Eyes on the Prize; A look at Bama's SEC Matchups

This season in the SEC is once again proving to be an exciting one, full of contenders with eyes on the same prize.

            Preseason hype followed LSU and Alabama with predictions of their clash in Atlanta, with one of them emerging to the National Championship game.

            In August, that story line took a sharp turn for the LSU Tigers when Jordan Jefferson and four other players were allegedly involved in a bar fight after about 50 LSU players went out to celebrate the end of two-a-days.

            According to 19-year-old witness to the altercation, Victoria Long saw Jefferson kick one of the victims in the face. Jefferson was arrested on felony second-degree battery charges, and the Tiger organization was forced to suspend their starting quarterback. Tide fans rejoiced, but not everyone should be clapping.

            Not all of Baton Rouge was set on Jefferson in the first place. Last year Jefferson threw ten interceptions and went through a ten game period without throwing a touchdown pass. Still, people praised Jefferson’s improvement in the offseason- but none of that matters now.

            Back up quarterback, now starting QB, Jarrett Lee is still a more than capable leader. As a senior he is familiar with the LSU offense and has experience on the field in victory and defeat- he had a rough freshman season where he had 17 interceptions but also has made key plays in many significant Tiger wins.  

            But focus doesn’t need to be on LSU’s air game. Last year they were last in the SEC for passing yards, but this year expectations are still high because of their talented defense and running game that has bailed them out before.

            Alabama should still be nervous, and the absence of Jordan Jefferson should not affect the level of preparation for this huge SEC game- whose implications still could indicate a National Championship contender.            

            Another SEC foe that made Bama nervous early on the schedule was Arkansas, mainly because of a lethal running back in Knile Davis. But the Razorbacks suffered a huge blow when Davis injured his left ankle in summer practice. He is expected to be out the entire season.

            Not much has been said about the backs under Davis on the depth chart, but if they had a chance to watch him and be coached by the same coaches they can still do damage. Arkansas Head Coach Bobby Petrino also brought freshman corner back Kelvin Fisher Jr. to running back. Fisher played running back in high school and that position is where he gained attention from Arkansas recruiters. Fisher is just one option presenting itself for Arkansas.

             Petrino brings up another reason his team could look to mar anybody’s idea of a perfect season- their defense who he says doesn’t get enough credit.

            Alabama’s offense would be wise to take note, significantly making sure their young quarterback is not shaken up by any Razorback getting too close to home. Richardson should be prepared to have a big game that week, not necessarily with big numbers but by being a rock for his offense if he needs to.

            Never underestimate the growth the Mississippi State Bulldogs have made this year. They may not be going to the same championship games as other SEC teams, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t LOVE to be the thorn in the side of a championship nominee.

            Bulldog quarterback Chris Relf has gained experience and according to coaches and players has bought into the organization more this year than ever before. His mobility in the pocket matched with running back Vick Ballard is a one two punch for Mississippi State.

            Another Bulldog to watch is Georgia. Some college football analysts have picked Georgia to go the SEC championship. This is interesting considering Georgia’s previous season record of 6-7 and head coach Mark Richt coming under fire. But that pressure is exactly why some believe this is Georgia’s year.

            Alabama does not play them in the regular season so their matchup is highly hypothetical right now. If it came down to the two teams in Atlanta, Alabama’s experience with big games will be a big mental advantage.

            Florida has a lot to deal with internally but big coaching changes look impressive on paper. Charlie Weis is the new Gator offensive coordinator. Quarter back John Brantley says he has already learned so much from Weis’s offense, offenses that in the past have excelled in both the NFL and a brief stint at Notre Dame.

            While the offense intensifies under Weis, new head coach Will Muschamp has a defensive mindset. It might take more time for their presence to really shake things up but look for those positive changes this season in The Swamp.  

            Hype for South Carolina has died down a bit. Drama with their quarterback Stephen Garcia has left a bad taste with head coach Steve Spurrier.

