FanHouse Stephen Garcia

Steve Spurrier has called heralded linebacker Eric Norwood the face of South Carolina's football program. Spurrier is hoping another player in time will develop into that role as well. But, at the moment, sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia is not that guy.

Spurrier interrupted his own post-practice media session Monday night to ask The State of Columbia (S.C.) newspaper to change its daily advertisement about the approaching season. The Ol' Ball Coach doesn't have a problem with the ad, just who's pictured in it.

Instead of Garcia, Spurrier said he'd rather see captains Norwood or defensive end Cliff Matthews pictured.

"I am requesting that (change)," Spurrier said to reporters.

"He's not the face of our program yet. I hope he is someday."

Wednesday, the annual circus known as the SEC Media Days kicks off in Birmingham, Ala. As college football has become a year-round sport, the three media days down in Birmingham have become the official launch date for SEC football fans, a time when our region's football obsession officially begins anew. Even if, you know, it never actually dies. Last season then-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer arrived and was immediately served with a subpoena in a lawsuit brought by my favorite people on Earth: disassociated Alabama boosters. Getting disassociated from the Alabama football program is like being the only guy in a prison who no one will share a table with.

This season, 25 radio stations will be broadcasting live from inside the event, and over 800 members of the media have been credentialed. It's like Woodstock for people who use the word, goll-durn. And we'll be there for the ride. Goll-durn.

Today the SEC released the Coaches' Preseason Football Team. There were three unanimous selections: Tennessee safety Eric Berry, LSU offensive lineman Ciron Black, and Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones. Noticing something surprising? Yep, someone didn't vote for Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. And before you throw Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt under the bus, assuming he voted for his player, Jevan Snead, over Tebow, keep this in mind, coaches weren't allowed to vote for their own players. So presumably someone other than Nutt left Tebow off the first team.

Wow.

But that's not even the most surprising detail.

College Football Spring Storylines 2009 looks at the key developments and big news from spring ball.

Spring has begun for college football's mightiest conference, the SEC. The Florida Gators are the defending BCS champions and could field one of the best teams of the era next year. Several new faces have arrived elsewhere, from head coaches to quarterbacks. Some teams are tinkering, others facing wholesale changes. Others like Georgia and LSU can finally begin to implement fixes to what ailed them in a puzzling 2008.

Our SEC Spring Storyline will look like a countdown, beginning with the number four, same as the total number of BCS championships claimed by the SEC since 2004.

Usually spring is the season of unbridled (and in many cases, unrealistic) optimism for college football fans. Not so in Columbia, South Carolina.

An unspectacular recruiting season combined with disarray at the quarterback position (redshirt frosh Stephen Garcia was cited for underage drinking last month, his fourth offense in his short tenure at South Carolina) set the stage for the Gamecocks' spring scrimmage. After Spurrier's last spring game put fans to sleep (it was a low-scoring, 14-7 affair) the Ol' Ball Coach enacted new rules for '08: no pass rushing, no blitzing, and the defense was forced to play one of three base coverages.

Sounds like a recipe for an offensive extravaganza, right? Nope: QBs Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher combined for 8 interceptions versus the declawed 'Cock defense.

Add to this the fact that Spurrier has designated his son, Steve Spurrier Jr., as the new playcaller. And, yes, Junior was calling the plays. For both offenses.

Does Spurrier have one foot out the door already at South Carolina? If Spurrier fails to produce a competitive team in this, his fourth year in Columbia, you've just gotta wonder. The OBC is grooming his son for the head coaching job, hasn't been lighting it up on the recruiting trail, and has already been in public scrapes with the university over admissions issues. Gamecock fans are nervous about what ROI might come from their pricey head coach in his remaining time in the Palmetto State, and rightfully so.

For all the drama surrounding South Carolina freshmen Stephen Garcia and Quintin Richardson this offseason, we won't see if any of it was worth it this year, according to gogamecocks.com:

Barring injury, both freshmen will redshirt this season, coach Steve Spurrier said Tuesday at his first weekly press conference of the season. Each player was a highly-ranked member of the 2007 recruiting class, then each ran into off-field trouble and finished the preseason deep on the depth chart.

If you don't remember, Richardson is the offensive lineman who was stabbed in an altercation and later arrested on a marijuana charge. If you don't remember Garcia, well, you just haven't been paying attention... but he's a freshman ultra-recruit who is already on his third strike.

Spurrier maintains that the other members of his highly-touted 2007 recruiting class will have an opportunity to play this season, though I remain dubious on Garcia's redshirt; Blake Mitchell is suspended for the first game and Spurrier's never been shy about shuffling QBs.

And it continued to be a busy day in Columbia.

There's an old coaching saying attributed to Bear Bryant (though most old coaching sayings are attributed to Bryant) that says you lose a conference game for every freshman you start. Last year, Florida started Percy Harvin, and lost a game. They also won SEC and national championships. That's probably why over the summer Urban Meyer said that, starting with his top-ranked 2007 recruiting class, he doesn't plan on redshirting freshmen anymore.

So again, this post probably could have featured at least five Gators to watch in 2007. But instead, let's start with a freshman who may be starting from day one at one of Florida's rivals...

1. Eric Berry, DB, Tennessee

Eric Berry has pulled off two impressive yet disparate feats: he ran a 4.33 in an electronically timed 40-yard dash, and he has drawn comparisons to Peyton Manning. Obviously, the Manning thing isn't because they have similar speed, but because Berry is considered to be the most important recruit to show up in Knoxville since sainted Peyton in the mid-90s. The only reason Berry was a five-star athlete coming out of high school is that they don't give anybody six stars. He was the number one player in Georgia, the number one cornerback nationally (he also ran for over 1,200 yards and threw for 1,000 his senior season as a quarterback), and the number three overall player nationally. His father, James, was a captain for the Vols in the late 1970s, but the legend will say that it was not his legacy status that drew the younger Berry to UT, but Fulmer and Cutcliffe's insistence that Berry would play in a scheme similar to Arkansas' famed 'Wildcat' package used with Darren McFadden. How quickly Berry sees the offensive side of the ball will likely depend on how fast he secures his role as a starting corner for the Vols, where he will fill one of the holes left by Jonathan Wade, Antwan Stewart, and the injured Inky Johnson. Early reports are that Berry is physically ready and mentally mature, so it might not take long.