South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier spent more than a decade lobbing verbal grenades at Phillip Fulmer.  It took him just one day to start battling with Fulmer’s replacement.

We told you earlier today that Kiffin had lured away South Carolina’s recruiting coordinator and quarterbacks coach David Reaves… who happens to be Kiffin’s brother-in-law.

Reaves had been recruiting running back prospect Jarvis Giles who decommited from Tennessee and started leaning toward South Carolina.

Kiffin’s first act as UT’s coach was to get up bright and early on Sunday morning and leave a message for Giles.  Spurrier wondered today if that call constituted an NCAA violation.

The NCAA requires coaches to pass a certification test before they can contact recruits.

“You’re supposed to have to pass the NCAA test and be on board, I think,” Spurrier said.  “But maybe he was just calling him as an interested observer.”

At his introductory press conference, Kiffin said that he had taken the test last week in order to get a quick jump on recruiting.

In a related story, Reaves also left a message for Giles on Sunday, the same day he cleared out his desk in Columbia and headed to Knoxville.  According to one report, he made the call to Giles on a Gamecock-issued cell phone.

So the battle is already under way between Kiffin and Spurrier, but that might not be the only firefight the new coach launched today.

At his press conference, when talking about Tennessee’s traditions, he joked that it will be fun to sing “Rocky Top” late into the night after Tennessee beats Florida next season.  After laughs throughout the room, he then said that comment was athletic director Mike Hamilton’s idea.

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