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2004 Predictions
by Brooks Clark
WEST
LSU
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Who else is sick of hearing about what incredible athletes they have at LSU and what a coaching genius Nick Saban is for lining them all up so brilliantly?
OK, they won the SEC and the BCS National titles. OK, Justin Vincent had a good season. Like Ken Lay stole some money. Vincent was MVP of both SEC and national title games, gaining 318 yards over Georgia and Oklahoma. That’s after he tallied 1,001 yards in the regular season, as a freshman. OK, senior quarterback Marcus Randall is OK replacing Matt Mauck, but 6’5” freshman quarterback JaMarcus Russell is the second coming of John Elway and will quickly step in.
The team returns 13 starters from the BCS National Championship Team, including four or five or six pre-season All-Americas, depending on whom you ask. There’s Vincent, 6’4”, 296-pound center Ben Wilkerson or 6’7” 325-pound offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth. Receiver Skyler Green had 48 catches but made All-America as a return specialist, with an average of 18.5 yards on punt returns. If you punt it 40 yards and the guy returns it 20, why even punt?
Then there are the two that would have gone high in the NFL draft but decided to stay. Senior defensive end Marcus Spears led the stingiest defense in the nation, which gave up just 11 points, 67 rushing yards and 252 yards total. Spears also had an interception and returned it 20 yards for the winning TD in the 21-14 title game victory over Oklahoma. And his girlfriend, Aiysha Smith, plays for the WNBA Washington Mystics.
Senior cornerback Corey Webster (7 interceptions for two years running) is the best athlete in all of college football and will probably play both ways (like UT’s James Banks, if he kept the volume lower on his car radio).
Georgia will win on Oct. 2 and at the SEC title game on Dec. 6.
Auburn
Goin’ Coastal
Workplace Tip: If your boss and your boss’s boss get on a plane to interview your replacement, your job may be in trouble. Or not. Former Auburn President William Walker and former Athletic Director David Housel made their big trip to Louisville to talk with coach Bobby Petrino. This move was not seen as good form, and Tommy Tuberville survived, despite his offense scoring just three points total against USC and Georgia Tech.
Three-year starter Jason (Jay Cam) Campbell, Mississippi, could have taken his dandy 62.5 percent career completion average to the NFL draft, but the Tigers adopted the famous West Coast offense—the short-pass, possession offense that tends to make superstars out of poised, savvy quarterbacks.
He will also have two on the best running backs in the nation lined up behind him in a “splitback I” formation, which is football jargon for, “We have two really good tailbacks we want in the game at the same time. Who needs a fullback anyway?”
Senior running back Carnell “Cadillac” Williams has 2,666 yards in three seasons. Ronnie Brown has 1,454.
Tennessee wins on Oct. 2. in Knoxville, but let’s be careful throwing deep: defensive back Carlos Rogers has five career interceptions and 30 pass deflections; strong safety Junior Rosegreen has picked off three passes and deflected 13.
He’ll be back: Defensive end Stanley “The Predator” McClover couldn’t qualify grade-wise to play as a freshman, but he scared his teammates with his aggressiveness in spring camp and he’s ready to tear heads off and feast like a preying mantis.
Alabama
That Ironic Frame of Mind
Taking over at the last minute, hamstrung in any number of ways, 38-year-old coach Mike Shula got four wins in his first season. Dreamboat quarterback Brodie Croyle came through, throwing for 2,303 yards and 16 touchdowns. Junior linebacker DeMeco Ryans had 25 tackles against Arkansas and 126 for the year. A management major, he’s also an Academic All-SEC pick and last spring earned the Sylvester Croom Commitment to Excellence Award, which Shula thought about renaming, since Croom is now an opposing coach, but he was dissuaded, since Croom is still such an emblem of Bama virtue. At what point does irony become Southern Literature?
Somewhere someone should be embarrassed that six members of Alabama’s 27-man signing class were academically ineligible to compete as freshman or to be admitted at all. Or maybe the system is working in letting kids know they should be doing their schoolwork.
