Gators’ Harvin may miss SEC title game

Florida coach Urban Meyer still isn’t sure if star receiver-running back Percy Harvin will play in Saturday’s SEC championship.

He does know, though, that Harvin won’t be practicing as the Gators prepare for Alabama. Meyer said he will hold out Harvin, who sprained his right ankle in Florida’s 45-15 defeat of Florida State Saturday, for the team’s initial practices this week.

“He’s questionable for this game,” Meyer said on a teleconference with reporters Sunday. “But he’s here today and moving around a little bit, so we’ll see what happens.”

The status of Harvin, who has averaged 11.8 yards per touch this season, was among the first bits of news in advance of perhaps the most anticipated SEC championship game in the event’s 17-year history.

Harvin, who has scored 16 touchdowns this season, has helped make the Gators one of the most dangerous teams in the country. Florida has scored more points than all but two teams in Division I-A, averaging 46.3 points per game. Harvin was the SEC championship game MVP in 2006 in which he totaled 167 yards of total offense and scored two touchdowns in Florida’s win over Arkansas.

If Harvin can’t play, Meyer said that he would be replaced by returner Brandon James and running back Jeff Demps, among others.

“We’ve thought about this and had to play through it a couple of times before,” Meyer said. “So we have a plan. I just hope he’s ready.”

Meanwhile, Alabama coach Nick Saban said that his team does not have any “significant injuries.”

Saban downplayed the effect that Harvin’s loss would have, citing Demps, running back Chris Rainey and others as threats.

“Certainly we respect Percy Harvin as a great player, but they have other great players, too,” Saban said.

Saban also didn’t give much credence to the notion that the hype surrounding the game — a matchup of the teams ranked No. 1 (Alabama) and No. 2 (Florida) in the Associated Press poll or the buzz surrounding Florida’s potent offense — will serve as motivation for the Crimson Tide.

“I think we have enough motivation in terms of the opportunity that we have, and what’s out there for our team,” he said. “That’s kind of how we always look at it.”