Is out for the San Jose State game with an injury. Don’t know severity of injury. Will try to find out more and have more information later today.

I like Auburn to finish second in the SEC West over Arkansas. I like the talent at AU. Don’t think they can beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, but like them over Ark, LSU and Ga at home. Should be a good season for Tigers, nine or 10 wins, eleven not totally out of the question  if they stay healthy and Newton lives up to expectations.
(Cam Newton key to season for Tigers)

I’ve got to go with the obvious choices. I’d love to go with Georgia over Fl and there’s a chance, but I don’t believe Ga can beat Fl. Florida has too many weapons on offense. ‘Bama is my choice for the West, another consensus pick. The Tide’s offense should be prolific with McElroy, Ingram, Richardson, Julio, Maze and Hanks and a solid offensive line anchored by William Vlachos and Barrett Jones. Arkansas is the team that should give ‘Bama the most trouble, but the Tide should outscore them on Sept. 25 in Fayetteville. The secondary is a concern, really the whole defense is, but particularly the secondary. But I have heard good things about DeQuan Menzie and Dre Kirkpatrick the starting corners. You know Mark Barron will be great and Robert Lester is a four-star talent. There are some talented players behind them. Will Marcell Dareus play? That is a big question mark. He would really help the line. Josh Chapman should be good in the middle. Hightower and Courtney Upshaw will be solid at lbs. Hightower is special. Upshaw could be, too. The defense will keep improving throughout the season, just need to stay healthy.
Auburn’s fortunes are centered on Cam Newton and injuries. Cam Newton is a highly regarded talent but hasn’t taken a snap in the SEC. I saw a few passes he threw in the Spring game and he has an arm no doubt. There are some great playmakers at wide receiver in Adams, Zachery and Carr among others. Freshmen like Trovon Reed have stepped up. Running back is talented with Fannin, McCalebb and frosh Dyer, but they can’t afford to get injured. Not much depth there. O line should be very good. Defense needs to stay healthy. There is plenty of talent there, but some frosh will play key roles as backups. Bynes, Stevens and guys like Etheridge and Savage will need to be leaders. Good group, just not real deep though the frosh linebackers are talented. Dline will count on some frosh like Lemonier and Whittaker to produce. Mike Blanc, Nick Fairly and others will have to lead them.

Alabama has some young kickers and Auburn has Byrum back. AU’s return game with Washington should be good on kickoffs. Alabama has some exciting options, Julio and Trent.

Here is my predicted order of finish in the West, East and SEC champ game along with my national champ pick.

West:

1. Alabama-See above

2. Arkansas-Getting closer. Not enough defense yet. Gunning for ‘Bama Sept. 25, but have to go to Ga the week before.

3. Auburn-Getting there, but not sure about Newton, and injuries could play a role.

4.LSU-I just don’t think Miles can get it done. Not sure Jordan Jefferson is the answer at quarterback. A lot of talent, but just can’t seem to get it done under Miles.

5. Ole Miss-Could surprise some people if Jeremiah Masoli produces. Lost some good players though there is talent coming back at running back. Houston Nutt is optimistic. Always seems to pull off an upset or two.

6. Miss. State-Dan Mullen trying to build a winner at a tough place to win. Not sure if Relf can get it done at qb. Probably will be better on offense and State always has good defensive players and olinemen.

East:

1. Florida-Think John Brantley will be the real thing. Maybe a better passer than Tebow and there are so many weapons around him: Rainey, Demps, Thompson, Debose. Fl. should be strong offensively. Defense may struggle a little with some key losses from last year’s team, Brandon Spikes and Joe Haden. Still offense good enough to carry them.

2.Georgia-Close to Florida, but who knows what’s going to happen to Ealey at running back? He may get back on team in time for game two at South Carolina. Aaron Murray should be pretty good at qb and oline should be good. Defense is implementing 3-4 and looks like they’ll be more aggressive this year. Should be in good shape when they meet Florida in Jacksonville Oct. 30 for what should decide  the East.

