Alabama defense wary of Steve Spurrier

TUSCALOOSA — Steve Spurrier won the national championship at Florida in 1996 — when Javier Arenas was in the third grade.

The Fun ’n’ Gun is history, pages in a media guide and trophies in a case, but Alabama’s senior cornerback knows the Crimson Tide secondary will be facing a legend Saturday night when Spurrier brings the South Carolina Gamecocks into Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“First of all, it’s a great experience to go up against Steve Spurrier,” Arenas said this week. “Then, knowing the type of things that he does, you see a great opportunity presented.”

Defensive end Lorenzo Washington, another Alabama senior, takes a similarly respectful tone when asked about facing the Gamecocks’ coach.

“He’s going to go down — no matter where he ends up — as one of the great and top coaches in history,” Washington said. “He turned around Florida. He turned around South Carolina. ... It’s going to be a battle of a good offensive coach against a good defensive coach. It’s interesting to see how it’s going to play out.”

Spurrier indicated Carolina will bring the entire playbook to Tuscaloosa. He acknowledged he coaches a little differently as a decided underdog.

“You play it a little more wide open, hope that everything hits, than you would,” the Gamecock coach said. “You certainly have no chance if you play conservatively against a team like this, unless you feel like your defense can play really well. ...

“Alabama’s got such a good defense. Offensively, they don’t have to try a whole lot. They make sure they don’t have a bad play that would give the other team a score. ... Playcalling goes with how you feel your team can do with the other guys. Simple as that.”

Solving Alabama’s defense hasn’t been easy this season. But Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Spurrier’s attack at South Carolina is tough to prepare for.

“I think some marked differences this year is they have a little bit more balance on offense,” Saban said. “It’s always a very challenging pro-style offense with Steve Spurrier, who is a very good offensive coach. He does a very good job coaching the quarterback and getting the ball in the right place and also getting in the right plays, relative to what you’re doing on defense.”

Saban said South Carolina sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia has made a lot of progress but has some underrated weapons around him.

“I think their quarterback has played well, but they’ve had balance in their offense. They’ve got two or three running backs that they use,” the Alabama coach said. “They’ve got a good group of receivers. They’ve got good skills players, and I think the balance is the real key.”

Garcia, who was erratic as a freshman, is fourth in the SEC in passing, averaging more than 211 yards through the air per game.

Garcia has tall, talented receivers to throw to. Alshon Jeffery is a 6-foot-3 freshman who caught seven passes for 138 yards and three touchdowns last week against Kentucky. Tori Gurley, a 6-foot-5 freshman, has had four touchdowns called back due to penalty. Jason Barnes is 6-foot-4, and D.L. Moore is another 6-3 freshman.

Garcia also likes to throw to tight ends Weslye Saunders (6-5) and Justice Cunningham (6-3), as well as fullback Patrick DiMarco.

“I’ve seen them throw the ball very effectively. They can run the ball as well. Again, it’s another challenge in the SEC,” said Arenas, a Florida product who faced Garcia in high school.

“He was the best quarterback in the state, and he had great players around him,” the cornerback said. “He was kind of like what Tim Tebow is to the (Florida) Gators as far as keeping the team together and running the ball a lot. It will be a great game for me to come and go against him again.”

Spurrier said his quarterback is “much-improved.”

“He’s a lot better with the ball — a lot fewer turnovers this year than last. He’s made a much better commitment to learning the offense, learning where all the players are going to be,” Spurier said.

“He’s trying, still has some miscues here and there but not nearly as bad as last year, so he’s making progress.”

Crimson Tide cornerback Kareem Jackson said the tall Gamecock receivers are nothing new.

“That’s the thing with playing any SEC team; you know they’re going to have athletes and guys that can make a play on the ball in any situation,” Jackson said.