Mondays Thoughts 2/15..

- Many college football players competed and impressed this weekend in the Tyson Invitational track meet in Arkansas. Florida RB Jeff Demps (pictured) headlined the event by winning the Mens 60-Meter Dash. Listed below are other players and how they fared:

1. Jeff Demps RB Florida So. 6.59

17. Skye Dawson WR TCU Fr. 6.78

26. Chris Rainey RB Florida Jr. 6.81

33. Travis Benjamin WR Miami So. 6.85

36. Lamar Miller RB Miami Fr. 6.88

53. DeMarcus VanDyke DB Miami Jr. 6.91

77. Terry Carter DB La Tech Jr. 6.99

79. London Crawford WR Arkansas Jr. 7.06

However none of these times compare to what North Carolina 230-pound LB Zach Brown has been running. Brown ran a 6.72 last week shattering the school record by a tenth of a second. Pretty impressive for a linebacker to move that quick.

- Basketball is big time in Kentucky and it showed on Saturday morning during ESPN's College Gameday. Kentucky became the first school to sell tickets to the on-campus pregame show. Not only did they sell tickets, but Kentucky managed to sell-out the arena.

- Rumors have been flying about Texas to the Big 10, but this may not be the right move. If Texas were to move to the Big 10, they would find themselves in a situation where they would have to schedule out of conference games against Oklahoma and Texas A&M to stay traditional. Obviously the big draw for Texas to the Big 10 is the money and the Big 10 network. The Big 12 should begin to feel pressure to sign a National T.V. contract much like the SEC on ESPN one.

- FAU S Austin Jensen was hospitalized Saturday after being involved in a hit-and-run car accident. 3 players for FAU's football team where on the way to the teams banquet, when they got involved in an accident on 1-95. My prayers are with Jensen, his family and the team.

- S Marcus Bartels received Rivals.com honors as a Walk-on Star. Bartels took over the safety position after the third game of the season, and responded by leading the team with 112 tackles. Rumor has it Bartels is still fighting for a scholarship.

- A. Ivins

Friday's Forecast 2/12..

FAU AD Craig Angelos has announced that FAU is in the works of traveling to play Michigan in 2012. Nothing is final yet, but this has the making to be a great road game for the Owls. This could be the programs, 4th game in Michigan in the past few years (twice in Detroit, and another time at Michigan St.) With the current state of Michigan's program, there could be a good chance a new coach besides Rich Rodriguez is at Michigan.

UCF's football program is in some pain today, as they have self-reported multiple recruiting violations that will place the program on probation the next two seasons. Two former UCF employees had made illegal contact with over 27 recruits over a two year span. The probation could include anything from no post season play, which is unlikely, to loss of scholarship.

UCF's George O'Leary could be out the door..

Predictions for the Weekend:

#4 West Virgina at #23 Pitt 9 p.m. Friday- If your not out drinking on a Friday night, this is a game to watch. The Backyard Brawl as it is called can get nasty (two weeks ago, WVU fans threw coins at Pitt's bench) Look for West Virgina F Devin Ebanks to have a big night. -WVU by 2

Maryland at #7 Duke 1 p.m. Saturday- Maryland always finds ways to win games when there on the bubble, but going into Duke is no easy task. - Maryland by 2 in my upset of the week

#12 Tennessee at #2 Kentucky 9p.m. Saturday- It seems like i say the same thing every week about UK, G John Wall has to play good. Gameday is in Lexington and look for Wall to go off- UK by 8

#16 Ohio St. at Illinois 1 p.m. Sunday- Illinois is coming off a huge win at Wisconsin. If they knock off Ohio State they could very easily find themselves in for the tourney- Oh-io by 5

Daytona 500 1 p.m. Sunday- The Daytona 500 is here. Jimmie Johnson is going for a 5-peat, but the cup winner never wins the 500. - Kasey Kahne

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM Sunday- Spyglass Hill GC is worth just watching on it's own. Golf hasn't been the same without Tiger, but look who finds himself on the leader board, David Duval. - Dustin Johnson over Duval on Sunday

- A Ivins

JV College Football?

