LSU coach Les Miles and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier have more in common than national titles and an affinity for trick plays.Neither coach is shy about rotating signal callers to give his offense a spark.”I’ve always thought the worst thing a coach could do is be overly critical in the media and the news [about a player],” Spurrier said. “At the same time I let them know, ‘Your play’s not good enough.'”Spurrier rotated between then-freshman Chris Smelley and then-sophomore Tommy Beecher in 2007.This year, the battle is between Smelley and redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia.Smelley opened the year as the starter, but Garcia replaced him Oct. 11 in the fourth quarter of South Carolina’s game against Kentucky. Garcia led South Carolina to a 24-17 win.The quarterback rotation at South Carolina may be eerily similar to LSU’s situation.Sophomore Andrew Hatch started the season at quarterback, but redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee took the reigns after Hatch suffered a concussion Sept. 20 and led LSU to a 26-21 comeback at Auburn.”Their quarterbacks and our quarterbacks are two different styles of quarterbacks,” said senior defensive tackle Marlon Favorite. “But I see some similarities.”Garcia appears to be South Carolina’s version of Hatch on paper. Both quarterbacks are their team’s second leading rusher this season.Garcia has 109 rushing yards this season, and Hatch has rushed for 115 yards.Smelley and Lee are their team’s main passers. They have thrown for 1,276 and 852 yards, respectively.LSU sophomore cornerback Jai Eugene said the Tigers’ defense will have to respect both run and pass against South Carolina because of each quarterback’s style of play.”Their coach does a good job of keeping those guys both in and out,” Eugene said. “You basically don’t know what they’ll do.”Eugene said the quarterbacks LSU uses in practice represent every style of play.”We’ve got quarterbacks who can run the ball. We’ve got quarterbacks who can throw the ball. We’ve got quarterbacks who can do it all,” Eugene said. “Those guys give us a good look every day. It shouldn’t be nothing surprising from what they do to what we do.”LSU sophomore safety Chad Jones said South Carolina runs the offensive scheme the LSU defense wants to face.”That’s going to probably give us a chance to open up our playbook a little bit,” Jones said. “We’ve seen plenty of them, one likes to run a nice little bit. The other one can run a tad bit.”Jones said the coaches used the combination of redshirt freshman T.C. McCartney and true freshman Jordan Jefferson to simulate two different styles of play.”T.C. McCartney, he’s really a thrower,” Jones said. “We bring Jordan Jefferson over sometimes, but he’s a thrower/runner.”Seeing two quarterbacks in practice is nothing new for the LSU defense under coach Les Miles.Former quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn competed for the starting job in 2005, and Flynn and Ryan Perilloux spit time as quarterback in 2007.”Since we’ve been here, we’ve always — no matter if we have a starting quarterback or not — we’ve always used two quarterbacks,” Hawkins said. “It’s no big change for me.”While Spurrier may rotate quarterbacks again Saturday, Garcia said he isn’t worried about getting pulled if something goes wrong.”I don’t think Chris [Smelley] was worried about that, and I don’t think Beecher was worried about that,” Garcia said. “You can’t go out there and be looking over your shoulder, thinking you’re going to get yanked if you mess up.”Spurrier said it’s likely both quarterbacks will play Saturday.”I tell them even though they may get demoted, they may get a chance of getting back soon,” Spurrier said. “[Smelley] knows if Stephen sprains his ankle or gets knocked around or something, he’s in the game.”—Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]