With ND not practicing today I came up for air and took a look around the country. As it turns out there's a few fairly entertaining tidbits out of the SEC. So here's a quick look at what's going on with the major players in the Southeast Conference.
Georgia- Mark Richt thus far is a slightly watered down version of Bob Stoops. He's been a great recruiter with a solid program but where Stoops has a trend of losing the big one, Richt has a trend of not getting there. In this interview Richt pontificated on going "old school" and used the term "cats" multiple times to illustrate both his hipness and his point. The good news for Bulldog fans is that you only lost 3 starters on offense. The bad news for Bulldog fans is that they were your best three offensive weapons at QB, RB & WR. If Joe Cox is really going to be your QB in 2009 chances are your season is torpedoed already! I don't care that he's a 10th year senior, he's brutal. Now that I said that he'll pull a Tee Martin.
Bama- Little Nicky kicked off spring practice Monday by reigning down some verbal shock and awe for his team in an effort to get them going. He must still be smarting from that pantsing the Elephants took in the Sugar Bowl at the hands of Utah. I'm guessing that one didn't play too well with the locals. With 7 starters gone on offense they'll be young yet very talented in 2009. I'm thinking they'll still be a factor in the SEC West.
Tennessee/Florida- Elsewhere the Boy Kiffin vs. Florida drama continues. Before I get into it I'll say that Florida is going to re-load and the ESPN driven Tebow love festival that's on the horizon might be more than I can bear. Tennessee is just a soap opera with a bleak immediate future. As for the drama most of this Kiffin/Florida bit is probably the World Wide Leader playing up a story but I have to admit its pretty entertaining. Several Florida players publicly stated that in response to Boy Kiffin's bulletin board material they plan to serve up plates full of hot steamy death to the visiting Vols come September. Check out the story and video here. Kiffin of course plays it off like its all part of his master plan. I can't wait to watch that beat down on 19 Sept. I've already got that date circled in red on my calendar. Florida hosting Tennessee, ND hosting Michigan State then VT hosting Nebraska. That's a solid college football Saturday!
LSU- This is truly a guilty pleasure. Check out this thread on Tiger Droppings. That's priceless. LSU fans are already crying about Freshman Russel Shepard potentially playing WR vice QB this fall. The funniest part is that they all still appear to think one Leslie Miles knows what he's doing. Did they not notice that it took him 10 games to figure out he should play Jordan Jefferson at QB last season? I personally think he's one of the biggest pretenders out there. I've heard him called a great "game coach" but in my opinion he's a straight moonshine swilling riverboat gambler. Now that he's playing minus Little Nicky's recruits and top flight DC Bo Pelini the facade is starting to crumble. Red Stick will always be a tough place to play but as Miles hits his stride heading in to year 5 I'm thinking the SEC West titles are going to become a thing of the past. Good thing they signed him to that big contract in the midst of his Michigangate/ 2 loss bogus National Title. Seriously 2 loss title. They should give it back on general principle.
As a side note it seems to me that wearing a visor is quite popular with SEC coaches. I'm thinking they must all be trying to emulate Don Spurrier. The way I see it there are only two reasons a grown man would wear a visor. One he doesn't want to mess his hair up. Two he wants to show his hair off. Both reasons are a far cry from anything hetero. Just throwing it out there.