Ole Miss
OK without Eli
The 10-3 season, finishing 13th in the AP poll. Quarterback Eli Manning going No. 1 in the draft. As the John Goodman character in the movie Everybody’s All-American said to Dennis Quaid, “It’s never going to be as good as this.”
Coach David Cutcliffe, who is 40-22 in the six years since he left the UT staff, is plainly doing something right. But this may be a rebuilding year.
The defense returns just four starters, led by free safety Eric Oliver’s 73 solo tackles. (He helped on 30 more.)
The Rebels have five offensive linemen over 300 pounds, including guards 6’5” Doug Buckles and 6’6” Marcus Johnson, who weigh a total of 635 pounds, 317-pound senior tackle Tre’ Stallings, 300-pound junior tackle Bobby Harris, and 310-pound center Chris “The One” Spencer, so monikered by Johnson: “He’s the best one in our group,” says Johnson. “He’s got quickness, size and strength.”
New quarterback Micheal Spurlock has thrown only eight passes in his college career, but seven of them were caught. (As Dr. Evil would say, nodding, with his pinky on the corner of his mouth, “That’s a start.”)
The top receiver (Chris Collins, with six receptions per game) is gone, but four return who averaged a total of nine receptions per game.
Kicker Jonathan Nichols averaged 86.2 percent on his field goal tries, won the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top toe, and was picked as a Playboy preseason All-America.
In the year that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was described as “along the lines of a fraternity prank,” college hijinx ascended to a new level in the SEC. In July, running back Jamal Pittman and linebacker Ken Bournes said, “Roadtrip!” and drove to Memphis. At an intersection, Pittman allegedly waved a pistol at the occupants of another car and at people walking in the area. He waved his weapon at police and wouldn’t drop it until officers closed in, struggled with him and doused him with pepper spray. Police said Bournes also pulled a pistol and pointed it at an individual. Pittman was suspended; Bournes dismissed from the team.
Arkansas
Jeb Emulates Buzz; Cedric Sees the Redemption of the Tramp
Coach Houston Nutt came close to trading his Razorback cardinal and white for the scarlet and cream of Nebraska, but in the end he decided to stay where his heart is.
Quarterback Matt Jones threw for 1,917 yards and ran for 707 more. At 6’6”, he also played 17 games, starting 10 of them, for the Hogs’ basketball team. Only thing is, he’s the offense’s only returning starter. And there are only three on defense. The secondary will be bolstered by Michael Grant, who was denied admission to Georgia in June. Grant was involved in an incident with a female student in the 10th grade that got him expelled from his school, which might make him feel more at home with the Los Angeles Lakers. A Superprep All-America, he runs a 4.31 40 and was the Georgia state champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters.
Media Guide Small Print: Defensive end Jeb Huckeba is an Academic All-America Candidate, enrolled in the Sam Walton College of Business majoring in personal financial management. Asked if he could work as a cartoon character at Disney World, which one he would be, he answered “Buzz Lightyear.” Sophomore kick returner/flanker Cedric Washington answers that same question as follows: “The Tramp from Lady and the Tramp, because he eventually learns to understand love.” Asked about this year’s tough schedule, regarded as the toughest in school history Washington says, “Let’s get it on.”
Miss St.
Who Moved My Cheese?
When a disciplinarian like Sylvester Croom takes over a program riddled with bad attitudes and lazy habits, the players should really be given copies of Who Moved My Cheese? Or maybe it could be adapted to football as Your Cheese Hits Harder Than You Do!
The members of the defense which at times ranked 116th out of 117 teams in the nation might have known change was coming. But we know from our allegorical literature that many mice have a hard time coping with going to class, making meetings on time and working hard in practice.
Or they may get their metaphorical language confused. New regimes sometimes like to say, “It’s time to get on the Bus.” Last week, redshirt sophomore quarterback Aries Nelson did just that. He was told he’d be the back-up quarterback to Omarr Conner, and decided he “had to leave Starkville.”
Said Croom, “If he is afraid of competition, this is not the place for him. We’re going to move guys up and down the depth chart based on how they perform.”
