heading into the weekend

Not sure that I would want to see this reduced to print if I was Jimbo Fisher.

Tuesday was the first day Tim Tebow participated in practice since the injury versus Kentucky. In my opinion the important information was greeted with much less fanfare. Coach Meyer stated that Tebow had been running on a treadmill for a couple of days prior to re-joining the team at practice and had lifted weights the day before. Everyone talks about how Tebow’s going to react to his first hit, but those people fail to realize that running is the first step in coming back from a concussion. The brain is not stationary, and running is the first real contact drill with regards to recovery. That being said this is beginning to feel an awful lot like Percy Harvin in the SECCG. On Wednesday Meyer basically said that this is going to be a day to day thing and the final decision won’t come until kickoff, although Tebow took part in 100% of the practice, as opposed to 80% the day before. While this is classic coach speak, there are some telling items from the past two days. First, did anyone expect Meyer to be so open about Tebow’s health? I know I fully expected to hear a ton of statements that he is getting better each day, the doctors are testing him, but nothing as specific as what we have gotten. Throw in the fact that Meyer let ESPN bring their cameras to practice and this is starting to smell like a set-up.

Reading between the lines of the interviews with the LSU players, LSU is preparing for Tebow to play. Nothing could be farther from the truth that the offense is the same with or without Tebow. Tebow’s greatness has become such a crutch for this staff, the offense would have to be different without him playing. I am not ready to go on record and say Tebow doesn’t play this weekend but if he doesn’t play, expect to see a lot more of Moody in an I-formation, Demps and Rainey in the backfield together in the WildGator, and Brantley in a quick passing game early (to get his feet under him) and deeper stuff in the second half. I would also love to Hernandez used in the single wing attack down around the goal line. Is it possible that the offense will be harder to defend without it’s best player?

Has a conference ever lost as many stars during the season as the Big 12 this year? Oklahoma has lost Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham, Baylor lost Robert Griffin, Oklahoma State lost leading rusher Kendall Hunter in the Houston game and now Dez Bryant has been ruled ineligible b/c of failure to openly disclose to the NCCA the full details of his interaction “with a former NFL player not affiliated with OSU”. The former NFL player? Deion Sanders.

In what should be considered no real surprise, expect Tennessee to receive a commitment from a high profile recruit by Monday at the latest and it has nothing to do with the fact that Tennessee has an excellent recruiting staff. I fully expect Georgia to beat Tennessee this weekend in Knoxville, which will mean that the half-Monte will be 2-4 and 0-3 in conference going into the bye week, with the task of going to Alabama the following week. What better way to distract a rabid fan base from the fact that you cannot coach than with the verbal pledge of a high profile commit? After the UCLA loss, the Volunteers received commitments from 3 high profile recruits and after the Florida loss the Tennessee staff made a point of calling each of the current Gator commitments, including Matt Elam, to tell them that they were almost good enough to beat the Gators in year 1. From what I hear, Knoxville is getting a little tired of moral victories.

Before this season started, who would have thought that Ole Miss, a preseason top 10 team, would be completely out of the race in the SEC West before the middle of October? With a loss Saturday to Alabama, that is exactly what will happen.