College Weekly Report
by Brent Beaird
March 20, 2011
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GEORGIA: Georgia football signee Sterling Bailey underwent surgery last week on his right shoulder following the completion of his basketball season, but hopes to be able to practice with the Bulldogs in the preseason, his high school coach said. (Athens-banner herald)
FLORIDA: Friday, Coach Will Muschamp had some good news for Gators fans about his thin offensive line. Junior Matt Patchan has been cleared to lift weights in his rehabilitation from a wrist injury, though he will almost certainly not be cleared for contact this spring. And senior James Wilson, who is recovering from a knee injury and was also listed as a limited player on the spring depth chart, has been taking monitored reps this week in practice.
There has been speculation that the coaching staff gave up on Xavier Nixon putting on enough weight to play offensive line and were considering moving him to a blocking tight end position, but Muschamp dismissed those rumors. Muschamp said Chris Rainey and Trey Burton have stood out in the backfield so far, according to the offensive staff.
Muschamp said the three quarterbacks - John Brantley, Tyler Murphy and true freshman Jeff Driskel - will share reps during practice, and work with all the different offensive groups. … Wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr., who lost his scholarship after his DUI arrest last summer, is back on scholarship, Muschamp said. … Senior cornerback Janoris Jenkins will not participate in any contact this spring after undergoing reconstructive shoulder surgery after the season. (gainesvillesun.com)
SPRING GOALS: IMPLEMENT A NEW OFFENSE: The Gators are moving away from Urban Meyer's spread offense and into a pro-style offense led by new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. He has 15 days to see how many players fit into what he wants to do - and whether they have the ability to do it.
REBUILD THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Florida lost OLs Mike Pouncey, Maurice Hurt, Carl Johnson and Marcus Gilbert and will return just two - Jon Halapio, top right, and Nixon, who saw significant playing time
GROOM A BACKUP QUARTERBACK: Returning starter Brantley is battling for his job, but Weis noted he has one advantage over the others: experience. Florida needs Driskel, Tyler Murphy and Jacoby Brissett to learn the offense as quickly as Brantley and be able to run it effectively. Because as it stands, Brantley is the only QB who can say he has been in the fire in the SEC. Assuming he's the starter, Florida needs someone in a similar role to the one Tim Tebow played behind Chris Leak in 2006. With Florida's schedule, which includes Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Florida State, the Gators want more than one QB who can successfully run the offense.
ADJUST TO A NEW DEFENSE COORDINATOR: Dan Quinn is the Gators' second defensive coordinator in as many years. And if you think that change doesn't take time to adjust to, go back and look at some film from last season after the Gators lost Charlie Strong.
CREATE SOME CHEMISTRY: The Gators struggled with chemistry issues last season and friction between veterans and underachieving young players looking for stardom too soon. In navigating their way through new coaches and schemes, the players also need to find the bond that championship-caliber teams possess.
ARKANSAS: The Razorbacks' secondary has more position changes than a baseball scorecard this spring. Among them, Eric Bennett has moved from cornerback to free safety and De'Anthony Curtis from wide receiver to cornerback. In addition, Jerry Mitchell is taking first team snaps at the boundary corner while Darius Winston and Isaac Madison battle for the starting spot on the field side. (slophouse.com)
Comparing SEC Receiving Corps (espn.com)
|
Team |
Receivers |
Rec. |
Yds. |
TDs |
Rec/G |
Yds/G |
|
Arkansas |
Adams, Childs, Hamilton, Wright |
375 |
6,378 |
50 |
11.3 |
192.4 |
|
South Carolina |
Jeffery, Lattimore, Moore, Sanders |
205 |
3,172 |
21 |
9.8 |
147.5 |
|
Alabama |
Hanks, Maze, Richardson, Smelley |
196 |
2,628 |
17 |
5.8 |
75.2 |
|
Georgia |
Brown, Charles, King, White |
134 |
2,302 |
16 |
4.6 |
78.3 |
|
Florida |
Burton, Hines, Rainey, Thompson |
184 |
2259 |
15 |
7.1 |
77.0 |
|
Vanderbilt |
Barden, Cole, Krause, Matthews |
191 |
2,114 |
14 |
8.5 |
92.9 |
|
Mississippi State |
Bumphis, Clark, Heavens, Smith |
160 |
2,020 |
15 |
6.8 |
82.8 |
|
Ole Miss |
Bolden, Harris, Logan, Neat |
131 |
1,534 |
10 |
6.6 |
77.5 |
|
LSU |
Peterson, Randle, Shepard, Ware |
113 |
1,386 |
8 |
5.1 |
61.1 |
|
Auburn |
Blake, Carr, Lutzenkirchen, McCalebb |
80 |
1,196 |
19 |
4.9 |
44.9 |
|
Kentucky |
Aumiller, King, Russell, Sanders |
94 |
1,061 |
8 |
5.9 |
61.7 |
|
Tennessee |
Hunter, Poole, D. Rogers, Z. Rogers |
68 |
987 |
11 |
3.4 |
58.7 |
LSU: LSU coach Les Miles has heaped plenty of praise on senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson for coming into spring practice in the best shape of his college career. One could easily assume it's because of the increased competition from not only fellow senior Jarrett Lee but junior college transfer Zach Mettenberger. (theadvocate.com)
LSU does not plan to report its business arrangement with a reputed street agent from Houston under NCAA scrutiny to the NCAA and may continue to employ him in the future.
