"You take the mentality of your quarterback," Fisher said. "Other positions are great, but when that quarterback is tough and he's a competitor and he represents the right thing it sets the tone across the board. You can influence the other guys. And to me that's what a great player does. His effect on the other players, as people, students and as athletes is as much as I've been around. And to me that makes him a great player."

Johnson compares Manuel to Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd.

"He can hurt you not only throwing the ball, but he's athletic, can pull it down and run with it, and he gives them a lot of flexibility to do a lot of things," Johnson said.

For Manuel, this game is about some personal redemption after turning it over four times in the loss to the Gators last Saturday.

Manuel said he spent Sunday hanging out with his parents on campus and they helped cheer him up and get him focused for challenge ahead.

"You don't want to lose to your in-state rival," Manuel said. "It's tough, but we understand that we have a huge game, basically an even bigger game this week coming up versus Georgia Tech being our conference championship. We have to be ready. We can't allow that game to linger on."