            Spurrier knows that the success the team had last year doesn’t mean they’ve accomplished anything yet. Keeping tabs on that confidence will be on the agenda as long as it takes for players to buy in to the fact that this is 2011, not 2010.

            In the end, when looking at Alabama’s season there should be no shortage of pride in this years team. But, let last year be a testimony of caution to the power of not finishing four quarters. While still respecting each week’s opponent it could be debated that some games last year were Alabama’s to lose instead of the opponents to win. Alabama can’t lose games this year by not playing their best football. 

A Little Air of Optimism

Surviving Preseason Predictions might be the toughest fight for the Game Cocks. Well that, and their wonderfully outspoken quarter back Stephen Garcia- who don’t worry, doesn’t have a guaranteed job yet.

 

Last year South Carolina thought they were a little bit of a big deal and that’s because they did a lot of big things for the first time ever. Beating a No. 1 team, Alabama, won their first game ever in the Swamp, won the Eastern Division for the first time and made it to Atlanta.

            Of course we all know they lost there, but still they seem to be pretty proud even if head coach Steve Spurrier tries to keep them in reality. He particular mentions that the team needs to realize that Florida, Tennessee and Georgia all had down years last year and that helped them a great deal.

            “It was a good year. It wasn’t a great year,” he said. “We stretched our dimensions a little bit, but we’ve not hit where we believe we can go yet.”

            That being said, Spurrier has declared this a “new time” for the USC program. There are a lot of things he worries about but if you were to ask him what freshman he’s most excited about be prepared for his exuberant smile and ecstatic answer.

            “You ever heard of Jadeveon Clowney?”

            Football fans may remember the frenzy the young teenager caused as he debated which school to star at and for weeks his decision hinged on South Carolina, Clemson and Alabama. Clowney is a South Carolina native, which no doubt helped in the decision but Clowney’s decision to go to the Game Cocks makes Spurrier giddy just the same.

            “Shoot five, six years ago there’s no way he would pick South Carolina,” Spurrier said. “Now he thinks, ‘hey, we could win big at South Carolina’.”

            But its not all smiles in Columbus. Drama with their quarterback Stephen Garcia has left a bad taste with Spurrier who commented on his “stupidity” several times at SEC Media Days.

            “I guess we don’t want to kick [Garcia] out for stupidity,” Spurrier said to the laughter of reporters.

            The reason, he says, for the unlimited amount of patience with Garcia’s transgressions off the field has been the faith in the type of person Garcia is.

            “Basically we do believe he’s a good kid, a good person,” Spurrier said. “With this latest incident, we told him he could go play somewhere else if he wanted to but he wants to stay here.”

            Spurrier says Garcia has made lifestyle changes after several incidents where Garcia’s behavior was called “unruly and rambunctious”. When Garcia comes back, assuming he can keep his mouth shut for that long, he will be competing with Connor Shaw for starting quarter back. 

            A lot of Spurrier’s struggle this year is just the kind of thing that Garcia embodies- over zealous confidence and thinking he is invincible. Spurrier knows that the success the team had last year doesn’t mean they’ve accomplished anything yet.

            “There’s a little air of optimism which you have to have, that’s good,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to know that its not going to be easy, and we’ve got to play extremely well, prepare well to give ourselves a chance to do it.”            

             Keeping tabs on that confidence will be on the agenda as long as it takes for players to buy in to the fact that this is 2011, not 2010.

            “Its one thing to be competitive and another thing to win the game,” he said. “We’ve not won a huge majority of games yet. We’ve been competitive. We got enough players to get in the action, to compete with everybody we play. But taking that next step and winning a whole bunch of games, winning the SEC, that’s what we’re trying to do. We haven’t got there yet.”

            Keeping tabs on fan’s confidence will be another Spurrier struggle.

            “[The fans] are going to tell the guys how great they are. Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to handle it and go from there. But historically we’ve not, so it will be a challenge to see if we can handle some pre-season predictions, ‘cause we’ve never had much of those before in the past.”