"There is no information to report because LSU contracted and paid for services it received," LSU associate athletic director Herb Vincent said Tuesday. "It is permissible to use scouting services." Complete Scouting Services, which Vincent said received $6,000 from LSU last December for film and information on junior college players in Kansas and California, is run by Will Lyles, whom the NCAA is investigating for providing more than film and statistics on recruits. (shreveporttimes.com)
OLE MISS: Ole Miss reserve quarterback Evan Ingram was arrested Monday night in Louisiana and charged with two misdemeanors: theft of goods under $500 and resisting arrest by flight.Ole Miss is "aware of the situation and gathering details from the incident," team spokesman Kyle Campbell wrote in an e-mail to The Clarion-Ledger.
A Jefferson Parish, La., sheriff's deputy working security at a department store at 3301 Veterans Boulevard in Metairie, La., saw Ingram and another man, Wayne Ingram, enter a fitting room area with clothing, according to sheriff's department records. When the officer confronted Wayne Ingram, Evan Ingram fled but was apprehended by security officers, the arrest record said. (clarion-ledger.com)
ACC FOOTBALL
FLORIDA STATE: Coach Jimbo Fisher had a presser last Thursday. Some of the more interesting developments were: The center position is one of the biggest questions marks facing the Noles following the graduation of Ryan McMahon. David Spurlock is injured and will participate in the early practices, but will be limited as contact increases. Bryan Stork has been working with quarterback EJ Manuel in Spurlock's absence, but Fisher will have to teach two or three players the position, including true freshmen Sterling Lovelady and Trey Pettis. "We'll train a lot of guys," Fisher said.
Over the past two and a half months, not one player has missed his weight workout. Injured players who will be missing when practices start on Monday: Defensive tackle Jacobbi McDaniel, offensive tackles Andrew Datko and Zebrie Sanders, cornerback Xavier Rhodes, linebacker Holmes Onwukaife, linebacker Jeff Luc, offensive lineman Blake Snider, safety Nick Moody, offensive lineman Rhonne Sanderson, and punter Shawn Powell (he has an injured disc in his back, which also bothered him last year, but Fisher said he should be close to ready by the end of the spring).
Running back Jermaine Thomas is still suspended, but it's unclear how long that will last, according to Fisher. Last month, Thomas was arrested twice in one week for driving with a suspended license. (espn.com)
FSU coach Jimbo Fisher can't seem to say enough good things about defensive end Cornellius "Tank" Carradine and offensive guard Jacob Fahrenkrug. Tank is a fitting nickname for Carradine, who, at 258 pounds is physical, strong, can run, and is a workaholic, according to Fisher. Carradine was also recruited by the likes of Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. Fisher also raved about Fahrenkrug's focus and ability to move. (espn.com)
CLEMSON: A few quick highlights from the Clemson Tigers' scrimmage report:
OFFENSE : The quarterbacks combined to throw for 237 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, but the offense was held to just 91 rushing yards. Tajh Boyd had 104 yards on seven completions. Freshman Tony McNeal threw for 110 yards on five completions, including a 60-yard pass to Joe Craig. McNeal threw touchdowns to Craig and Marquan Jones in an array of passing situations, and also added a 15-yard scramble. Junior Dwayne Allen caught two passes, both for touchdowns. The running backs combined for 106 yards on 24 carries. D.J. Howard led with six carries for 60 yards.
DEFENSE: Corico Hawkins and Quandon Christian led the way with five tackles, while Corey Crawford, Andre Branch, and Joe Gore added four apiece. (espn.com)
MIAMI: According to NBC Miami.com, and citing two sources close to the University of Miami football team, six players have been suspended for the 2011 opener against Maryland. Seantrel Henderson was one of the half-dozen players identified by the TV station, as were running back Storm Johnson, linebacker Kelvin Cain, defensive back Keion Payne, defensive lineman Dyron Dye and defensive back Devont'a Davis.
