It’s time for Wednesdays With Dr. Football to help you get closer to the start of the season.
1. The preseason all-everything teams are coming at you faster than a tailgater on 34th St. and I caution you to take them with a spoonful of skepticism. They are like the early-season polls — almost irrelevant, but necessary. I looked back at last year’s preseason team that we picked in Hoover and we didn’t fare too poorly. On offense. We had seven of the 11 players who matched up with the postseason team. We missed on Mike Evans, Tre Mason and Jeremy Hill plus tight end Arthur Lynch because the postseason team has six linemen and no tight end. Defensively? Not so good. We had three right. It was that kind of year in the league where players such as Michael Sam, Ramik Wilson and Dee Ford kind of burst onto the scene.
2. One of the more interesting picks in the preseason will be at quarterback since this conference lost so many good ones. The easy pick would be Nick Marshall of Auburn since he led his team to the national title game and should be better this season. I guarantee Jacob Coker of Alabama will get some votes even though he hasn’t thrown a college pass. And there will be some consideration for Jeff Driskel, who might well be the choice at the end of the season. But there is a good chance the first-teamer in December will be a quarterback nobody is talking about. It’s going to be a crazy year in this league.
3. Speaking of Driskel, I was thinking about him the other day because Florida just received a commitment from a big-time quarterback in Sheriron Jones. That means Florida will have three high-profile quarterbacks next year (with Will Grier and Treon Harris) plus Driskel. Driskel has another year of eligibility after this season and it would take a really special year for him to declare early for the draft, according to people I’ve talked to.
4. I know I should care a lot more about the O’Bannion trial and how it will affect college football, but basically I just want to know when it’s over and what it means. Man, there are people treating this like Roe v. Wade. I saw a headline that said, “Economist: NCAA coaches reaping benefits.” Well, duh.
5. As we anticipate another college football season, Gator fans are pointing to Aug. 30 and college football fans are pointing to the Thursday night games on Aug. 28, but there is actually a pretty good game on Aug. 23 to kick things off on ESPN. Eastern Washington, a four-point loser in the FCS finals last year and a probable No. 1 in the first preseason poll, plays host to Sam Houston State, which lost by a point in the second round of the postseason last year. Not doing it for you? We’ll see how you feel after a month of the World Cup and a few weeks of nothing.