            A strong component you will no doubt know the name of is running back Marcus Lattimore who again is expected to star on offense. His confidence is quiet but ever-present, even as he talks about his Heisman chances, saying he has studied a lot of film and thinks he has a chance. But chance, at least right now, is all he has before taking a regular season snap even if his coaches praise his hard working mentality.

            “Marcus gets the hardest worker in the weight room award every spring,” Spurrier said.

            Another hard worker on offense is receiver Alshon Jeffrey who Spurrier says you can brag on him but doesn’t affect him at all and says now he’s “a lot faster than he’s ever been.”

            Alshon, true to form, did remain modest when he spoke to reporters at Media Days saying it doesn’t matter to him who scores, “as long as we win.” Alshon hasn't forgotten that the trip to Atlanta last year did not have a favorable outcome. 

            “We didn’t win the whole thing,” he said. “We’re not anything special.”

            Alshon says he is working on running better routes and using his quickness to work on his overall game. He says its instrumental the team learns from last year’s experiences.

            For defensive tackle Travian Robertson, this year puts a lot of pressure on defense.

            “Its tough being on the defensive line in this conference, you don’t get anything that’s free,” Robertson said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time to eliminate mistakes from last year. We know its gonna be tougher than it was last year.”

            Robertson explains that the “little air of optimism” is actually a very important characteristic to keep on this team in particular. 

            “Lack of confidence has been a problem with our program in the past,” he said. “We’ve been working on that.” 

            Confidence seems to be on a better track but Spurrier has more to worry about. He says third and one defense needs to improve along with pass protection and special teams. But talent is not the main concern- getting player’s minds ready is.

            “Our talent level is by far the best it’s been since I’ve been there,” Spurrier said. “But now we gotta go play you know? We gotta go play.”

            Spurrier knows if you can win in Atlanta you can win the National Championship and he knows that its been proven the last five times its been put to the test.

             “We’ll see if we can do it.”

Arkansas’ Warning in the West

SEC Coaches echo each other at SEC Media Days once they hear a question about Arkansas. They each shake their head and utter the same nervous answer,  “They’re good.”

Time to study the competition.

When opposing coaches talk about their upcoming 2011 engagements with Arkansas its a quick lesson to the threat looming for SEC schedules.
With out hesitation USC head coach Steve Spurrier knows right away who he's nervous for.
"Arkansas played against us better than anybody," he said. "They blocked and tackled, didn't make many mistakes either- they're a good team."
South Carolina defensive tackle Travarian Robertson also nervously eyes the competition and remembers them vividly from last year.
"Arkansas had a great offensive line," he said. "They got a great coach and from what I've seen they stuck together as a team, have great confidence and great discipline."

Like many other teams in the conference, Arkansas has to replace a prolific quarterback in Ryan Mallet, who left for the NFL Draft. The competition in Fayetteville will pit junior Tyler Wilson and sophomore Brandon Mitchell against each other for starting quarterback position.

“With Wilson, it’s very impressive how much he cares, his commitment not just studying offense but defenses,” head coach Bobby Petrino said. “I’ve been very impressed with Tyler.”

“He still has a little time to get ready,” receiver Jarius Wright said. “But who ever the coach decides to put out, the team will have their back.”

Petrino says Wilson fills a leadership role amongst the team. Wilson and the younger Mitchell have been competing since the spring, and Petrino doesn’t think much will change about making a decision closer to game time. He describes that it is a ‘process’. When one quarterback does great in practice, he may falter with the spring game. If one does poorly in practice, he may flourish in scrimmages.

With inexperience in that position, a lot of help will come from the running game and an extremely successful back in Knile Davis. 

“We have a huge advantage with Davis,” Petrino said. “He can get us out of bad runs.”

Last year, Davis had better numbers than both Alabama’s Trent Richardson and South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore. This year the quiet expectation of his explosion on the field is hard to miss from teammates and opposing teams alike.