What if college football had JV teams? What if on Tuesday night i could turn on the TV and see a freshman 5-Star QB who is redshirting lead a team of fellow freshman and sophomores against another schools JV team?

Its a far fetched idea, but as the atmosphere dies down from National Signing Day and everyone debates over who landed the top recruiting class, people realize that they might not see some of these players for years to come. An answer to the fan could be playing games with these players.

JV and Freshman teams haven't been around high profile college football conferences since the 70's. Back then, freshman weren't eligible to play their first year, but when the NCAA aloud freshman to play the teams dissolved and where outlawed.

A return by the JV team to division-1 football could bring some benefits, but there is also some questions. How would you field a team? Who would coach the team? Who would watch the game? Would it count against a players eligibility?

First off, the current scholarship number teams are allowed would have to go up. Currently teams are allowed 85 scholarship athletes. This number would need to raise by at least 5. Having 90 scholarship athletes in the program would be enough to field both a JV and a Varsity squad. The varsity squad is clearly the main influence of the program, as it is the money maker, so the JV squad would fall underneath it. 70- players would be devoted to the varsity roster leaving 20 scholarship athletes for JV.

All a football team needs to have to play a game is 24 players really (11 on each side of the ball, and a kicker and punter). The remainder of the JV roster would be devised of walk-on players and wouldn't total past 45. 5-JV players would be eligible to move up and down on the Varsity roster due to injury.

On the JV team, the player would have 1-year where eligibility wouldn't count against him. For example, lets take Florida QB signee Tyler Murphy. Murphy enters the 2010 season on the JV roster where he earns the job starting JV QB. His freshman season on the JV squad, would be the equivalent as a redshirt season. The next season Murphy remains on the JV squad to play QB, this becomes his first year of eligibility. Murphy then would have 3-years on the varsity level as your only allowed 2-years on JV.

The question then arouses that there is really 5-years of eligibility if you take the JV route. This is correct, however it isn't 5-years on the highest level of college football playing in games with the top coaches. The JV teams, would be coached by Graduate Assistants, and one coach on the payroll from the university such as an offensive coordinator. Taking these matters would have two different benefits. First it would prevent that 5th year of playing eligibility and it would give graduate assiatants more experience, which long term would produce better coaches.

The next question would be who the JV teams would play and when. Since money isn't the number one priority at the JV level, traveling would need to be kept to a minimum and the schedule wouldn't exceed 6-8 games. Forming "JV" conferences would make sense. For example a conference of all the teams in the state of Florida would make sense, because in many cases teams would travel by bus. Thursday nights would work for most of these JV contests because of how the varsity teams would work. JV teams in case would be the scout team all week for the varsity teams.

For all of this to work, however you would need a TV contract, as that would provide a market for advertisers and networks. A station like ESPNU would be the perfect fit for the competitions as it is not too high profile but it also would provide the opportunity for fans to see the future of their teams.

After all, this is a long shot, but it would be cool to see happen with the modern day media and coverage of college athletics.

- UCF wide receivers coach David Kelley was responsible for bringing in the more recruits single handily than any other coach in the nation. Kelley landed 14 players total, 2 more than all of FAUs class (12). Rivals.com named Kelley one of the top Non-BCS recruits and he deserved it. 9 players from the Miami area signed with UCF including 2 4-star players and a highly recruited dual-threat QB.

- Former Tennessee QB Tee Martin has accepted the Wide Receiver's coaching position at Kentucky. Tee Martin was the starting at QB at Tennessee back in 1998 when they won the National Championship. Since then Martin had a career in NFL, NFL Europe and the CFL before coaching QBs at New Mexico last season.

