ALABAMA

Control freak ‘Bama football messiah Nick Saban is mad at the media. A couple of Alabama players revealed on Monday, without being asked, information on the depth chart spots of three players. That sent Nicky into a tizzy on Tuesday. “If they make a comment about the depth chart, you’re just putting them in harm’s way,” Saban said. “We don’t have a depth chart and our players are not supposed to evaluate other players. You guys are going around the back door and you’re putting them on the spot and I don’t think that’s fair to them. We don’t have a depth chart now. I don’t know why (you) guys can’t get that out of your minds. The depth chart means nothing until the first game. Why does something have to be final before it’s final? It’s not final until we play the game and then it’s final for that game. Then it may change after that. You guys are so result-oriented. You have to know what it is right now and the final results. We’re still training for the race and trying to get everybody to improve.

Alabama’s opener against Western Carolina will be a pay-per-view affair after Lincoln Financial decided to televise the suspenseful Western Kentucky at Florida affair on Sept. 1.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas junior Darren McFadden is featured on this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated. McFadden is one of five regional covers for the publication’s college football preview issue on newsstands this week. Inside the mag is an in-depth feature on the 2006 Heisman Trophy runner-up by Sports Illustrated writer Phil Taylor. McFadden becomes the first Razorback football player to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated since Ben Cowins and Ron Calcagni joined former Arkansas coach Lou Holtz on the cover of the magazine on Sept. 11, 1978. McFadden becomes only the second individual football player to grace the cover by himself in school history. Harry Jones was Arkansas’ first cover boy on Nov. 8, 1965. . .No doubt losing senior wide receiver Marcus Monk with torn knee cartilage for four to six weeks is a blow for the Hogs. But look for sophomore London Crawford and junior Reggie Fish to step up. Crawford, at 6-2 and 200, had two TDs catches last season out of season-total of five receptions, and had a couple of 40-yard plus receptions. He might be the big play maker to fill in for Monk. Fish is the 5-7, 156-pound motor school best remembered for fumbling the punt in the SEC championshhip game against Florida that turned momentum the Gators’ way. He’s had a big preseason camp so far.

AUBURN

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville likes to run physical preseason practices, and he’s paying the price. So far, he’s lost starting center Jason Bosley (hurt left knee), backup quarterback Neil Caudle (Grade II shoulder separation, out for a month), senior defensive tackle Tez Doolittle (a career-ending torn Achilles), junior tailback Tristan Davis (broken toe, out six to eight weeks), junior linebacker Steve Gandy (recurring concussions, quit football), sophomore defensive tackle Jermarcus Ricks (hamstring), redshirt freshman DT Zach Clayton (neck injury) and freshman DT Kyle Coulahan (broken finger). Bosley came back to practice on Tuesday, which was a good thing. The Tigers don’t have an experienced backup center. The second teamer is true freshman Ryan Pugh of Hoover (Ala.) High. . .The Tigers were picked ninth in the nation by Playboy Magazine, and Tuberville was playfully asked whether his wife Suzanne would let him take a peek at the mag. “I don’t think she’ll give me a subscription to it, but maybe she’ll buy me this copy,” he said. “We won’t look at the pictures.”. . . We’ll read it.”

FLORIDA

Florida’s `X’ factor on offense, catquick receiver/running back Percy Harvin, is being limited in practice due to tendinitis of his Achilles. Last season, Harvin injured his ankle during last year’s Tennessee game and was ineffective in following weeks against Kentucky and LSU. Harvin was also knocked out of the Florida State game Nov. 25 with a neck injury. . .It will be interesting to see if quarterback Tim Tebow plays as physically reckless at quarterback this year as a starter as he did last year as a backup. The Gators don’t have a clear cut No. 2 QB. Cameron Newton, the backup at the end of spring practice, missed the first six days of preseason camp because of back problems and academic woes. Now, Newton, freshman John Brantley and junior college transfer Bryan Waggener are battling it to back up Tebow. So far, nobody has been dynamic. . .Wide receiver Andre Caldwell is talking up his fellow wide receivers. “We got too much speed out there,” Caldwell said. “We got too many playmakers. This is the most electrifying team in the country. I think we can be right back at the big show just like last year competing for another national championship.”

