Smelley and Other "Backup" QBs Ready to Take Over
I can’t say that Blake Mitchell won’t play the rest of the season.
With the way Steve Spurrier is known to shuffle his deck when the chips aren’t falling, anything is possible.
I can say, however, that he shouldn’t play the rest of the season barring catastrophic injuries to starter Chris Smelley, backup Tommy Beecher or freshman Stephen Garcia.
Realize how strong a statement that is — he remains the only quarterback in school history to beat Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, Arkansas and Clemson in a career, not to mention his MVP performance against Houston in last year’s Independence Bowl victory.
But that victory was Blake’s last highlight amongst a series of inexplicably poor decisions that not only let down himself and his family but also the whole team and fan base. Blake Mitchell is the same now as he was the day he walked on campus — laid back to the point of lethargy. Nothing anyone does or says, Spurrier included, gets through to him or seems to bother him in the least. He has better physical tools than any quarterback on the roster at the moment, and yet his mental approach is that of the goofball backup JV quarterback who’s never paying attention to the game.
If there’s anything consistent about Mitchell, it’s his utter inability to exhibit any sense of urgency whatsoever, whether it’s urgency about his career, urgency about his unit’s performance, urgency about winning the football game at all costs, urgency about anything, especially here in the absolute twilight of his days wearing shoulder pads. It’s almost as if, when things go poorly, he has the same ‘oh well’ attitude that obviously has carried over into his schoolwork.
And that’s where, in my mind, Mitchell’s troubles began. No one doubts that Mitchell’s play from the second half of last year’s Arkansas game was as good as any Gamecock quarterback ever, especially considering the competition. But somewhere between the Independence Bowl and the start of summer classes, Blake checked-out mentally.
He had to know that missing summer school classes — which I took every year of my career and loved because they were the easiest “A’s” I ever got —was going to adversely affect his status with the team. For that he missed practices in the fall, key practices when you’re developing the timing with and confidence in the receivers. That was red flag No. 1. Then, apparently, in his fifth year of being a college student, he still doesn’t comprehend the class-dropping procedure and takes an “F,” assuring him of missing the season opener. Yet again, this is another sign that he has no understanding in his brain how his actions adversely stress the program, the team and his head coach, who over and over has to explain to the media why Blake still just doesn’t get it.
Blake’s performance against Georgia, 174 yards and no touchdowns, was rusty, as balls were over or underthrown and his inability to handle a snap on a key drive was costly, wett butt or not. Too, his demeanor has always left a lot to be desired, prompting Spurrier to call Mitchell out after the Georgia game for not being more demonstrative or fiery when challenged. That frustration finally wore thin against the Bayou Bengals last week when after repeated mishandled snaps and an interception redshirt freshman Smelley was called to right the ship against the best defense in the country in Death Valley (the real one), considered by most to be the most hostile environment in the nation.
Under that enormous pressure, Smelley delivered a more-than-respectable 174 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-26 passing, playing the entire second half and leading the Gamecocks to 9 points, the most allowed by the LSU defense all season combined.
Now, with a full game under his belt against a Mississippi State defense ranked third in the SEC against the pass (behind SUSC and LSU), Smelley had a career game, throwing for 279 yards on 19-of-37 passing and two touchdowns to one ill-advised interception. That is more than solid against a conference foe that prided itself on its passing defense and one that had just two weeks earlier defeated Auburn in Auburn, which we all know this past weekend beat SEC East favorite Florida at The Swamp.
My point is this. Backups are in the wing who aren’t just capable, they’re more capable than Blake when it comes to consistency, desire and leadership. I’ve interviewed every scholarship quarterback on the roster, and no one surprised me more than Smelley. He physically is impressive, as shown by his mobility and the crispness of his downfield throws to McKinely that gave the USC offense more options than it has had all season, but he is more impressive as a human being, giving credit to God for his opportunity, remaining humble and never having a bad word to say about Blake. I can tell USC fans for sure that you’ll never, in Smelley’s career, see his mugshot from the Alvin S. Glenn detention center. Stephen Garcia, whose mugshot we have seen from the Bluff Road Hotel, apparently has turned things around and is following Smelley’s, not Mitchell’s, leadership in that regard. Blake, thanks for the big wins while Spurrier got the program on a solid foundation. But as you have demonstrated a predilection for during your academic career, it’s time for you to withdraw before any more damage is done and what’s worse, you have only yourself to blame.
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