- The number-1 recruit in the nation OT Seantrel Henderson, who committed to USC on national signing day might not be signing with the Trojans. With an NCAA investigation reviewing the entire athletic department for USC, Henderson has stated he might not want to play football there if they were on suspension. Many expect that USC could be hit hard with violations, as the investigation has combined the basketball program with its O.J. Mayo case and the football program with its Reggie Bush problem. USC could face penalties such as loss of scholarships or a ban from televised games.

- My number-1 recruit in the nation for next year is ATH James Wilder Jr. out of Plant High School in Tampa. James (pictured below) is the son of former NFL running back James Wilder. Already with offers from every top level program, Florida looks to be his leader very early in the process. At 6'2" 219 pounds, Wilder looks to be a wide receiver, but could mold into another position if you look at his body and frame. An early call on this one, but expect a UF-USC battle for Wilder.

A. Ivins Predictions-

Uconn at #3 Syracuse 7p.m.- Syracuse is 23-1 and on the way to a number-1 seed, whereas Uconn has been facing a large drop off from previous years (4-6 in Big East play)- Syracuse by 14

#7 Duke at North Carolina 9p.m.- North Carolina, the defending champions from last season, are 13-10 going into what some people call the nastiest rivalry alive. Duke has been rolling and should be able to roll over a UNC team that is 1-6 in the last 7. -Duke by 10

- A. Ivins

Welcome to the SEC

Starting at quarterback in the South Eastern Conference isn't an easy task for any QB, no matter the talent around them or the skill set they have, they have to be able to handle pressure.

No conference can compare to the talent that is found on SEC team's defenses. Often times new QBs are lost like a deer in the head lights. However some first-year starters in the SEC can find success, but growing pains and losing games are a more common fate.

For every QB Greg McElroy, the 2009 National Champion QB, there is also a Jarrett Lee or a Brent Schaeffer in the SEC, and that's what can make the conference so successful.

Jarrett Lee took over the LSU job in 2008 and threw 16 interceptions while tying the record at 7 for the most interceptions returned for TDs. LSU finished that year 8-5 (3-5 in conference play) and Lee was pulled by the end of the season.

Brent Schaeffer was a guy who started his first career game at Tennessee and was the first freshman to accomplish that task in 59 years. Schaeffer was then pulled by the second game of the season and soon was kicked of the team. After a year in Juco, then Ole Miss Head Coach Ed Orgeron brought Scaheffer in to become the starting QB, naming him to the position before he was even on campus. Ole Miss finished 4-8 (2-6 in the SEC) and Scaheffer struggled.

Then you have Greg McElroy who took over for Alabama this past season and did what he had to do. Alabama didn't put the game on McElroy's shoulders, rather they did what they were good at and that was running the ball. McElroy wasn't just an after thought, he made play after play when it mattered the most. Against Florida and Texas he made throws and audibles leading Alabama to a perfect season and a BCS National Championship.

The success of QBs like McElroy is rare and listed below is the new crop of first year starters who wil try to duplicate the formula that McElroy had used.

Cameron Newton Auburn- Cameron Newton is one of those gifted and very talented athletes who had made a bad choice at Florida. His size ( 6'6" 247) makes him a very intriguing dual threat prospect. In limited his snaps his freshman year at Florida, he reminded some of Tim Tebow as he lowered his shoulder and hit defenders. After UF, he attended Junior College for a year, where he won a NJCAA National Championship. Auburn's Guz Muzelhan should find Newton very capable of running his spread offense. Ability to find success this season: B-plus

Brantley (Left) and Newton at Florida

John Brantley Florida- John Brantley a one-time uber recruit and Gatorade player of the year has patiently waited his turn at Florida. Following the success of the legend QB Tim Tebow will be a difficult task for Brantley. Playing as a back up the past two season, Brantley has already thrown for 10-TDs. Unlike Tebow, Brantley is more of a pocket passer with excellent accuracy. Changing the offense to revolve around Brantley won't be a problem because many claim that Urban Meyer's spread attack is designed more for the passing game. Ability to find success this season: A