“We have a running back that’s going to shock the world,” said teammate defensive end Tenarius Wright.

When Petrino talks about his receivers like Jarius Wright, Joe Adams, Greg Childs, or Cobi Hamilton he simply says, “they make plays.” That small statement makes a gigantic impact on the field for young Razorback QB’s.

“The benefit for our QB is they don’t have to be saying, ‘this is my best receiver, I have to throw to him,” Coach Petrino said. “They can all make plays for you.”

The Razorback offensive line has also improved according to teammates. And that’s great news for a team needing to protect young arms and using Davis as a weapon. But according to Petrino, while his offensive line has been given accolades, after losing key players there is still reason for concern.

“On paper that unit will have the biggest question mark,” Petrino said. “The advantage of having back our interior makes the question marks on the edges. Size wise and athletic wise we’re there. They’re just youthful.”

On top a stellar offense anticipated in Fayetteville, coach Bobby Petrino says his defense doesn’t get enough credit. “They never do,” he says.

 “Every game I tell them, ‘Hey, defense is where you win big games, where you win championships.’” He said. “And they held their rope, they kept us in a lot of games.”

“We have pride in our defense,” receiver Jarius Wright said. “This year we have depth on D, more experience. We’re kinda depending on them this year.”

Last year Arkansas was good. This year, they have even more pre-season buzz surrounding them. From what coaches and players say, they are using the mistakes of last year to perfect their present season.

“Being a 7-5 team, having that taste in our mouth…” Tenarius Wright said shaking his head. “We don’t want that taste in our mouth anymore.”

No matter the unit Petrino says the goals are avoiding mental mistakes. Mistakes Wright saw some of last year.

“Last year we needed more focus, more mental capacity,” he said. “We just needed that extra edge. The big stage was just a lot to us. It was definitely jaw-dropping to me.”

Now, there’s a call to action. The team as a whole has made an effort to study more film and to study it better, paying more attention to more detail. Outside the film room, there’s a blatant and upfront goal whether it be as a team or individually.

“Just being faster and stronger,” Tenarius Wright said. “We are realizing this is not just a game. We’re going to strive to be better. We’re watching film and picking up more detail. We just are playing no hesitation, no thinking about it, just full speed football right now.”

According to Petrino spring’s focus for the team was third downs, and creating offensive confidence by going with the big plays, the deep throws and explosive runs. On the other side of the ball, defense worked on red zone D and stopping the run, which is everyone’s weapon in the SEC this year.

For Arkansas’ running game, while things look good, Davis knows there is still room to improve. Whether that’s with the ball in his hands or being a team leader in the weight room.

“I’ve definitely stepped up to be a vocal leader this year,” Davis said. “My blocking has to be good but my reads coming out of the backfield have to be better than last year.”

In Arkansas’s weight room instead of flashy signs, there is just a 2011 schedule- no circles, no marks, just a black and white view of what’s ahead. While they stare at opposing names and dates as they train, enemy camps are training too, only they have Arkansas’s name circled on their schedules.

“Do you think you are an honest contender for the National Championship this year?” one reporter asked several Arkansas players.

“I do,” was the only answer given.

“There’s no extra pressure with the West, we have high expectations ourselves,” Jarius Wright said. “We’re a pretty close bunch already, we take care of our teammates.”

 Jarius speaks for a team with focused confidence and chemistry. A team that realizes the blemishes of last season and their close path to success this year, as long as they stick together and keep on the “grind.” 

Out With The Old, In With The New

“It’s an exciting time to be a football coach. We’re all undefeated right now.”

After a disappointing 2010 season, coaching changes and team chemistry- Florida has a lot on their plate for 2011

       With that, Florida’s new head coach Will Muschamp took to the stage of Media Days. After Urban Meyer’s highly publicized coaching conclusion at Florida, Muschamp headed to Gainesville in December. After what he calls a “productive spring”, he’s eager for the season to start.