Croom has a core of good athletes who will respond to his leadership—like 6’6”, 317-pound senior offensive tackle David Stewart, grading out above 75 percent on his blocks over 24 consecutive starts; 321-pound nose tackle Ronald Fields, who made eight tackles, two for a loss, against mighty LSU; junior halfback Jerious Norwood; and junior linebacker Marvin Byrdsong.
EAST
Georgia
Break Out the Mojo
Offensive tackle Max Jean-Gilles had 60 “dominator” blocks, including eight against Florida. He is one big (6’4”, 348 pounds) reason quarterback David Greene will further embellish his 32-8 record as a starter (11 wins in the past two seasons). Greene has a ridiculous 60 percent completion average over his three seasons, good for 9,020 yards and 52 touchdowns.
Carrying on the heartwarming theme, Georgia story is once again the Story of Two 6’3” Davids from Snellville, Georgia—best friends since they were 6.
All-America defensive end David Pollak was down in his sack production last year—from 14 in ’02 to 7.5. Of course two sacks, two pass deflections, two QB hurries and eight total tackles were against Tennessee. It would be advisable for the Vols offensive linemen to put the power mojo on Pollak Oct. 9 in Athens.
In fact, Tennessee may want to supersize the mojo to cover all 17 returning starters, including three running backs worth 1,482 yards, receivers Reggie Brown and Fred Gibson (49 and 36 catches, respectively), All-America free safety Thomas Davis, the team’s top returning tackler (138), interceptor, fumble causer, fumble recoverer and fumble returner.
LSU beat these guys in the SEC title game last year. Not this time around.
Tennessee
Déjà Vu All Over Again—Almost
As Yogi Berra would have said it, we’ve seen this movie before—only not.
As it was 10 years ago, two tall freshman studs have shown up to play quarterback.
Last time it was 6’5” Peyton Manning and 6’4” Branndon Stewart. This time it’s 6’6” Erik Ainge and 6’3” Brent Schaeffer. Last time, after senior Jerry Colquitt was injured, Todd Helton shared time with the youngsters before it became Peyton’s Place. This time, coach Phil Fulmer opted for the future before the start of the season, naming the freshmen as the top two signal-barkers and moving incumbent C.J. Leak to safety. To his eternal credit, Leak was a gentleman and a team player and took the news with élan. (In fact, he and his family had wanted him to move to that position in the spring—but let’s stick with our heartwarming theme).
This will be a year of pleasant surprises. Erik Ainge is a Manning/dropback type. Shaeffer is a scrambling/Michael Vick type, who right now seems to have the edge for No.1. Both, plainly, are quick studies in picking up the offense. Both, plainly, are the real deal, to make us forget so quickly about not only Leak, but also junior Rick Clausen, sophomore Jim Bob Cooter and freshman Bo Hardegree.
Senior tackle Michael Munoz (6’6”, 315 pounds) anchors the offensive line.
A healthy Gerald Riggs is showing the talent that has been hidden under a basket. Senior Corey Larkins is running better than either Cedric Houston or Jabari (J Train) Davis, who combined for 1,309 yards last year.
Linebackers Kevin Burnett and Kevin Simon combined for 205 tackles and six sacks.
What to do with super-talented/super-misbehavin’ James Banks, who led the team with 42 receptions last year before injudiciously pumping up the jam at a late-night parking lot party over the summer? He’s suspended for three games, so he’ll miss Florida, but be ready to go for Auburn and Georgia. He also did not practice two weeks ago because he was late to a meeting.
Bearden High graduate Dustin Colquitt made All-America punting for an average of 45.3-yards, but he’s averaging more than that in his practice sessions.
Florida
“Somebody’s Watching Me”
Ron Zook knows what Rockwell was singing about. The “Fire Ron Zook” website went up the day he was hired. Two 8-5 seasons; 0-2 in bowls. And now Steve Spurrier is cruising the golf courses with nothing to do after stomping off in a huff after his frustrating tenure with the Washington Redskins.