Raymond Cotton Ole Miss- With the departure of up and down QB Jevan Snead to the NFL, Houston Nutt is faced with a quarterback vacancy. Cotton a dual-threat QB of of Maryland was the prize of Ole Miss's 2009 Recruiting Class, but was redshirted the past season. Nutt hasn't named Cotton the starter but he could be the best fit for the Rebels. Ole Miss's offensive situation will be a difficult as most of the production is gone from last year in Snead, do everything WR Dexter Mccluster and WR Shay Hodge. Cotton has the tools to find success but don't look for too much right away. Ability to find success this season: B-minus

Super Tuesday Predictions-

#12 Tennessee @ #24 Vanderbilt 7 p.m.- Bruce Pearl could be in the orange blazer for this one.- Vandy by 4

Alabama @ #2 Kentucky 9 p.m.- John Wall and Demarcus Cousins are playing at a different level these days. Anthony Grant's Tide cant handle them. -Big Blue by 12

Closing Thought.

If you ever had thought Mike Leach or Jim Levitt were bad coaches because of how they treated their players, think again. The day after Urban Meyer was hired to be the head coach at Bowling Green he held a team meeting and workout at 5 a.m. Players entered the indoor practice facility that cold morning and prepared to run sprints. Meyer had placed trash cans all over the turf field with the tops off, ordering players to run sprints for the next three hours. During that period there were lines at each trash can as players waited to throw up into them after their teammate was finished.

By that Friday almost 20 players had quit the team. Urban Meyer said he could never do that again and he hasn't since.

- A Ivins

Monday's Thoughts 2/8..

- Former FAU players TE Jason Harmon and QB Rusty Smith took place in the Nation vs Texas Senior Game this past weekend and there were some mixed results. Comments looked very positive throughout the three days of practice for Harmon, as some draft sites even called him a sleeper that came out of no where. Smith on the other hand had a Tebow-like senior game in which he went 5-12 for 63 yards. Smith's draft status has been slipping since his mid-season injury. Both Harmon and Smith still have a shot to be FAU's first drafted NFL player, but they will have to have great pro day workouts. I'm giving more of a shot to get drafted somewhere in the 7th round as he is extremely athletic and has great hands. I think is really will come down to how fast he can run the 40 yard sprint.

- Bowling Green WR Freddie Barnes college football's leading receiver from the past season wasn't invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Barnes a former high school quarter back finished this season with 155 catches, 1,170 yards and 19 Tds.

- Sun Belt baseball predictions are out and Rivals.com has FAU slotted to finsih 7th. Middle Tennessee State who is coming off a NCAA regional berth is set to be the class of the Sun Belt. Look out for Troy, Western Kentucky and Florida International to all challenge.

- Washington Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin put on a dominating performance Sunday against last years Stanley Cup champions the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ovechkin rallied the Capitals back from a 3-goal defect by scoring 3-goals of his own and nearly putting a 4th when the Capitals won in overtime. If more national televised games like this occur, the NHL has a shot to come back.

- Back with more later

A Ivins

Nothings too Early..

Lane Kiffin is at it again. Most coaches are rolling out film on the next class of players to start recruiting, Kiffin however has decided to fast forward and receive a verbal commitment from 13-year old QB David Sills.

That's right, Lane Kiffin, the man who has bent almost any and every rule when it comes to recruiting, has landed the staple of his 2015 recruiting class. Sills who trains with personal coach Steve Clarkson, is seen by some as the second coming of Jimmy Clausen, the Lebron James of football.

People shouldn't forget that Kiffin had already received a verbal commitment from at 13-year old when he was at Tennessee. S Evan Berry brother of All-American and future top-ten pick S Eric Berry committed to the Vols last June. Since then Lane Kiffen has spurned Tennessee and is now coaching at USC.

