THE BIG STORY

This season is likely over for Arkansas tight end Ben Cleveland.

He will likely redshirt this season because of nerve damage in his neck. Rick Cleveland, Ben’s father, said Tuesday that he’s been told by doctors that his son will need anywhere from six months to one year for the nerve damage to fully heal. The problem has caused Ben Cleveland to lose strength in his left arm.

Cleveland’s father said he was told by a doctor on Monday that it would be “crazy” for the former Springdale High star to return to the football field this season and risk further injury.

“The doctors said that he’s got 10-12 inches of damaged nerve (and) that the damaged nerves will grow back in anywhere between an inch to two inches a month,” Rick Cleveland said. “So based on those statistics, you would have to say that at most a year, the minimum six months for it to heal.”

A look at the league:

ALABAMA

Alabama return specialist Javier Arenas could have a role on offense this season, but not soon. “We have not tried to utilize him as an offensive player,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “That’s not to rule that out. I think there are offensive positions that he could contribute to our team at. It’s not something that we feel is necessary right now. It could be necessary later in the season.”. . .Starting linebacker Darren Mustin (neck stinger) remained in a black, no-contact jersey at practice Tuesday. He was replaced by Prince Hall with the first-string defense. Receiver DJ Hall and guard Justin Britt were back at full-speed Tuesday and working with the starting units.

ARKANSAS

Going into the second conference match up of the season, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt knows his team will have to execute in all areas of the game plan and minimize mistakes to be successful. “We have to do a great job and that starts on all three teams—offense, defense, special teams,” said Nutt. “We can’t turn the ball over, we can’t give up punt returns…you can’t give up gifts in the SEC, not if you’re going to win the game.” Quarterback Casey Dick had a good practice, as the offense put in work against the defensive scout team. “(Casey) had a good practice today. He has a lot of confidence going right now,” Nutt said. “He was very accurate in throwing the ball very well. I was really proud of him.”. . .Freshman offensive lineman DeMarcus Love returned to practice Tuesday. Nutt said it was good to see Love back in action and that he looked good on his first day back.

AUBURN

Senior defensive end Quentin Groves took the blame for Auburn’s defensive breakdown in the fourth quarter in last Saturday’s loss to Mississippi State. Trailing 14-13, the Bulldogs converted a third-and-12 in Auburn’s territory by using a simple draw. Groves said he should have been lined up on the tight end. Instead, he went outside, trying to rush the quarterback. “Being the great pass-rush mind that I am — God forgive me — I lined up too wide. It hurt our team,” he said. I should have been thinking like a coach: They just wanted a field goal, to go up. I was being selfish.”

FLORIDA

Florida is trying to get a better pash rush, son on Tuesday true freshman Carlos Dunlap was moved inside from end to tackle in an attempt to get more push up the middle. Dunlap moved into a rotation behind starters Clint McMillan and Javier Estopinan. “We just looked at Carlos Dunlap inside and he’s actually done decent,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s a big body and maybe can knock the ball down or something. We’re searching.” Florida ranks seventh in the Southeastern Conference with five sacks. Last season, Florida finished third in the league with 37 sacks. Meyer said he would like to see his team get more pressure on the quarterback as the season unfolds. Dunlap’s main challenge inside is keeping his 6-foot-6, 260-pound frame low enough inside to defend the running game.

GEORGIA

Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford was amused by Monday’s comments from Alabama defensive end Wallace Gilberry. Clearly joking with reporters, Gilberry said he needed to find out Stafford’s address to know where to send flowers after Saturday’s game. “That’s great, my mom loves flowers,” Stafford replied Tuesday. “I don’t even know if he said it, but if he did, more power to him. If I was a d-linemen, I’d love to say the same kind of stuff. That’s great. That’s good material. I like it.”. . .Georgia coach Mark Richt continued to defend is right to close practice this week. The reality is what we do is big,” Richt said. “People care. Winning and losing has a profound effect on people’s careers and everything else.” Richt said shutting the practice doors entirely to outsiders including the media on a gameweek for the first time in his seven seasons at Georgia is simply a matter of wanting privacy. “I think we’re always concerned about every week people watching practice,” Richt said. The difference between winning and losing is so close in the rugged SEC that any information gleaned can give the other side an advantage, said Richt, whose team lost to South Carolina 16-12 in its SEC opener Sept. 8. “A lot of times it’s one play,” Richt said. “If they get a one-play advantage it can cost you.”

KENTUCKY

Since his game-winning 57-yard touchdown catch against Louisville, Kentucky wide receiver Steve Johnson has gotten some congratulatory calls, handshakes and pats on the back from friends, family members and fans on the street. Johnson, who fits the profile of a laid-back Californian to a T, said the impact of his catch hasn’t sunk in as the Cats get prepared to play at Arkansas on Saturday. “It’s hit me a little bit, but I still really don’t know just how big it is,” he said.”It’s a big play, but we’ve got to hurry up and put it behind us now. That can easily be forgotten if we lose this game.” Johnson arrived at UK last year after a two-year stint at Chabot College in Hayward, Calif. Offensive coordinator and receivers coach Joker Phillips talked up Johnson as an impact player, but Johnson only had six catches through Kentucky’s first nine games, including a five-game stretch where he didn’t grab a single reception. Johnson was the star of Kentucky’s December bowl practices and followed that up with three catches for 67 yards in the Music City Bowl win over Clemson.

