QB Garcia gaining players' respect by leaps and bounds

COLUMBIA -- Steve Spurrier said South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia grabbed more of his teammates' respect with his dive for a first down late against Kentucky.

Consider senior receiver Moe Brown an example.

"I was on the sidelines when he did it, and I probably yelled for a good minute and a half," Brown said of the third-and-5 leap that allowed USC to keep the ball and eventually run out the clock. "Everybody was looking at me, but I didn't care.

"When you see your quarterback giving himself up instead of sliding, going up in the air like that -- especially at that point in the game, when it was critical for us to get that first down -- it's big time. You can easily say that was the biggest play of the game."

Brown said Garcia had already become a leader in his first full year of being the No. 1 QB.

"He's definitely taken a different attitude this year," he said.

But "The Leap" didn't hurt anything.

"The quarterback is the general on the field," Brown said. "When you see your general on the front lines and taking that shot for you, right in front of you, you want to play better for him."

Coaches' history

Spurrier and Bama coach Nick Saban do have some history together.

Saban was an assistant on Spurrier's East-West Shrine Game staff in 2000. That was toward the end of Spurrier's Florida tenure and just after Saban's first year at LSU.

Spurrier and Saban actually flew back to Baton Rouge together after the exhibition game, which is held in California's Bay Area.

"I have a lot of respect for him," Saban said. "He's done a great job every place he's been. We played against him at LSU when he was still at Florida. I think he's an outstanding coach and has done a really good job at South Carolina."

Saban is 0-2 against Spurrier.

Does not compute

Saban isn't exactly cutting edge when it comes to the technological revolution.

"I'm in the Dark Ages," he said. "My kids send me a text message. My kids get mad at me all the time because they text me and I call them back. They say, 'Why didn't you just text me?' "

To that end, Saban said he doesn't meddle much when it comes to his players' involvement in social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Tough matchups

Asked about Bama's All-SEC linebacker Rolando McClain, Spurrier had to fish through a roster to see what number McClain is.

He said McClain looks as big as former USC linebacker Jasper Brinkley, but it's another Tide defender that has the Gamecocks' eye.

"We've been watching No. 32, Eryk Anders," Spurrier said, "trying to figure out who's going to block him."

Alshon's progress

After his three-touchdown day Saturday, Spurrier said Alshon Jeffery had a great practice Monday.

"He was flying around," Spurrier said. "He looked like one of our fast receivers out there, which is encouraging. He's improved. I think he'd tell you that.

"When you know where to go, then you can go faster. For a true freshman, to get here in the summer and learn the offense, he's come along pretty quickly."

Jeffery is this week's SEC freshman of the week.