Around the SEC

THE BIG STORY
Tennessee sustained its first huge loss of the preseason when senior tight end Brad Cottam of Germantown underwent surgery on Tuesday night for a left wrist injury. He will be out two to three months until late October or early November. Cottam injured his left wrist in a scrimmage Tuesday, apparently on a play in which he was hit in the end zone and a potential touchdown pass was broken up.
Cottam had 14 receptions as a junior. Younger brother Jeff Cottam now moves up on the depth chart to join Chris Brown when the Vols use a two-tight end set. Redshirt freshman Luke Stocker is the third tight end. Cottam’s surgery was performed at UT Medical Center by Dr. Robert Ivy of the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic. UT expects Cottam to be sidelined until late October or early November.

Now to the training camps:

ALABAMA

Alabama coach Nick Saban said he will internally handle any discipline meted to cornerback Simeon Castille, arrested over the weekend in Tuscaloosa for disorderly conduct. “Simeon will have some things that he needs to do,” Saban said. “But I’m going to say this about Simeon Castille: of all the players on our team, since I’ve been here - I don’t know what he did before I got here. They all had a clean slate when I came. He’s been one of the finest citizens, one of the best leaders; has done more to affect other people in a positive way. He truly cares about being good and doing things right. And (it was) very unfortunate that he was involved in this incident for him and his family. He’s certainly received a tremendous amount of punishment and embarrassment relative to what he did. And in no way do we not think that the police were not doing their job. We think the police do the right thing. We want to have a cooperative attitude with the police in terms of what they do.” Jonathan Lowe, a 5-6 kick returner and a transfer from Mississippi State, has joined the Crimson Tide as a walkon. He’s the son of former Alabama linebacker Eddie Lowe.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt decided on his kickers Tuesday. “Alex Tejada is going to kick (field goals) for us and Jeremy Davis is going to punt,” said Nutt, who also said the decision of who will be starting at quarterback will be made soon. . . Several players, including Jonathan Luigs and Mark Bonner, sat out of Tuesday’s practice after getting sick over the past couple of days. In Luigs’ absence, Robert Felton and Mike Moffitt filled in at the center position. . .Alex Mortensen, a letterman from the 2005 squad, returned to the team Tuesday as a member of the scout team. “(Alex) did a great job as scout team quarterback and we appreciate his efforts,” Nutt said. . .Peyton Hillis and Nate Garner returned to practice and worked out at full speed. Hillis, who missed five practices and a scrimmage with a hamstring injury, said he felt great. “My legs are 100 percent,” he declared. . .Tight end Ben Cleveland will head to a specialist to examine a nagging neck injury that has kept him out of action since Aug. 9.

AUBURN

Auburn’s running game is coming together. Tigers’ coach Tommy Tuberville liked what he saw in practice on Tuesday. “I thought it was a good day for the offense and running the football. Our running game is coming around. We’re doing a lot of contact with very physical practices. Defensively we’re looking a lot more crisp. We’ve got a lot of speed on defense.”. . .The Tigers lost Mobile Williamson High lineman Nick Fairley as he didn’t meet eligibility requirements to enroll at Auburn. He’s headed to Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Miss. . .Running back Tristan Davis will have a pin removed from his broken toe in about a week and he can start rehabbing. Davis wants to be back by mid-September.

FLORIDA

The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun reports that Florida could be starting a true freshman and a true sophomore at defensive back when the season kicks off Sept. 1. Sophomore Markihe Anderson and freshman Joe Haden appears to be the starting quarterbacks. . .Florida coach Urban Meyer said that senior Joey Ijjas has separated himself in the kicking battle, Meyer said. Walk-on kicker Jordan Means, of Hoover, Ala., has also impressed Meyer. “He’s pretty good,” Meyer said. . .Senior Phil Trautwein and junior Jason Watkins have switched offensive tackle positions, with Trautwein moving from right to left and Watkins from left to right.

GEORGIA

Tuesday’s practice ended with the No. 1 offense going against the No. 2 defense and the No. 2 offense going against the No. 1 defense. In each of the one-minute drills, Georgia coach Mark Richt said the defense stopped the offense with an interception on the last play.“We got in some good speed work,” Richt said. “The offenses did some nice things, but the defense made some outstanding plays to win the drills. When you’re in the one-minute drill, you’re either winning or losing the game. Today, the defense won.”. . .Richt is excited about his depth at fullback. Brannan Southerland is the starter and Shaun Chapas and Fred Munzenmaier are the backups.“Brannan is an outstanding football player,” Richt said. “He scored a lot of touchdowns last year, he’s an excellent blocker, he runs well in short-yardage situations and he catches the ball extremely well. Brannan has the ability to make plays. Shaun and Fred can help us on special teams and they ready to play.”