       “We had a good five-week offseason into spring,” he said. “I feel comfortable with our talent level. We do have some deficiencies as far as our as far as our numbers are concerned. I am concerned about that.”

        Despite his concern on the roster, he knows its tough getting sympathy in this league.

        “I don’t think anybody is feeling sorry for the Gators, for sure.”

         This off-season, Muschamp wants to create a blue-collar hard working mentality and says the team has identified playmakers on both sides of the ball. Both wide receiver Deonte Thompson and sophomore defensive tackle Dominique Easley have gained attention with their explosive spring practices by both players and coaching staff alike.

          For defensive end William Green something the Florida lacked last year was teamwork, something that is not going unnoticed this year. New team chemistry has both young and veteran players excited to share space on the Gainesville gridiron.

         “I told all the younger guys, ‘Are you going to go the distance? Are you with us or not?’” Deonte Thompson said. “We are a close knit team- everything is more ‘team’ this year.”

       As a new comer, Muschamp’s chemistry with the team is also evident. The initial comparison fans, media and even players look at is to his predecessor. Some players say they are similar, but others divulge greater differences in the two “great leaders”.

        “[Muschamp’s] a great coach, great defensive coach,” Florida quarterback John Brantley said. “Great intensity and he’s brought that to the team. We needed that, that giddy up.”

     “All the coaches interact with us a lot, Muschamp works out with us sometimes,” Thompson said. “I think the worst thing you can do as a leader is be something your not,” Muschamp said. “I’m a defensive coach.”

      Muschamp’s presence is not the only highly coveted addition to Florida’s coaching staff for 2011. Offensive mastermind Charlie Weis will take to the feild and Dan Quinn will help Muschamp’s defensive mindset as defensive coordinator. Weis, whose extensive resume with the Patriots and Dan Quinn’s history with the Dolphins combine to usher in close to 40 years of NFL experience.  

    “Since day one, seeing Weis’s track record- I’ve been jotting down as much as I can,” Florida QB John Brantley said. “He’s great.”

      Florida’s ties to proven NFL coaches got even more obvious this spring when Patriots head coach Bill Belichick attended Florida’s pro day. He watched some practice then spoke to the team.

     “What a presence he has within a group,” Muschamp said.

       But Belichick’s presence reached the University of Florida even before he physically visited campus, by way of Nick Saban. Once upon a time Saban coached under Belichick and Muschamp coached under Nick Saban while the two were at LSU. When asked what influences he took from Saban, praise was not short-lived.

      “I think more than anything, total program management, philosophically, what you believe offensively, defensively and special teams being tied together on both sides of the ball for what you what you want to be,” he said. “Having accountability, responsibility. All those things to me are traits of good football teams, certainly some things that reemphasize to me what was important. I had a great working relationship with Nick. He’s very smart, detail oriented, very organized in what he wants to do, the vision he sees for his program. That’s a credit to him.”

         Last year an 8-5 record had the Gators longing for better days. Like other SEC teams faced with a disappointing 2010 season the Gators hope to use the feelings of last year’s defeat as motivation.

        On the field, Florida looks to perfect the pass rush. For players, the stream of studying film “hasn’t really taken a break.” Recent years remember Florida as a constant favorite, but this year the expectations have eased, putting them in an unfamiliar underdog mentality.

       “We have a chip on our shoulder about how we played last year,” Green said.

       “We love it [being the underdog],” Thompson said. “We don’t need it…we have lots of young guys that are hungry.”

       “Being the underdog it does make it easier cause you’re not being hunted.” Green said.

       Florida may not be hunted yet, but teammates say quarterback John Brantley is improving with this year’s Gator offense, aiming for a “balanced” identity.

      “We have a more pro style offense, and you can see Brantley has his confidence back,” senior wide receiver Deonte Thompson said. “It’s a big difference, coming in very confident with 7x7 drills, he controls the huddle, more verbal.”

       “I think we’re going to surprise people this year,” Green said.