Yesterday, Spurrier had his summer “State of the Program” address before heading off to the SEC Media Days. The biggest news coming out of this press conference is how confident he sounded about Tommy Beecher. This fact leads many fans to ask the question, “So where has he been?”
The quarterbacking situation since Spurrier’s arrival (and quite frankly since Petty left) has been a study in inconsistency. With the exception of the last few games of 2006, USC quarterbacks have struggled to gain traction. So if Beecher is the man now, why was he not the man for the last couple of years?
Entering his fourth year, Beecher’s on field performance would leave many fans to think that he would end up being nothing more than half of the answer to a Gamecock trivia question – who were the first two Carolina quarterbacks signed by Spurrier? (Cade Thompson being the other). All that anyone ever said about him was that he had a strong arm and he could “run around a little bit” (Spurrier talk for someone that is mobile). Having watched Smelley last year, it could be that these physical attributes have won him the job.
From the stands, it seemed obvious that Smelley had a very good grasp on the offense from a mental standpoint. The offense even had a little rhythm at times. He never seemed to be confused before the snap. Most of his struggles came after the snap. At times, there was hesitation in his throws – not good for a guy with average arm strength. If you are going to play quarterback for Spurrier, you better trust your throws. Spurrier’s philosophy for attacking zone coverage is to throw to windows and trust that your receiver will get there. It’s about timing. (Take a predetermined number of steps, put your foot in the ground and throw it to this spot. But don’t throw it if we don’t get the coverage we thought we were going to get. Oh, and make sure the defense didn’t trick you by lining up in one coverage, but playing another. Yeah, it’s hard.) That can be a difficult adjustment for a quarterback. For many, it is too much of one.
Perhaps Spurrier feels that he knows what he can get out of Smelley so he might as well look at the next guy. He has seen Smelley take plenty of live snaps. Overall, Smelley did OK. Maybe he figures that Beecher’s physical advantages over Smelley need to be explored. After all, he is more mobile than Smelley and has a stronger arm. Spurrier might be thinking that he just needs to be “coached up.” Most of the buzz from spring practice was that Beecher was looking better than Smelley, if only by a small margin.
Listening to Spurrier the past couple of years, most fans are getting the impression that he is having a philosophical epiphany. For years, Spurrier has been able to take smart guys with average physical attributes and turn them into quarterbacks. Remember Danny Wuerrfel throwing passes that seemed to fall like snowflakes? Those days are over. The problem is defenses have gotten faster and more athletic. Those windows that Shane Matthews was throwing into are a lot smaller today. Those slow linebackers that Duke used to pick on in man coverage are a lot more athletic and are just as fast as the running backs they are covering. Translation: it is a lot tougher to find mismatches. Result: Spurrier’s quarterbacks have to be even more gifted from the neck up and the neck down. Before Spurrier left Florida, he had one of those guys – Grossman. Remember how many plays Grossman made with his legs? How he could throw bullets while scrambling around? Yes, I know his pro career has been less than stellar, but the guy is physically talented, and he was mentally talented enough to put up a lot of points at Florida.
Unless Spurrier completely changes his offensive philosophy, he will need more Grossman’s and less Wuerffel’s to be successful. Perhaps knowing this is what has prompted the change to Beecher. Again, maybe the thought is to take the physically talented guy and “coach him up” because he has more upside. We shall see. There is a lot of football between now and N.C. State.
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