Zook would be in hotter water had not SEC Freshman of the Year Chris Leak (brother of UT’s C.J. Leak) posted even better numbers than Danny Wuerffel’s freshman stats—59.4 percent completion average for 2,435 passing yards and 16 TDs.
The Gators’ 6’5”, 314-pound junior center Mike Degory has started 26 straight games. Last year linebacker Channing Crowder jumped atop a 200-pound hog on a friend’s south Georgia farm. “He grabs hold of the thing and just rides along, hollering and screaming,” fellow linebacker Earl Everett told Sports Illustrated. Crowder added that the hobby helps his game: “You’ve got to run ‘em down and throw ‘em down.” Crowder likes to carouse with Homo sapiens, too. He was involved in a fight outside a Gainesville nightclub in 2003, and was picked up for disorderly conduct there again in May. Another linebacker, Taureen Charles, was accused of throwing a beer keg at another student. Hogs and beer kegs may be the Gators’ secret weapons on defense
The Gators are overrated by the preseason polls. Look for the Vols to win big on Sept. 18 in Knoxville.
South Carolina
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Lou Holtz might joke that the light he’s seeing at the end of the tunnel is Florida driving toward them loaded down with hogs and beer kegs. The Gamecocks lost their last five games in ’02 and six of the last eight in ’03, but three of those were squeakers to tough opponents—20-23 to UT in OT, 40-43 to Ole Miss and 22-24 to Florida. They also lost five assistant coaches after the season was over.
Senior QB Dondrial Pinkins hit 50 percent of his passes for 2,127 yards, but sophomore Syvelle Newton (who played receiver last year) will probably step in to the job. The top two returning running backs, Daccus Turman and Demetris Summers, averaged five yards per carry between them. Turman ran for 646 yards as a sophomore; Summers, 638 yards as a freshman, 158 of them against Tennessee. Defensive end Moe Thompson had six tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery against Virginia. George Cause had six tackles, one sack of Chris Leak for a safety and a fumble recovery against Florida.
Kentucky
No Hillbillies We
After Kentucky whipped Indiana 34-17, Hoosier receiver Glenn Johnson said the Wildcats were a dirty team and a bunch of hillbillies. Super-sized Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen rose to the defense: “We’ve still got some dirty players here, but we’re not hillbillies. I mean, geez, leave us alone.”
Filling the void left by Lorenzen is Shane Boyd. He has a 34.9 percent completion average, spent much of last year as a running back, and also pitches for the UK baseball team.
The defense is led by All-SEC defensive end Vincent “Sweet Pea” Burns had 18 tackles for losses. (His nickname was given to him by his family when he was a baby.)
Free safety Muhammad Abdullah had 64 tackles, strong safety Mike Williams had 98 and defensive end Dustin Williams 122.
A Bad Gun Day: Back-up nose tackle Ricky Abren was arrested July 23 in his hometown of Hopkinsville, Ky., on charges of carrying a concealed deadly weapon, possession of marijuana, possession of a suspended license, and operating a vehicle with a suspended license. A Bad Gun Day, Part II: On Aug. 6 another charge was added: knowingly receiving stolen property: it turns out the loaded handgun found in the car Abren was driving was stolen.
Vanderbilt
A Fair Shot at a Winning Season
Coach Bobby Johnson got his SEC win last year—over Kentucky. With 21 starters returning, including junior quarterback Jay Cutler, the Commodores have a good chance of improving.
Tailback Norval McKenzie ran for 639 yards and—no joke—spent time last season tutoring children at a Nashville-area homeless shelter. Junior Kwane Doster ran for 386 yards. Left offensive tackle Justin Geisinger (6’4”, 330 pounds) upped his bench press from 525 to 600 pounds and his reps at 225 from 37 to 43. He also squats 650 pounds. Try it sometime. “The best player I’ve ever coached,” says Robbie Caldwell, who has sent six tackles into the NFL in his 28 years as a coach.
Junior defensive end Jovan Haye made eight sacks; junior outside linebacker Moses Osemwegie made 78 solo tackles and 126 total. He also forced a fumble and recovered a fumble against Tennessee.
September 2, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 36
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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