. But he made it clear he will do whatever it takes to get the Gamecocks back going again.
“I told coach Beamer if you ever need anything, whatever I can do to help the program to get us back where we were at, you’ve got my number now,” Garcia said. “... We need to have these former guys to come around the program as much as possible. We got to have the culture back when we were winning 10 and 11 games a year.”
