The South Carolina coach said Thursday he sitting fifth-year senior Stephen Garcia in favor of last year’s backup, Connor Shaw, to start the season for the 12th-ranked Gamecocks.
Spurrier said the sophomore outperformed Garcia—who started the past 28 games at South Carolina—during preseason camp and would open against East Carolina on Saturday night in Charlottte.
Garcia is expected to play the second quarter against the Pirates and Spurrier will decide who plays the second half.
“Both of them have done well but Connor has very much, statistically and everything else, played a little bit better than Stephen has,” Spurrier said on his call-in radio show.
It’s the latest twist in Spurrier’s up-and-down relationship with Garcia, who has been suspended five times at South Carolina including twice this spring.
Garcia is coming off his best season in the program, helping the Gamecocks to the Southeastern Conference title game after throwing for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2010. He was near perfect in South Carolina’s upset of then No. 1 Alabama, going 17 of 20 for 201 yards and three TDs.
But Garcia was as lost as the rest of the team down the stretch in losses to Auburn in the SEC championship and Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Garcia threw five interceptions, more than a third of his season’s total of 14, in those defeats.
Then came the suspensions, the latest was in April less than two weeks after Garcia pledged he wouldn’t mess up again. Garcia was held out of all team activity through Memorial Day and allowed to back on a probationary basis until August.
Spurrier was very complimentary of Garcia’s lifestyle change and dedication to the position throughout the summer. Still, Spurrier kept talking up Shaw as a rising quarterback who had taken major steps forward during the offseason.
“He played better than Stephen Garcia simple as that,” Spurrier said. “That’s the fair way to do it.”
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