The original report hinted that academics may have been the basis for the suspension(s); the NBC affiliate's report states that the suspensions are for unspecified violations of team rules.
Henderson, Payne and Johnson were listed as backups on the first spring practice depth chart of the Al Golden era. Cain, Dye and Davis weren't listed on the two-deep.
NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina has opened spring football practice still waiting for a resolution to the NCAA investigation that cost the Tar Heels seven players for the entire 2010 season. On the field, there's work to be done to replace a veteran group that saw an NCAA-high 12 players participate in the NFL combine. Fifth-year coach Butch Davis, 8-5 in each of the past three seasons, has a talented group of younger players who were thrust into new roles during the investigation-racked 2010 season, which despite the issues, ended with UNC's first bowl win since 2001. (newsandobserver.com)
SEC HOOPS
FLORIDA: With the Gators in need of clutch plays Saturday, Erving Walker delivered on both ends of court as second-seeded UF toppled seventh seed UCLA 73-65 at the St. Pete Times Forum. Walker scored a game-high 21 points, seven over the last 94 seconds to help the Gators to the Sweet 16, where they will play the BYU-Gonzaga winner next week in New Orleans. The win was Florida's third straight NCAA win over UCLA, college basketball's most storied program. The Gators bounced the Bruins twice in the Final Four in 2006 and '07 prior to this weekend's third-round conquest.
UF (28-7) got 12 points from Kenny Boynton and 10 from Vernon Macklin. Alex Tyus tallied eight points and grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds, two short of his career high.
Walker finished 5-for-8 from the field, 3-for-5 from 3-point range and converted eight of 10 free throws. Thirteen of his points came in the second half, nine during the last four minutes. (gatorbait.net)
KENTUCKY: The Cats erased an eight-point halftime deficit and four-point obstacle with 7:35 left to score a 71-63 victory over nemesis West Virginia at the St. Pete Times Forum and move into the Sweet 16. It was only the second win in 10 career meetings for Coach John Calipari over close friend Huggins.
Brandon Knight's offense (30 points), Josh Harrellson's moxie and DeAndre Liggins' defense on Cat-killer Joe Mazzulla sparked an 11-0 run to begin the second half and change the course of the game.
UK will face the winner of Sunday's Ohio State and George Mason game next Friday, Mar. 25 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The first half looked much like last year's NCAA Tournament meeting, with Mazzulla dissecting the Cats' defense and UK unraveling as the Mountaineers became more physical and made uncharacteristic jumpers. Knight got UK off to a good start and Darius Miller had an open three that could have pushed the lead to 10, but the miss sparked a 22-7 run for the Mountaineers to end the half. Terrence Jones looked like a young kid who didn't understand the moment in the first half, taking just one shot and basically floating around the court without any real purpose or focus. Whatever happened at halftime the freshman forward came to life after the break and helped will the Cats to victory, ultimately finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. It was Jones' 12th double- double of the season and showed how vital he is to Kentucky's success. Kentucky won the game by virtue of its defense in the second half, which stifled the Mountaineers and turned the game in the Cats' favor. West Virginia went scoreless for the first 6:13 of the second half and then had another stretch of 3:16 without points after taking a 55-51 lead with 7:13 to go in the game. UK took advantage, allowing just three points from the 7:13 mark until 31.7 seconds remained, turning that 55-51 deficit into a 65-58 lead over that time. (catspause.com)
TENNESSEE: A season that started with so much promise ended with resounding thud this afternoon inside Time Warner Cable Arena. Tennessee (19-15) fell to Michigan (21-13) in ugly fashion, losing 75-45 in the worst beating for the Vols in the Bruce Pearl era. For a program that has endured one set of bizarre off-the-court distractions after another this season, the rock-bottom ending, while more than a little disappointing, almost seemed fitting. In hindsight, the game was almost eerie in the manner in which it mirrored and encapsulated all the problems that have plagued the Vols this season. The most damaging of which was a consistent inability to play two solid halves of basketball. Tennessee led for the majority of the first half and trailed just 33-29 at halftime after Michigan's Darius Morris beat the buzzer with a circus shot lay-up.
To say that it was all downhill after that would be a gross understatement of the second-half beating that took place.