3.South Carolina-Trouble with players staying in a hotel in offseason. Steve Spurrier just can’t get a break. They looked to be a possible division winner coming into the season and there is more talent on this team. But will Stephen Garcia finally get it done? Don’t think he’s good enough to beat Fl and Ga though they do have Ga at home. on Sept 11. Could be a classic there. Just not enough in the tank to beat Fl this year. Georgia game a tossup though I give a slight edge to the ‘Dogs.

4. Kentucky-Joker Phillips trying to keep Ky going to bowl games and take them to the next level. He seems to have a good plan, but it’s hard to compete with  the big boys in the East. Got some weapons in Randall Cobb (tremendous player) and Derrick Locke. Mike Hartline will start at qb, but Morgan Newton should get time and he’s an excellent athlete. Kentucky playing solid football. Getting better. Not elite, but improving. Defense always a question mark.

5. Tennessee-Total rebuilding project for Derek Dooley. Tough assignment, but think he’ll get it done ultimately. Offensive line very thin and lacking any experience. QB Simms new. They will struggle.

6. Vandy-Robbie Caldwell has injected enthusiasm in the program with his outgoing personality. He’s trying to build a program that can make it to bowl games in the future. This probably won’t be the year. Just don’t have enough horses. Have some, but not enough.

SEC Championship: Alabama over Florida, 31-24.

BCS championship: Alabama over Ohio State, 24-10.

Bowl teams in SEC: Florida (BCS, most likely Sugar), Arkansas (something like the Citrus) Auburn (should see New Year’s bowl, Outback something like that). LSU (Chick Filet), Georgia (Should have better bowl this year, possibly a New Year’s Day bowl).  South Carolina (Liberty Bowl maybe All-American again). Outside shots: Ole Miss (depends on Masoli if he is even the starter). Kentucky (With Randall Cobb it’s possible). Miss. State (probably not, will take too many lumps in SEC). Vandy and Tennessee hoping to win some games.

(Greg McElroy and S will try to repeat this year for the  first time since Nebraska in ’94-’95)

With the loss of Javier Arenas (Kansas City Chiefs), Kareem Jackson (Houston Texans), Marquis Johnson (St. Louis Rams) and Justin Woodall, the Tide is in a rebuilding mode, but I’d call it more of a reload. Potential All-American Mark Barron (6’2″, 210, Jr.) is the unquestioned leader in the secondary. I have interviewed Barron before. He’s a solid guy, smart and a terrific football player as last season attests to. There is unproven but very talented young guys who will be joining Barron. Here are their Rivals’ rankings, their signing year, their size and their year on the team: Five-star B.J. Scott (2008, 5’11”, 193, rshirt Soph.), five-star Dre Kirkpatrick (2009, 6’3″, 190, Soph.), four-star Kendall Kelly (2009 6’3″, 214 R-shirt frosh, who has played wr, too, so not sure where he’ll be), five-star DeMarcus Milliner (2010, 6’1″, 182, frosh), four-star DeQuan Menzie (2010, 6’0″, 195, jr. college), four-star Blake Sims (2010, 6’0″, 195, frosh), four-star Nick Perry (2010, 6’1″, 193, frosh), four-star Robert Lester (2010, 6’2″, 208, frosh) four-star Jarrick Williams (2010, 6’1″, 203, frosh) and four-star John Fulton (2010, 6’0″ 179, frosh). LSU transfer Phelon Jones (2010, Jr, 5’11, 199)  is on the team, but I think has to sit out a year. He could really help in 2011.
As you can see by their rankings, these guys are highly talented. All of the four-star players were very close to being five-star players and when you’re that highly ranked, you can play on Sundays. If you watched Training Days on ESPNU, you saw how well these guys are coached up by Nick Saban. He does an amazing job with the dbs and loves doing it.

Barron will start at free safety and Kirkpatrick and Scott may be the corners. The strong safety position seems open right now. I know Sims has been working there.  Saban doesn’t put out a depth chart until right before the season, so it’s unclear who the two-deep will be  at those positions.

The first three games are San Jose State, Penn State and Duke. The dbs might be tested some against Penn State though the Nittany Lions will have a new quarterback, and will be tested somewhat at Duke. Certainly can’t overlook any of those opponents. If they can get through those three  games with experience and three wins, it’ll get real interesting after that.