GEORGIA

Injuries are nailing the Bulldogs also. Georgia is down to eight healthy offensive linemen, forcing defensive end Kiante Tripp to be moved to offensive tackle. Tripp, a 6-6, 270-pound redshirt freshman, was ranked as the nation’s ninth best offensive tackle in 2006 by Rivals.com coming out of Atlanta’s Westlake High School. Georgia coach Mark Richt said that Tripp looks like a keeper at OT. “He really looks good out there,” Richt said. “He absolutely has a ton to learn but his body type and his athleticism is tailor-made for the position.”. . .There has been a linebacker shuffle with middle linebacker Brandon Miller going back to his old spot at strongside linebacker. Dannell Ellerbe has moved to the middle. Miller said playing strongside is his thing. “I pretty much know all the coverages,” he said. . .Senior Kregg Lumpkin started the final six games last season at running back for the Bulldogs, but it appears senior Thomas Brown might wn the starting job. Brown, returning from an ACL injury, has impressed running backs coach Tony Ball. “Thomas understands defensive schemes and he understands protection,” Ball said.

KENTUCKY

The Wildcats have lost starting defensive end Nii Adjei Oninku for the season after tearing the ACL and the MCL in his right knee. Oninku, a junior has played in 23 games with 10 starts and has 36 career tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss. Kentucky already previously lost redshirt freshman wide receiver Terrence Jones (torn ACL) and true freshman Charles Mustafaa (knee cartilage). Middle linebacker Braxton Kelley is out for 10 days to two weeks with a high ankle sprain. He started 10 games last season and finished second on the team in tackles with 82. . .UK wide receiver Keenan Burton likes to watch film on other wide receivers in the SEC to see what works against defenses and what doesn’t. “It helps me because the next time I play them, I’ll know what I have to do, what the tendencies and coverages are,” Burton said. . .UK coach Rich Brooks said he’s a long way from establishing a solid depth chart for his team’s opener Sept. 1 against Eastern Kentucky. There are still too many position battles, such as at strongside linebacker between Sam Maxwell and Johnny Williams, or left offensive guard between returning starter Christian Johnson and junior college transfer Jess Beets.

LSU

They are definitely fired up in Baton Rouge about the Tigers, ranked No. 2 nationally in preseason and the choice to win the SEC. The LSU ticket office reported record season-ticket sales for a third consecutive year, this time 68,230 season tickets sold. That compares with 67,700 season tickets sold in 2006 and 66,100 in 2005. “I think it’s great, to be honest with you,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “Our team feels obligated to put a great team out there for them.” Last year, LSU attracted a school-record 92,212 attendance average for eight home games. . .Two of the Tigers’ key linemen on both sides of the ball, offensive guard Will Arnold and defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, are fighting through some health issues. Arnold is working to regain full strength and speed after having ankle surgery in the offseason. He played 12 snaps in LSU’s first scrimmage. Dorsey has missed some practice and scrimmage time with a strained hamstring, but reportrs are he’s still killing ball carriers and blockers. . .LSU had a 100-play controlled thud scrimmage on Tuesday, and Miles overall wasn’t happy. He did like quarterback Matt Flynn’s comsistent hookups with receiver Early Doucet. “Flynn was sharp with his checks,” Miles said.

OLE MISS

The Rebels must be running tough practices since even the coaches are getting hurt. Offensive line coach Art Kehoe has an elbow injury and linebackers coach Dave Corrao dislocated his shoulder. Hey, ya gotta coach hurt. . .Former Briarcrest star Greg Hardy maybe the only 255-pound defensive end that also lines up as a wide receiver on offense. Ole Miss coach Ed Oregeron insists it’s not about trickery. He actually thinks Hardy can play wide receiver in certain situations. . .The Rebels’ home games against Missouri (Sept. 8) and Florida (Sept. 22) have been set for 5 p.m. kickoff, but could change due to TV. . .It’s pretty interesting a player like Brent Schaeffer can dictate whether he wants to move back and forth between positions. First, he volunteers to wide receiver from quarterback, doesn’t like it, then tells the coaches he wants to move back to quarterback. So who’s running the show in Oxford?

