Thoughts of the Day: August 23, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

SOUNDING OFF ON A MONDAY MORNING

KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE O-LINE AND SECONDARY THIS WEEK: This is the last week of hard practices before game week prep for Florida Atlantic begins next Monday. The two areas of concern that I have are on the offensive line and at safety and STAR.

With Kingsley Eguakun taking over at center, there has been a shuffle on the right side of the offensive line. Heading into today’s practice, Stewart Reese will likely be the right guard with Jean Delance at right tackle. Reese played center in the spring, but he’s started at both guard and both tackle positions in the SEC during his career. Delance has had problems with speed rushers off the edge in the past. I’m not convinced he will get the job done this year and if he can’t pass block effectively, Reese could easily slide out to right tackle, where he started 13 straight games when he was at Mississippi State. If Reese slides outside, then Josh Braun would take over at right guard. I’m willing to be convinced Delance can get the job done, but I’m not optimistic.

The starters on the O-line heading into today’s practice will be: LT Richard Gouraige, LG Ethan White, C Eguakun, RG Reese and RT Delance.

Because Jedarrius Perkins (from Missouri) and Elijah Blades (from Texas A&M) transferred in, I’m not as concerned with the corners. Kaiir Elam, Perkins, Blades, Avery Helm and freshman Jason Marshall Jr. make for a nice rotation. At safety, my hope is that Trey Dean III has not only found a home but figured out the discipline it takes to be the last line of defense. He’s the only safety with a lot of experience. Tre’vez Johnson and Rashad Torrence played a good bit last year, but they were true freshmen and inconsistent. Kamar Wilcoxson had a lot of ability but not much experience and freshmen Donovan Mitchell and Corey Collier Jr. have a lot of talent, but zero experience. Can one of these guys play STAR or will it be necessary to experiment with Perkins or Blades?

Until the back line gets settled, there is no rest for the defense.

(2) DAN MULLEN AND LAKE KIFFIN MUST CONNECT TELEPATHETICALLY WHEN IT COMES TO SCHEMING AN OFFENSE: There has been no shortage of hints from Dan Mullen and his running backs that the offense is going to be creatively structured to take advantage of five players with five unique skill sets that will require a good many sets with two on the field at once. Among the looks we could see a running back on either side of the quarterback for a shotgun-veer look that could offer a true triple option (dive back, quarterback reads the DE and either keeps or pitches to the trailing RB) or one in the slot to make a mismatch against linebackers in the pass game or for jet sweeps. When the back is in the slot we probably will see is something similar to what Florida was running particularly in 2007-08 when Tim Tebow had either Chris Rainey or Jeff Demps as his running back and Percy Harvin either as a wingback or in the slot. Rainey and Demps were also good pass catchers so they could slide to the wing and Percy could move in as the running back. In particular this season, we could see Malik Davis and Nay’Quan Wright lined up in the slot or as a wingback on a regular basis.

Meanwhile over in Oxford, Jerrion Ealy, who ran for 745 yards and nine touchdowns last year while catching 15 passes for 155 yards and another TD, said he’ll spend a good portion of his time in the slot this year because Lane Kiffin wants to put two running backs on the field at the same time to create mismatches and a personnel dilemma for opposing defensive coordinators. With Snoop Conner (421 rushing yards, 8 TDs; 12-83 receiving) and Henry Parrish (263 rushing yards, 2. TDs; 7-59 receiving) to share the backfield, it makes sense to get creative with the offense to better take the pressure off Matt Corral.

There is no question that the two more creative offensive minds in the Southeastern Conference belong to Dan Mullen and Lane Kiffin. They aren’t system offensive coaches in that they don’t have a set way to run things. Instead, they both figure out what their personnel can and can’t do, then design the offense around their strengths.

After last season, Florida’s 2021 defense is somewhat of a mystery. While we don’t really know exactly how Mullen plans to use all the weapons at his disposal, we do know his track record says the Gators will be productive and score points. If the defense is top 30 or better, the Gators could win the SEC East. Over in the SEC West, Kiffin doesn’t have the personnel on defense to win the division, but he’s got good enough offensive talent and a creative enough mind that teams like Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M will be on upset alert.

(3) IF THE BIG 12 WANTS TO REMAIN AN AUTONOMOUS POWER 5 CONFERENCE … The big news last week in the ongoing attempt to paint Greg Sankey and the Southeastern Conference as the bastion of all that is evil in college athletics was the same culprits who were whining about poor old Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12 really don’t give a fat rat’s ass about the soon-to-be orphaned eight remaining teams. As commissioners Kevin Warren (Big Ten Plus Four), Jim Phillips (Always Clemson Conference) and George (Costanza) Kliavkov (Pac-12) did their best collective impersonation of Little Jack Horner – “He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, “What a good boy am I!” – after announcing they’re close to what will be a scheduling alliance that isn’t going to do much of anything for them financially, a few in the national media all but ignored the fact that none of them offered a helping hand to the Big 12.