KENTUCKY

UK had its third major preseason scrimmage Tuesday night, going for one hour and 40 minutes at Commonwealth Stadium. “It was a pretty good scrimmage,” Coach Rich Brooks said. “I don’t think it was quite as physical as Saturday’s was as far as hitting, but there was a lot of good execution taking place. We made all of our kicks, even a 51-yarder (field goal by Lones Seiber), so that was encouraging.”

LSU

The Tigers went for 2 1/2 hours in 100-degree heat. Tigers’ coach Les Miles said the mental and physical strain was needed with the season opener at Mississippi State just more than a week away. “The weather’s been hot and that has benefited us,” Miles said. “You have to play in this, you have to condition in it and recognize how it feels to perform in these conditions.”. . .Backup quarterback Ryan Perrilloux was didn’t throw in the early stages of practice, because of leg problems. “There is some soreness in camp,” Miles said. “Ryan and some other guys have some minor problems. Ryan was just slow to warm up. By the back end of practice, he was doing everything.”

OLE MISS

Ole Miss slogged through three hours in full pads on Tuesday. Rebels’ coach Ed Orgeron likes his top two tailbacks, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Derrick Davis. “I really think he’s (Green-Ellis) doing his best to be leader,” Orgeron said. “He really likes it here. He wants to win. He’s a champ.” Of Davis, Orgeron said, “Last year, he was favoring that knee,” said Orgeron. “This year, I think he’s out to prove that he’s a great back, and he has. He’s done a good job.”. . .Defensive lineman Peria Jerry is trying to play through a foot injury.

MISS. STATE

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom told the Jackson Clarion Ledger that he wasn’t concerned about his team’s latest injuries. “I’m not worried about them playing in the first game,” Croom said. “I think most of them would have to be dead not to play in the first game.” Among those who didn’t participate in practice were wide receiver Tony Burks, tight end Dezmond Sherrod, tight end Brandon Henderson, wide receiver Ryan Mason, defensive lineman Kyle Love and defensive lineman Charles Burns.

SOUTH CAROLINA

South Carolina will scrimmage one last time tonight. “After the scrimmage we’ll start coaching those we think can play and we’ll start having a help team, a scout team,” said Carolina coach Steve Spurrier following the Tuesday evening workout. “We’ve practice a whole bunch and we’re trying to find out who can play in certain positions.” Spurrier said he’s going to play a lot of bodies in the season opener against Louisiana Lafayette.”We’ll play a lot of people in the first game,” Spurrier said, “especially on defense and possibly on offense, too. We may get beat, but we still going to play a lot of people. I’m not saying we’ll play a lot of people because we’ll be way ahead, but we’ve got to play a lot of people because clearly some of them are not that much better than the others.”

TENNESSEE

The highlight of Tuesday’s scrimmage was true freshman wide receiver Ahmad Paige, catching an 88-yard touchdown pass from Nick Stephens for an afternoon highlight. “We’re still looking for a couple of big-time receivers,” Vols’ coach Phillip Fulmer said. “I think Denarius Moore (2 catches for 22 yards) has certainly moved himself into that group of guys we can count on. And he gives us a threat.” Daryl Vereen led all ball-carries with 34 yards on nine attempts, while Arian Foster had seven carries for 30 yards and a touchdown. Turnovers were a problem for the Vols toward the end of Tuesday’s scrimmage, although they were mostly the result of youthful hands. . .Back in action was senior linebacker Ryan Karl, who has missed most of preseason camp with a back injury. Karl returned to full-speed contact only Monday and Tuesday. “Ryan gets us lined up, he’s got an energy about him and he’s pretty fresh, too, because he’s not practiced a lot,” Fulmer said. . .True freshman defensive end Ben Martin doesn’t have knee ligament damage. He has a bone bruise and will be back in 2-4 weeks. We’re hopeful for two.”

VANDERBILT

True freshman John Stokes of Memphis University School may have just been promoted to Vandy’s starting long snapper. Sophomore Matt Quinn, who handled long-snapping duties last season, left the team on Tuesday and returned home to South Carolina because of personal reasons. The 6-5, 220-pound Quinn came to Vandy from Byrnes High where as a senior he caught 77 passes for 1,038 yards and 15 touchdowns folr a state championship team that was ranked No. 2 nationally.