LSU

LSU coach Les Miles likes sophomore quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, but he’s the sttill the backup when Matt Flynn is healthy. “He’s a work in progress,” Miles said. “Any time you can get your second team quarterback a serious number of reps in preparation for the rest of the season, that’s exactly what we needed to do (in the Middle Tennessee game Saturday). Hopefully, he’ll throw the ball away down the field, not behind the line of scrimmage and he’ll not take sacks when he doesn’t need to.” Perrilloux, who started for the injured Flynn, turned in the best first-time start for an LSU quarterback in at least 27 years, according to LSU sports information research. The sophomore from East St. John High completed 20 of 25 passes (80 percent) for 298 yards and three touchdowns. No first-time LSU starter from 1980 through 2006 completed more passes, threw for a higher completion percentage in more than six attempts, threw for more yards or threw for more touchdowns than Perrilloux. Of the 19 previous LSU quarterbacks’ first starts, the highest passing yards total was 280 by Josh Booty in a 23-22 loss at Georgia on Oct. 2, 1999. Booty completed 19 passes but in 45 attempts with three interceptions. The next best touchdown total was two by three quarterbacks - Matt Flynn against Miami in a 40-2 win in the 2005 Peach Bowl, Sol Graves in an 18-13, season-opening win against Georgia in 1990 and Tommy Hodson in a 35-17, season-opening win over Texas A&M in 1986. The only quarterback with a higher completion percentage than Perrilloux in a starting debut was Rohan Davey, who completed 6 of 6 (100 percent) for 66 yards and a touchdown in a 52-0 win over North Texas on Sept. 11, 1999.

OLE MISS

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported Ole Miss quarterback Seth Adams is confident he’d be ready to play against No. 3 Florida on Saturday despite suffering a sprained right shoulder at Vanderbilt. Adams didn’t practice Tuesday, but Orgeron believes the senior should be back on the field this afternoon. He injured his shoulder in the 31-17 loss at Vanderbilt and left the game in the fourth quarter. Adams was replaced by Brent Schaeffer, who threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to receiver Mike Wallace on his first play from scrimmage and finished 1 of 5 in his relief stint. Schaeffer and redshirt freshman Michael Herrick ran the offense in Adams’ place in practice Tuesday. Orgeron has said Schaeffer will likely start against the Gators if Adams can’t play

MISS. STATE

State coach Sylvester Croom feels that his team is better prepared this year to handle quarerback Michael Henig’s absence (he broke his throwing hand against Auburn) than last year when Henig twice dislocated his shoulder. “”Well we have two quarterbacks that have been working since we have been here,” Croom said. “I think our defense, kicking game, and running game are all better. This means all the pressure will not fall under center. If our quarterbacks can manage the game, we have a chance, because all the other phases are pretty solid. We have to find a passing game though, something we can hang our hat on to go to during crunch time. We have to find something our quarterbacks can execute on a consistent basis against any coverages or blitzes the defense puts out there. We can not be one dimensional; you have to be balanced in this conference.”

SOUTH CAROLINA

USC is ninth out of 12 SEC teams in passing offense with 199 yards a game. The Gamecocks have thrown more interceptions (five) than any SEC school except Auburn and Mississippi State (seven each). Of their five pass plays of 20 yards or longer, only two have gone to wide receivers. Carolina coach Steve Spurrier began his weekly news conference by saying he hopes his South Carolina team gets in a “field-goal game” with No. 2 LSU. Spurrier, whose Florida quarterback set a single-season passing record the last time he went to Baton Rouge, joked Tuesday that the passing marks would be safe this week. Spurrier, who was 11-1 against LSU while at Florida, has been winning with defense and a solid ground game this season. Though the 12th-ranked Gamecocks are off to a 3-0 start, the “fun” seems to be missing from Spurrier’s “Fun ‘n’ Gun” offense. “It’s not as much fun for an offensive coach to have to play the way we play,” Spurrier said. “It seems like every game, we open up thinking we can throw it here and there, hit one here and there and it doesn’t work. Then it hits us in the head — you better start running the ball or you’re going to throw the game away.”

TENNESSEE

Vols’ quarterback Erik Ainge is reworking how he hands the ball off following two fumbles over the past two weeks. The senior has been forced to hand the ball off backhanded with his left hand on running plays to the left because of a broken pinky finger on his right, throwing hand. It has resulted in two fumbld handoffs the last two games, includng the one to Arian Foster last week that killed any hopes of a Tennessee comeback against Florida. “I’m handing the ball off with my right hand this week,” Ainge said Tuesday. “We’re going to get that done in practice because I refuse to let something like that happen again just because I can’t hand the ball off with my right hand. That’s unacceptable.”The risk Ainge runs in handing the ball off with his right hand is re-injuring the finger. The key, Ainge said, to avoiding that is for UT’s running backs to have a wide pocket between their arms to accept the ball.

VANDERBILT

The Vanderbilt football team went through a typical two-hour practice Tuesday despite this weekend’s open date. Coach Bobby Johnson said the only deviation from the norm this week will be a couple of days off after Thursday’s scrimmage, which primarily will feature players in line to be redshirted and those who have played on the scout teams. “It’ll give them a chance to use their skills and show the coaches what they can do,” Johnson said. “It’s a fun thing; they have fun doing it.” With various members of the coaching staff out recruiting, Johnson said, the scrimmage is a good team activity.