The Big 12 is going to collapse rather soon if it doesn’t do something bold and in a hurry. It can’t afford to play out the clock with Texas and Oklahoma until the media rights deal with Fox and ESPN expires in 2025. As an autonomous Power 5 conference that gets an equal cut of the College Football Playoff revenue, the Big 12 cannot afford to collapse. Perhaps the only way the Big 12 can remain in existence would be to do a pre-emptive strike to expand to 16 teams and in doing so create a more diverse football league that would also be a basketball powerhouse.

There isn’t a single team out there with the clout of the soon-to-be departed Texas and Oklahoma but adding seven teams from the American Athletic Conference – Houston, SMU, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF, South Florida and either Temple or East Carolina – and independent BYU would be a rather strong geographic footprint that would bring networks to the bargaining table. Maybe they wouldn’t come up with a deal as good as the current one with Fox and ESPN that helps the Big 12 pay out a little more than $38 million per school, but something in the neighborhood of $25 million (or more) would dwarf what the AAC teams currently receive from their TV deal.

A football league that has Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Kansas State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis, SMU and Brigham Young would be a very competitive league that has a footprint in SEC, ACC and Big Ten country. From a basketball perspective, Baylor won last year’s NCAA championship and Kansas is a perennial contender for the Final Four. Texas Tech and Houston have been to Final Fours in the last three years. Memphis is an emerging power on a national scale and West Virginia is always strong.

The Big 12 already does a yearly basketball challenge with the SEC. Why not attempt to get the SEC to bite on a football challenge? SEC fans would probably rather see something like that than scheduling teams from the MAC or Conference USA. An annual game between every team in the Big 12 and SEC would be superior to bringing in a paycheck opponent.

That is just one idea and it may not be viable, but Bob Bowlsby and the eight Big 12 orphans better realize in a hurry that if they don’t take pre-emptive and bold steps, they won’t be around much longer. Any future delays could lead to the Big Ten adding Kansas and Iowa State, the ACC scooping up West Virginia and the Pac-12 adding Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

(4) MEANWHILE UP IN ATHENS …: Tight end Arik Gilbert’s status remains in limbo. Former Georgia running back Terrence Edwards, who serves as a mentor, told DawgNation Daily, “The young man is dealing with a situation, and it’s none of anyone’s business with what’s going on. Coach [Kirby] Smart told everyone that it is ‘a personal issue’ … the man needs your prayers and your positivity. He doesn’t need all the speculation and rumors – that are just not true about the young man.”

So, figure Gilbert won’t be on the field anytime soon, much less the season opener against Clemson in Charlotte on September 4. Probably 95-99 percent doubtful range are tight ends Darnell Washington (foot surgery) and John FitzPatrick (foot), wide receivers George Pickens (ACL) and Dominick Blaylock (ACL). Wide receivers Kearis Jackson (knee) and Jermaine Burton (ankle) are expected to play, but they’ve missed a lot of practice and it’s uncertain how close either will be to 100 percent healthy. And those are just the receivers. Safety Tykee Smith (foot surgery), who was a third team All-American last year at West Virginia is expected to be out.

Over on the offensive line, center Warren Ericson is playing guard because he had surgery on his snapping hand. Redshirt freshman Sedric Van Pran-Granger is expected to take his place. Backup tackles Amarius Mims (back) and Owen Condon (unknown) have been slowed and may be limited.

Starting with the situation at receiver, that doesn’t bode well against a Clemson defense that some experts say will be the best in the country. The Tigers return nine starters including the entire front four that is unquestionably the best in the country (led the country with 46 sacks a year ago). Georgia gave up 20 sacks in 306 pass attempts last year, half in the 119 attempts by JT Daniels in the four games he started.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Texas A&M got smacked with two years in the NCAA jailhouse back on Friday for a number of major violations. Included in the punishment are loss of scholarships and sanctions against head coach Buzz Williams and a couple of his assistants. I’m amazed at how quickly the NCAA acted. I’m equally amazed that the NCA still hasn’t dealt with Kansas, Arizona, LSU, Auburn, South Carolina, Louisville, North Carolina State, Alabama, Oregon and TCU, all of which are implicated in the college basketball corruption scandal. There is evidence admitted under oath, sworn testimony and in the case of LSU coach Will Wade, wiretap evidence of him bragging about players he was attempting to buy. That the NCAA can smack down the Aggies for violations that pale in comparison to those committed by the schools in the corruption scandal is just more evidence that it’s time to abandon the NCAA altogether. The organization takes in billions, pays its bloated bureaucracy outrageous salaries, refuses to take decisive action against rules breakers and has too many unenforceable rules. We need a new organization with new rules that will make cheaters pay a hefty price, the sooner the better.