South Carolina Football: Ranking the most otherworldly Gamecock athletes
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football’s No. 7 Most Otherworldly Player of All-Time:
Quarterback Stephen Garcia
Sure, Stephen Garcia’s athletic profile was pretty impressive: at 6’2″ and 227 pounds, he still was a big-time running threat from the quarterback position and was one of the best gunslingers to ever play for the Gamecocks. What makes Garcia particularly alien-like, however, had nothing to do with his on-field abilities.
Stephen Garcia was a character, to say the least. Known for his partying ways around Columbia and his cocky persona in uniform, #5 was as much of a legend away from the field as he was on it. Suspended multiple times by Steve Spurrier for violations of team rules, Garcia was a long-haired and bearded antagonist to the Head Ball Coach for almost five full years before Spurrier reluctantly dismissed him from the team in 2011.
Garcia has since been welcomed back to the program, including in a hype video that featured the Tampa, Florida native riding his motorcycle up the ramps at Williams-Brice Stadium, something the wild quarterback quipped “wasn’t the first time” he had done.
Where the reality of Stephen Garcia ends and where the mythology surrounding Stephen Garcia begins is tough to determine, but there is very little doubt that #5 could be considered not of this planet.