The Long Snapper: September 3, 2009
Today’s the day. It’s an odd feeling. Being excited about a
South Carolina
/
NC State
game. Of course, it’ll be much odder tomorrow night when I’m sitting down to watch Tulane host Tulsa. What can I say? I have a problem.
Florida has captains. Brandon James. Joey Sorrentino. Brandon Spikes. Ryan Stamper. Tim Tebow. Spikes, Stamper, and Tebow became on the sixth, seventh, and eighth Gators to ever be two-time captains. (H/T: One Eyed Willy)
Dustin Doe, suspended.
Doctors are still trying to determine the best course of action for true freshman Andre Debose. The longer this takes, the more serious it seems to be. Now I don’t know if that’s true, but in many situations, the injury occurs and a course is decided upon. The fact that Debose’s situation is still being evaluated has me wondering what’s up.
Matt Patchan and James Wilson are still battling it out to determine who will get the final starting spot on the offensive line. Carl Johnson will start at left guard if Patchan wins the battle and he’ll move to tackle if the last spot goes to Wilson.
Superstar freshman linebacker Jon Bostic will play against Charleston Southern. Superstar freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins probably won’t. Jenkins’ ankle is improving, but isn’t 100%. No point in pushing him into action.
Florida commit Gerald Christian flew up the Rivals100. The tight end is 51st on the most recent list after having been listed at 110th previously.
Broadcast information for the Florida/Charleston Southern game.
Most sites won’t put spreads on games where FBS teams play FCS teams, but Florida has been mentioned as a 63-point favorite over Charleston Southern. To find the last time the Gators even scored 60 or more points in a season opener, you have to go back to 2003 and year two of the Ron Zook era. Florida beat San Jose State 65-3 that day. Ingle Martin, Chris Leak, and Gavin Dickey all threw touchdown passes and Kelvin Kight was the Gators’ leading receiver. Florida would go on to finish 8-5 on the season leaving freshman Leak and Andre Caldwell probably wondering what they had gotten themselves into. Just another reason to be thankful for Urban Meyer.
ESPN pushed a Florida/Utah matchup, but it couldn’t get worked out in the end. Thus, we have Charleston Southern.
Despite been one of the more experienced members of USF’s offensive line, Jake Sims wasn’t likely to start. However, after Mark Popek’s battle with the flu, it looks like Sims will get his 11th career start.
The Bulls will be represented by Matt Grothe, Mo Plancher, George Selvie, and Kion Wilson as captains for the first game.
Keeley Dorsey – who passed away during conditioning in 2007 – would’ve been a senior this fall. To honor him, a different senior will wear #10 – his jersey number – in each game during the 2009 season. Defensive tackle Aaron Harris will wear it in the season opener against Wofford. Harris normally wears #98.
Mark Ingram and Julio Jones will play in Alabama’s season opener against Virginia Tech; on the condition they pay back the money for their fishing trip. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ll never understand some of the NCAA’s regulations. It was a fishing trip. They weren’t given a fishing boat (at least not that we know of).
The Motor City Bowl has been renamed the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Be honest, you had no idea Little Caesars still existed.
The nation’s top high school receiver Kyle Prater chose to USC over Illinois. Good choice Kyle. Good choice.
As for that South Carolina/NC State game we’ll all be watching tonight, hopefully this time around things go better for Russell Wilson.