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).

GEORGIA

Georgia cornerback Ramarcus Brown, a former starter, has been suspended for the first two games of this season for an unspecified violation of team rules, coach Mark Richt said Wednesday. Brown is the fifth Georgia player to receive a suspension for 2007. The other four were for alcohol-related arrests. Tight end Tripp Chandler and quarterback Blake Barnes will sit out the Sept. 1 Oklahoma State game. Offensive lineman Ian Smith was suspended for the first five games, but quit the team. Linebacker Akeem Hebron was suspended for the first two games before he was suspended from the university for the fall semester. Without Brown, the Bulldogs have Bryan Evans, Thomas Flowers, Prince Miller and Asher Allen as the only returning cornerbacks on duty for the Sept. 1 opener against Oklahoma State. Richt is pleased about the team’s punting competition between Drew Butler and Brian Mimbs. “I would give a slight edge to Butler,” Richt said.

KENTUCKY

Freshman running back Moncell Allen sustained a broken thumb in practice on Wednesday, and will undergo surgery today. Allen, a 5-7, 225-pound bowling ball, had looked good in early workouts playing both tailback and fullback. He signed with UK in 2006 but spent last season at Fork Union Military Academy. . .Punter/plackicker signee Ryan Tydlacka is pushing returning startiing punter Tim Masthay for the No. 1 spot. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks didn’t rule out the possibility that both punters will play based upon their week-to-week efficiency. “We need to have great production from the punting game,” Brooks said.

LSU

Does LSU starting quarterback Matt Flynn have a sore arm? He threw very little during Wednesday’s mornings practice and didn’t throw at all in the three segments of afternoon practice which the media was allowed to watch. observed by the media. Flynn said he was held out Wednesday merely as a “precaution” to keep his arm from getting sore. He said he wasn’t sure if he was going to practice today. Last August, he was also held out of several practices because of arm soreness from throwing too many passes.

OLE MISS

Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron announced that freshmen signees Nate Banks, Brandon Jenkins and Antonio Turner practiced with the team on Wednesday, but are still waiting final grades from intersession. He also announced that Mico McSwain is not going to make it. “There comes a point when you have to do it, you have to fish or cut bait,” Orgeron said. “We laid out everything that we possibly could, and he didn’t get it done. I hope he finds his way on some NAIA or Division II team.”. . .So is Seth Adams the starting quarterback or not? Orgeron keeps playing mind games with his QB’s Adams, Michael Herrick and Brent Schaeffer. After Wednesday’s scrimmage, Orgeron said he doesn’t have a starter. “We’ll have to play the best guy available, and maybe they become a good quarterback during the season,” he said.

MISS. STATE

One player, in particular, who drew Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom’s praise for getting better every day was sophomore cornerback Anthony Johnson. Croom lauded Johnson’s “great athleticism,” adding that he “should be an outstanding cornerback in this league” before his career is through. “I knew he would be a good cornerback,” Croom said, “but he has a chance to be special.” Johnson played in 12 games last year as a true freshman, making 12 tackles and breaking up one pass.

SOUTH CAROLINA

South Carolina had a scrimmage on Wednesday and as usual Gamecocks’ coach Steve Spurrier was brutually honest in his assessment. “It was actually a pretty lousy scrimmage for the offense,” Spurrier said. “The offense couldn’t score for about an hour and a half into it. The defense did some good things. Then at the end we put the ball at the 25 and the offense scored about every time. They came back and had a few good plays here and there, but overall it was a pretty sorry scrimmage.” The offense rotated three quarterbacks on nearly every play, with Blake Mitchell, Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher splitting time under center. Mitchell finished the night by completing 11-of-15 passes for 111 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Beecher was 8-for-10 for 79 yards with one interception and Smelley was 4-for-10 for 41 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Freshman Stephen Garcia saw action late in the scrimmage and completed 2-of-6 passes for 20 yards and one score. Spurrier said, “We have lineman that don’t know where to block. We need to find out who can play here after Saturday’s scrimmage. We’ve got to find some guys who can block a little bit. I’m tired of watching Blake and the quarterbacks get hit almost every time they throw the ball. We’re a long way off. We’d be lucky to be picked fourth in the Eastern Division. We don’t play for two and a half weeks, so hopefully we can make some improvements.”

TENNESSEE

Daniel Lincoln is pushing Britton Colquitt (also the Vols’ punter) for a shared spot on the depth chart at placekicker. “I’m not set on anything,” UT coach Phillip Fulmer said Fulmer said. “We are kind of still at square one. We went to square two, but now we’re back to square one. Britton may be doing all the kicking but it’s not a concern. (Ryan) Succop does it at South Carolina and other people have done it. Britton’s fine with it, but we just have to be smart and make sure we don’t over-kick him.”

VANDERBILT

Vandy coach Bobby Johnson thought his team didn’t practice well on Wednesday. “I don’t know if it was the combination of guys we had in at times or what,” Johnson said. . .The Commodores finally have some depth at tailback, led by co-staters Jeff Jennings and Cassen Jackson-Garrison, with Jared Hawkins, Kennard Reeves and Gaston Miller behind the starting duo. Running backs coach Kenny Carter told the Nashville Tennessean that he just worries “about playing the best players for the best situations, the best scenarios, and let them do what they can do best.”