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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Does Florida have Georgia on their minds?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With less than two weeks to go before the start of the season, things are starting to get really serious around the camps.
1. Does Florida have Georgia on their minds?: It sure seems that way. At least that is what Cameron Newton, Florida’s backup quarterback, told me. Newton, from College Park (Westlake H.S.) has a lot of friends on the Georgia team.
“Man, they (Georgia) have opened something up,” Newton said, obviously referring to last year’s en masse charge of the end zone by the Georgia team. “It’s going to be a fun game this year. I know coach (Urban) Meyer wants it bad. And our players want it bad. They are predicting that it’s going to be the game of the year.”
Only 74 days until the World’s Largest……Oops. Sorry. Old habits are hard to break.
Only 74 days until the Georgia-Florida game. Has there ever been a game in this series that has been more anticipated than this one?
Speaking of the game. It’s not official but you can mark this down. The game will be at 3:30 p.m. and it will be shown by CBS.
2. Arizona State not thinking about Georgia—yet: I talked to Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson last night for a story that I’m doing on his quarterback, Rudy Carpenter. I mentioned to Erickson, who won two national championships at Miami, that a lot of Georgia people were getting excited about the Bulldogs’ trip to Tempe on Sept. 20.
“That’s unfortunate,” Erickson said with a laugh. “It’s bad enough that they’re bringing the No. 1 team here. They are going to bring a crowd, too?”
Erickson mentioned that Arizona State is in the same boat as Georgia in this regard: Both teams have to play a big conference game before they meet on Sept. 20. Georgia goes to South Carolina the week before and Arizona State plays Stanford at home on Sept. 6. Stanford upset Southern Cal 24-23 last season.
“The guy at Stanford (Jim Harbaugh) has done a really good job,” Erickson said. “And (South Carolina coach) Steve (Spurrier) is pretty tough at home. We both have a lot of work to do before we play.”
3. Why Cody is important to Alabama: There was a note in this morning’s print edition about Terrence Cody, the massive (6-5, 380 pound) JUCO transfer at Alabama. Here is why Cody is significant to Alabama’s hopes in 2008.
In order for his 3-4 defense to be truly effective, Nick Saban needs a huge space eater at nose tackle to occupy blockers. Loganville’s Lorenzo Washington is a good, veteran player at that position but on the small side. Although it’s hard to imagine that anybody who is 6-4, 283 pounds is considered small.
When I went to practice in Tuscaloosa earlier this summer, the coaches told me that they expected Cody to make an impact. He’s a great athlete for his size. And he can stuff the run. No doubt about that. The questions are about his stamina and whether or not he can also play on passing downs.
But if Alabama can rotate Cody and Washington, and if freshman linebacker Jerrell Harris is as good as he appears to be, the Crimson Tide defense will get better in a hurry.
Let’s put it this way. Clemson’s big question mark is the offensive line. Cody will give them something equally big to think about.
4. When in doubt, simplify the offense: In today’s modern offenses, quarterbacks have a lot to think about BEFORE they run a play. Some guys, like Peyton Manning, process this information like a computer. Other guys have a tough time keeping track of all that information AND executing the play. So the head coach steps in and simplifies the offense.
This is definitely happening at Alabama and South Carolina this summer.
Anybody who has watched Alabama for any length of time knows that John Parker Wilson is a rhythm passer. When he gets into rhythm he’ll make a bunch of good throws in a row. Get him off rhythm and the throws tend to sail and he tends to make mistakes.
New OC Jim McElwain has come up with a more quarterback friendly approach that gives Wilson fewer pre-snap reads and makes the post-snap reads more simple.
“I like the way John Parker has responded to this,” Saban told me. “We want him to feel more comfortable and this is a good way to do it.”
Spurrier is doing the same with Tommy Beecher. Spurrier’s offense demands a lot of a quarterback. Spurrier demands a lot of his quarterbacks as well. When I met with him recently Spurrier conceded that he was probably asking Beecher to do too much.
“Tommy can make all the throws but we probably need to cut things down a little bit,” Spurrier said.
5. UCLA names Craft starting QB: Tennessee now knows that the much-traveled Kevin Craft will be the UCLA’s starting quarterback when the Vols go West to play on Sept. 1.
Craft played in nine games (starting five) as a redshirt freshman at San Diego State in 2006. He stayed despite the fact that his father, Tom, was fired as the Aztecs’ head coach after the 2005 season. When Tom Craft landed the job as offensive coordinator at Mt. San Antonio Junior College in Walnut, Calif., the son transferred. Last season Kevin Craft threw for 4,231 yards and 44 touchdowns last season. His team won the Southern California Junior College Championship. By the spring semester he was enrolled at UCLA and now, due to injuries to the first two quarterbacks, he’ll take the first snap against Tennessee at the Rose Bowl.
Good for him. Now it’s time to play big boy football. Tennessee’s defensive front may not be the best in the SEC, but I’m pretty sure Kevin never saw anybody like Demonte Bolden (6-6, 290) in his California junior college league.
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