At Arkansas and Ryan Mallett and his talented wrs on Sept 25. This group should be somewhat battle-tested by then, but there will be a major challenge at Fayetteville. The following week, John Brantley and Florida come to Tuscaloosa. All I’ve heard and read about Brantley is that he is a very good passer and Florida always has the wide receivers led this year by speedsters Deonte Thompson and Andre DeBose. I’ve heard Thompson has been on fire at camp, so Kirkpatrick and Scott will be tested.

Then it’s at South Carolina (Stephen Garcia if he’s still playing by then), Ole Miss (could be Masoli)  at home, at UT (a Simms, one of Phil Simms’ sons), week off, at LSU (Jordan Jefferson possibly and some talent at wideout) and Miss. State  (improving passing game with Chris Relf at qb unless he falters) at home before Georgia State and Auburn (could be tough, untested qb but great wrs) come to town.

It’s a difficult schedule and there are some good and one very good  qb this Tide secondary will face. Of course, the pass rush will have to help. It will help a lot if Marcell Dareus is eligible. Dont’a Hightower will be a big factor, too, on blitzes and in coverage along with Courtney Upshaw, Nico Johnson, Jerrell Harris, Tana Patrick  and other lbs. The front three is not that experienced, so there’ll need to be leadership from a guy like noseguard Josh Chapman.

The secondary will be tested early and often. They’ve got the talent to handle the challenge; it’s just a matter of how soon they’ll be ready. Guys like Milliner, Menzie and Sims, who have been hurt,  need to be healthy and be out there ready for game one.

(Young guys like Dre Kirkpatrick, pictured above, need to step up in Tide secondary)

This is a tough one. The guy had an amazing college career capped off by a 31-35 passing performance for 482 yards and three TDS in the 2010 Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati. But the game before that, the SEC Championship game against Alabama, Tebow was 20-35 for 247 yards one td and one int, a costly one that Javier Arenas picked off in the end zone that cost Florida some points. Alabama had Tebow pretty fooled though his numbers were pretty decent.
He had a rough Senior Bowl, but he’s been working hard with Denver Coach Josh McDaniels so who knows? I didn’t think he would do a lot in the pros at the beginning of the summer, but the guy has an incredible work ethic, he understands the Denver playbook and he does have a strong arm. He’s so strong physically, too.

I just don’t know on this one. It  remains to be seen. The guy has all the intangibles, but can he dissect an NFL defense like he did in college? The Sugar Bowl was not a great barometer because he was going against a defense that was not that good and a team that had been devastated by their coach leaving after the regular season was over. Brian Kelly, their coach, took the Notre Dame job.

This year will be a total learning experience for Tebow. A lot of people are saying he can’t do it. I was one of them at the beginning of the summer. Dan Mullen, his offensive coordinator at Florida before taking the Miss. State job, said that Tebow is a “winner” and he’ll find a way to get it done. Mullen is of course biased because he coached him. Just because he was a winner in college does not mean he will be in the pros. The defenses are faster, they’re tougher and they’ll be out to get him.

I’m going to reserve judgment this year. I say we’ll know in two or three years how good Tim Tebow will be. He has the heart to do it, but does he have the ability to beat NFL defenses? He has a good coach who tutored Tom Brady at New England as Brady’s offensive coordinator, so he will be coached up well.

I don’t do this very much, but at this point I have to say I don’t know. I’m leaning toward Tebow not being a great NFL quarterback, but he could easily surprise me and a lot of other people. It’ll take two or three years.

(Tim Tebow will give it everything he’s got to be a standout in the NFL, photo above as a Gator)

Cam Newton had a decent day. Threw a 20-yarder to frosh Trovon Reed for a score. Reed another one of those frosh who may play a role this year though the receiving corps is pretty deep. Emory Blake caught a pair of touchdowns, one from Kodi, who was working out of the Wildcat, and another from Barrett Trotter. Kodi is a guy who is flying under the radar, but will play a key role this year. He’s such a great athlete and a great kid. Unbelievable attitude. Quindarius Carr looks like the number one punt returner and Wes Byrum kicked a 50-yard field goal. Two battling it out for punter: Ryan Shoemaker and freshman Steven Clark.
Desmond Washington, Onterio McCalebb and soph Anthony Gully are competing for starting kick returning duties. Washington looked to really stand out at the end of last season with that near 100 yard return against Georgia for td. He’s a real weapon and you know McCalebb can fly. Not so sure about Gully. Will look more into him later.