Michigan outscored the Vols 42-16 in the final 20 minutes, a display that left Tennessee players and their head coach both mystified and disappointed. Freshman Tobias Harris. There were very few Vols who brought their 'A' game to Charlotte, but Harris was one of them.
He scored 19 points in the first half on perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the floor and 7-of-7 at the free throw line. Unfortunately Michigan apparently noticed that outside of Harris, the Vols had no offensive weapons that were clicking, and made some adjustments. As a team Tennessee shot 26.1% in that last half of basketball and a suspect 34.9% for the game. Michigan carried the day on the glass by a 36-26 margin and doubled Tennessee up on the offensive glass 12-6. Michigan pulled off a trick that had never been accomplished in the history of the NCAA tournament against the Vols today.
The Wolverines became the first team ever to win a tournament game without making a single free throw. Michigan was 0-for-1 from the line on the day. Tennessee was 12-of-16 at the free throw stripe. (volquest.com)
GEORGIA: Almost. It seems one can say that a lot about Georgia's basketball season, which came to an end Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with 68-65 loss to Washington.
From Florida (twice), Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Xavier and Notre Dame, the list of games that the Bulldogs could have won is almost as impressive as their tournament resume - a resume that earned Georgia its first NCAA tournament appearance in four year.
The Bulldogs entered their East Regional game against Washington as a 10 seed in the East bracket and heavy underdogs to most of the national pundits but when halftime rolled around, Georgia found itself tied at 28 after leading at one point, 23-16. Washington came in averaging almost 84 points per game, but were predominantly forced into a half-court game by the Bulldogs, who outshot the Huskies 46 to 43.3 percent and dominated on the boards, winning that battle 36-29.
But there was one huge problem. Georgia committed 15 turnovers to just five for Washington, which led by as many as 10 points five times, the last with 2:03 to go in the game. Trey Thompkins led the Bulldogs with 26 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Gerald Robinson and Travis Leslie with 12 each. Senior Jeremy Price tossed in 11 in his final game. (ugasports.com)
VANDERBILT: Vanderbilt's postseason nightmares from seasons past and its nightmares from this season collided into yet another bad dream on Thursday.
As has happened in losses all season, the Commodores blew a big lead, couldn't get stops at critical times, couldn't stop an athletic point guard from making huge plays, missed important foul shots, didn't get good play from their bench, and had questionable offensive execution at the very end, as the Commodores dropped a 69-66 decision to Richmond in their first game of the NCAA Tournament.
It's the third-straight tournament appearance in which VU has lost in its first game, all to double-digit seeds. The Commodores out-rebounded Richmond 36-27, out-shot them 50 percent to 46.4, and committed only seven turnovers.
But the Spiders, who felt their team had been under-seeded coming into the NCAA Tournament, played like a team determined to prove the selection committee wrong.
They proved their case pretty well; Richmond turned it over just three times, and hit 12-of-24 3-point shots against VU's mix of man and zone defenses.
Vandy also hit just 14-of-23 (60.4 percent) from the foul line, and its bench was out-scored 23-4.
John Jenkins scored 21, which tied Festus Ezeli for a team high. The Spiders simply couldn't stop Ezeli in the post, as it took him just 10 shots to get those points. (vandysports.com)
ACC HOOPS
FLORIDA STATE: Tenth-seeded Florida State came back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to win its first NCAA Tournament game of the nine-year Leonard Hamilton era with a 57-50 triumph over No. 7 Texas A&M in the round of 64 Friday night at the United Center. It was the Seminoles' first win in the NCAA Tournament since 1998, ending the longest drought among ACC clubs.
FSU (22-10), which was led by 15 points from its lone senior Derwin Kitchen, will face No. 2 Notre Dame (26-6) on Sunday in Chicago (the game time has yet to be determined). The Irish beat No. 15 Akron 69-56 in the previous game. Bernard James finished with 10 points, second best on the team, eight of which came in the second half. Not only that, but he affected shots on the defensive side of the ball as well, finishing with three blocked shots - a number that no doubt felt larger during the game.
FSU freshmen Okaro White (5-of-5 from free throw line) and Ian Miller (seven points and three assists in a season-high 27 minutes) both were significant contributors in their first NCAA Tournament game. (warchant.com)
BRENT BEAIRD IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR MYCLAYSUN IN ORANGE PARK, FLA. HE ALSO WRITES FOR RIVALS.COM, SAMSPORTSLINE.COM AND GATOR BAIT MAGAZINE. HE CAN BE HEARD ON SPORTS RADIO 1010 XL.
E-MAIL BRENT AT brentbeaird@aol.com
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