MISS. STATE

State coach Sylvester Croom certainly isn’t afraid to put his new signees right into the fire. Junior college transfer Co-Eric Riley moved to second on the depth chart after the first scrimmage, but he is now nursing a pulled quad muscle. Stud freshman signee Robert Elliott should see some action at running back, despite a couple of fumbles in that scrimmage. Croom loves the speed of all of his defensive signees, freshmen and juco. He already has several listed on the second team, such as end Jimmie Holmes and linebacker Devon Edwards. As expected, junior college transfer Jesse Bowman had shot to the starting spot at defensive tackle. Bowman is 6-1, 305-pound load who was a first-team juco all-American last year at Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) Community College. . .Croom didn’t like his team’s Tuesday practice. We have too many penalties being made by the wide receivers,” Croom said. “Some of the guys who are making the mistakes shouldn’t be. They’ve been here the longest.”

SOUTH CAROLINA

They are dropping like flies in Columbia. Freshman wide receiver Joseph Hills is out for two to three weeks with a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. “My goal is not to be redshirted,” Hills said. ..Also, backup backup tailback Bobby Wallace will miss up to six weeks with a broken collarbone. Carolina coach Steve Spurrier thinks that Wallace will return back by game three against Sept. 15 home date with S.C. State. Wallace has 46 career carries for 242 yards and a touchdown. He’s the Gamecocks’ third-string tailback behind Cory Boyd and Mike Davis. . .The Columbia (S.C.) State newspaper reported Rob DeBoer has agreed to step down as South Carolina’s sideline reporter while embroiled in a federal lawsuit that alleges the former Gamecocks’ two-sport star marketed an online music retailer that a judge called a “classic pyramid scheme.” DeBoer, who lettered in football and baseball at USC from 1990-94, last week agreed to turn over his financial records and freeze his bank accounts in an injunction filed in Los Angeles. DeBoer was sued by the Federal Trade Commission in June for allegedly making misleading statements about the income investors made with BurnLounge, which allowed music aficionados to open digital stores and sell music.

TENNESSEE

The Vols have been lucky at dodging major injuries, except for senior tight end/fullback David Holbert, who tore the ACL in his right knee last Saturday. Holbert was already being considered for a redshirt year before the injury.

Even without the suspened LaMarcus Coker, the Vols’ running game has looked good in preseason, with Arian Foster, Darryl Vereen, Lennon Creer carrying the load. “Based on where we were in the spring and where we are now, I think we’re running the football better,” Vols’ offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said.

Backup linebacker Ellix Wilson of Memphis Melrose was off crutches on Tuesday as he walked around UT’s practice with a significant limp. The junior suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee last week. He is expected to miss at least another week.

The Vols have been a lousy kickoff return team this last couple of years. UT coach Phillip Fulmer is auditioning anyone he thinks who can bust one all the way. On Tuesday, he worked Vereen, freshman cornerback Eric Berry, Vereen, freshmen receivers Brent Vinson and Denarius Moore and starting tailback Arian Foster as kickoff returners.

VANDERBILT

Vandy is looking for receiving help to take some of the pressure off primetime pass catcher Earl Bennett. Stepping up in the preseason has been juniors George Smith and Sean Walker. Last year, they combined for 37 catches for 517 yards and five TDs. “People are going to try to take Earl away from us,” Commodores Coach Bobby Johnson said. “Those guys have got to step up.” Two years, Smith was huge, with 23 catches for 287 yards and two TDs, including a 47-yard scoring grab at Tennessee.

Vandy is looking for defensive ends to help starter and former White Station star Curtis Gatewood. Johnson moved tight end Reilly Lauer and offensive tackle Tim Fugger to DE. “We just need some help at that position, and they’re both very athletic, they can move and run.” Johnson said. We think we can get one or two players at that position.” Fugger is 6-4, 225, and Laueris is 6-6, 255. Laueris did start two years at defensive end at St. Ignatius in Ohio, finishing with 71 tackles, five sacks and 13 hurries as a senior.