Barrett Trotter is looking very good, so if Newton gets hurt or struggles there is a very capable replacement. Neil Caudle and Clint Moseley are also good options.

No major injuries to report. Zac Etheridge was  held out for precautionary measures. Still monitoring him closely after last year’s near disaster with his neck. But looks like the defense outscored the offense yesterday.There is good talent on d no doubt, just need to stay healthy particularly at lb though freshmen like LaDarius Owens and Jake Holland and two others can help out  Bynes, Stevens, Evans and Freeman.

If defense can shore itself up and stay healthy and Newton can deliver and get the ball to his talented group of wideouts, the rbs should be excellent with Fannin, McCalebb, Smith and Dyer. Fannin and McCalebb should be excellent and Smith should play an important role supporting those two and running for tough yards and catching the ball out of the backfield which he is good out. Dyer is an incredible talent, so he should see the field some.  The future is unlimited for him. The ol should be strong maybe even dominating led by Ryan Pugh and Lee Ziemba. Open with Ark. State; just need to play well. Then at Ms. State and at home versus Clemson and South Carolina. Need to be ready.

(T’Sharvin Bell photo above)

Some very impressive numbers in first scrimmage by the offense, particularly qb Greg McElroy. If there was any thought that A.J. McCarron was better than McElroy at this time, McElroy’s numbers proved that he is the entrenched starter and is poised for a huge year. Nick Saban is concerned about his defense particularly his secondary. There were some injuries there yesterday, but some guys also making plays. The hurt guys need to make it back. No one seemed that seriously hurt although Robert Lester may take some time to get back. More later. Some good numbers put up by some guys on defense though.
McElroy was 26-33, 360 yards, 6 tds and 0 ints. McCarron, who is a major talent but not ready to unseat McElroy, was 21-26 for 241 yards, two tds and two ints. Frosh Phillip Sims looked good going 5-10, 97 yards and a score with no ints. He had a 78-yard td strike to fellow frosh DeAndrew White.

Julio Jones had seven receps for 99 yards and 2 tds, Earl Alexander had five catches for 87 yards and two tds and tight end Preston Dial had three catches for 60 yards and two scores. Looks like Dial will be a very capable replacement for Colin Peek. The explosive Marquis Maze had six catches for 51 yards and one td and the Heisman Trophy winner had 3 catches for 75 yards and one td. Ingram and Julio both ran for around 3o yards. The offense seemed a lot more concerned with the passing game yesterday.

On defense, Mark Barron had five tackles and one pass breakup. B.J. Scott had five tackles and one int. Courtney Upshaw looks like he’s primed for a big year as he added  five tackles and two sacks. Frosh lb C.J. Mosley had three tackles and one int.

The concern for the Tide is the secondary not because of lack of talent, but because of experience and now injury issues. Doesn’t look like anything is overly serious, but the guys who are hurt need the work.

DeQuan Menzie (db) has a slightly pulled hamstring and is day-to-day. DB Robert Lester has a concussion and not sure about his return. Concussions are tricky and serious. DB DeMarcus Milliner has a twisted ankle and is day-to-day. Running back Blake Sims has a sprained foot, so his return is up in the air. Mark Ingram got the wind  knocked out of him, no big deal.

So ‘Bama has a lot of work to do on defense, but the offense is hitting on all cylinders. Need to get some of those guys back and B.J. Scott, Dre and others need to keep improving. Know what Barron can do. There is concern in the secondary. I remember Kirby Smart saying that this summer.

But the offense is going to be putting up the numbers. When the secondary faces Ryan Mallett and Arkansas on Sept. 25 in Fayetteville, they will have to buckle their chin straps and bear down. But it’s a team effort. The pass rush and lbs will have to play a big role as well. And there are three big games before that (San Jose State, Penn State and Duke) just not the prolific passing they will face against Ark. But they’re all big.

If defense can shore up and those guys get healthy, they can be good and offense will be outstanding.

(Greg McElroy pictured with Coach Saban above; Mark Barron making a pick)