David Sills and his parents should be very cautious of there commitment, because in Lane Kiffin's world a lot can happen in 5-years.

Bringing in and committing your program to a kid 5-years away could provide some problems for Kiffin's staff. It could be very difficult to bring in a QB prospect in the next couple of years with the thought that Sills is destined to start his first year.


Shifting to FAU....

AD Craig Angelos announced that there shouldn't be any changes to the out of conference schedule for the upcoming season. This comes unfortunate because FAU might be faced with less than 5 home games. Road trips at USF, Texas, UAB and Michigan State in Detroit should be difficult tasks.

Mike Jarvis and his squad fell last night to North Texas 86-69 and is now 0-3 in the North Texas's Super Pit. The Owls are living and dying with the three pointer and last night the jet lag got to them as they were only 2 of 13 from behind the arc. Hopefully the team can refocus for the game Saturday in Denver.

QB Rusty Smith and TE Jason Harmon will be playing in the Texas vs The Nation game tom morrow at 2 pm on CBS Sports. Both Smith and Harmon are looking to become the first FAU player to be drafted in the NFL draft.

FAU Basketball commit G Brett Comer will be in the "Burrow" tonight playing in a nationally televised event. The game will place Pine Crest HS vs Winter Park HS and is displaying stars Brandon Knight and Austin Rivers. ESPN 2- 7 p.m.

-A Ivins

Signing Day Hangover

The smoke has cleared and college coaches have announced who will come play for their programs over the next few years.

FAU has managed to finish dead last in most recruiting sites rankings of classes, but recruiting coordinator Kurt Van Valkenburgh explained the reasoning behind that.

Valkenburgh stated that the coaching staff likes to evaluate talent throughout the season then make an overall commitment to a player. That commitment isn't one that will be revoked explains Valkenburgh. Unlike, other big programs such as Tennessee, FAU will not offer a kid and then pull the offer last minute. "We [FAU] don't want to be put in a situation where a high school wont let us come back" stated Valkenburgh. "Florida is our backyard." FAU needs to keep ties to the backyard because so much talent is here.

Defensive line coach Johhny Frost pointed out that he feels confident in the ties to high schools in his recruiting zone such as Pahokee and Belle Glade. Keep good ties to schools like this is key because of the type of players they produce. "Look for us to go more into south Georgia to recruit" Valkenburgh mentioned. Hopefully, FAU's staff will be back in Valdosta next year, as I've already began evaluating some potential prospects showing interest from there.

Frost also mentioned that FAU had lost out on TE Clive Walford to Miami. Walford a 6'6" product would have been a nice addition, but it just shows how far FAU has come to be in a signing day battle with a powerhouse like Miami. With plans in place for a stadium on campus look for FAU to start winning these battles.

Signee FS Cortez Ash could be seen around campus in this car come next fall. Ash pictured on the left, was coached by former Miami TE Randy Bethel at Sebastian River High School.

On to Basketball....

FAU fans could be in trouble for last Saturday's actions in which they chanted "rapist" at Florida international head coach Isiah Thomas. Thomas felt that the actions by the student section where out of line and could threaten legal action.

If you happened to catch any of the Backyard Brawl Pittsburgh vs West Virgina in basketball, you saw a similar actions from a student body. West Virgina students went as far as throwing bottles onto the court and throwing coins at the Pittsburgh bench.

The Owls have hit the road for the Sun Belt west road trip where the will play at North Texas and Denver.... USF has won 4 straight Big East basketball games, when they upset #8 Georgetown last night. FAU's loss where they played competitively throughout the game is looking like a loss to a potential tournament team now...

FAU at North Texas, 8pm- FAU has never beat North Texas and this should be a difficult task for the owls who are ridding a 5-game win streak. A win tonight and Mike Jarvis's squad should start getting some tournament talk nation wide. A Ivins likes FAU by 5

- A Ivins