ALABAMA

Alabama coach Nick Saban has brought in several speakers to speak to his team during the preseason. Some of the speakers have been former University of Tennessee star Chuck Smith (All-Pro with Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns), Gene Washington (Head of the NFL Players Association), Jeremiah Castille (former Alabama player and team chaplain) and Rogers Redding (SEC Football Officials Coordinator). “It helps a lot,” said ‘Bama defensive end Wallace Gilberry. “One that sticks out in my mind was Chuck Smith. He came in a couple of days ago and he was very passionate about things he talked about. It definitely left a mark on me.”. . .True freshman linebacker Rolando McClain may see some action early in the season. The 6-4, 255-pound McClain has been on a fast track after last Saturday’s scrimmage. among the candidates who could eventually do just that. “We constantly try to get him to play fast, play hard and not worry about making a mistake,” Saban said.

ARKANSAS

The Dick making news in a positive way in Fayetteville is freshman signee Nathan Dick, not his brother starting quarterback Casey Dick. Nathan is pushing sophomore Nathan Emert for the No. 2 job behind Casey Dick. “He’s moving up, let’s leave it at that,” Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. In the meantime, Casey Dick is making some stupid passes, like throwing a couple of interceptions that would have been returned for touchdowns in a real game. “That’s very disturbing,” Nutt said of the interceptions. “Don’t do that. You’re under duress, you’ve got to throw the ball away. It’s got to be to our guys or throw it away to grandmother, period. On one of throws, Casey thought he had thrown it out-of-bounds. That ain’t good enough. Throw it up to the third row.”

AUBURN

Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges said his passing game isn’t up to snuff yet. “The problem is we’re not making some routine plays, whether it’s receivers or quarterbacks,” Borges said. “It’s not just receivers. It’s both of them. When guys are open, we’ve got to hit them. When we have pass protection, we’re not completing as many balls as we should.”. . .Tigers’ coach Tommy Tuberville said injured senior offensive guard Leon Hart, out with an injured ankle, may lose his starting job to Mike Berry. “Leon needs to get back out there, because Berry as a starter is doing good,” Tuberville said. . .Redshirt freshman quarterback Neil Caudle, wearing a sling on his separated throwing shoulder, will likely be out for more than four weeks as orginally projected.

FLORIDA

The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel surveyed 69 Division I-A schools — the 65 teams in the six BCS conferences, Notre Dame and in-state squads Central Florida, Florida A&M and Florida International. Schools were asked for a breakdown of their scholarship players according to class. Forty-eight participated, and the data they supplied magnifies the University of Florida’s inexperience. Of the respondents, only one school (Florida International) has as few scholarship juniors and seniors as Florida’s 21. That total is nine fewer than any other SEC team, and the Gators’ 25 true freshmen tie with Tennessee for second-most, behind Connecticut’s 26. Among overall freshmen — true and redshirt — UF’s 39 are second only to North Carolina (42).
Read the rest of this entry »