The Long Snapper (4/30/10)
. Middle linebacker and weakside linebacker. It obviously won’t be that way forever – unless the NCAA instituted a new rule in which you can play 13 players on defense. I’m not up on all the new rules, but I don’t think that one made the cut. The co-starters are listed because neither has taken full control of the position so far. Sometimes that’s a bad thing, but in this case it sounds like it’s actually a good thing. Both players have been performing well and either could start. Fingers crossed. The battle at middle linebacker is between
Sam Barrington
(a TBG favorite) and
Mike Lanaris
. The edge would seem to go to Barrington and is probably the fan pick, but Lanaris stepped it up during practices when Barrington couldn’t participate in due to injury. I’ll give the edge to Barrington, but having Lanaris push him benefits both players. At weakside linebacker,
Sabbath Joseph
is fighting with
DeDe Lattimore
for the starting position. Joseph has the edge in terms of experience, but don’t be surprised if Lattimore is on the field a lot during the fall. Good battles going on. Much better than those you get when neither player is worthy of a starting spot.
Florida defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is the only assistant coach without an assigned recruiting area in the state. The reason is simple. Austin is new to this. Well, not new to it – he does have college coaching experience – but getting adjusted to it again. Due to that, Austin won’t manage a section of Florida this year, but may in the future. What he will recruit is the ever important Atlanta area as well as western Pennsylvania. Hopefully Austin takes to recruiting better than former (can we really call him that?) defensive coordinator George Edwards. Rumors were Edwards really never wanted a part of it. Austin’s recent NFL experience should help him throughout the process. Being able to talk NFL to kids who have the pro league as an ultimate dream never hurts.
Speaking of recruits from Atlanta, Cameron Newton has been named Auburn’s starting quarterback. For now. The former Gator has claimed the top spot following the spring and should be able to hold on to it through the fall. Newton will have some competition for the job, but being named the top guy now speaks volumes to how the depth chart will end up. Be afraid those of you on the Tigers’ schedule. Although many Gator fans won’t admit it, Newton is a premier talent. His ability to pass and run at his size makes him a threat to any defense. Auburn is a team on the rise and Newton could push them to the next level in 2010.
Finish the regular season with a losing record, go bowling! Why not? The more bowls, the more money. Why not allow losing teams into the “postseason?” Because it’s one of the stupidest ideas ever. With the number of bowls recently being increased to 35, we could end up rewarding losers. A team that lost more games than it won could sneak into a bowl game. Meaning a team could actually win their bowl game and still end up with a losing record. My head hurts just thinking about that. The NCAA is truly all about money and not the competitive nature of sports. 5-7 teams shouldn’t be rewarded. In my opinion, 6-6 teams shouldn’t be rewarded either. If I had any say, I would declare you have to win at least 75% of your games to go bowling. 8-4 sounds good enough to me. But forcing teams to win twice as many games as they lose, severely limits the number of bowl games. Many fans probably think that’s okay. The NCAA does not. So we’ll continue to get matchups of 6-6 teams and a loser may even be thrown in there from time to time. Stupidity at its best.
The Friday Fifth (because The Long Snapper needs more sections that start with “The”): Lane Kiffin is cleaning up USC. I have no jokes or anything to go along with that. That one sentence is humorous enough. At least I can agree with Tennessee fans on one thing now; they hate the guy as much as (or more than) the rest of us do.
The List: Sporting type things you should be watching this weekend. In neat and tidy chronological order.
1. Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins – Game 1 – Friday, 7:00
2. Los Angeles Lakers @ Oklahoma City Thunder – Game 6 (Lakers lead 3-2) – Friday, 9:30
3. Philadelphia Flyers @ Boston Bruins – Game 1 – Saturday, 12:30
4. The Kentucky Derby – Saturday, 6:24
5. Boston Celtics @ Cleveland Cavaliers – Game 1 – Saturday, 8:00
6. Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins – Game 2 – Sunday, 2:00
The Sixth Man: Florida has added Ohio State to its schedule for the next two years. On November 16, the two teams will play in Gainesville and then in Columbus during the 2011-2012 season. The Gators’ schedule is shaping up to be a good one next year with Xavier on the slate as well as the Buckeyes. Maybe one of these years, the football team can take note.