Q:
What are the three most important storylines this spring?
A:
1) Michigan's offense. There's much speculation and plenty of
concern from the Maize and Blue types about the potential of a lousy
season considering all the losses on offense. Chad Henne, Mike Hart,
Jake Long, Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, Ryan Mallett and Adam
Kraus; you simply can't lose that much top-shelf talent and get better.
The team can't hope for Terrelle Pryor to come in and be the immediate
savior, and even if he does got to Ann Arbor and not Columbus, he still
likely won't be ready to roll without spring ball to work. Oh yeah, and
there are huge losses on defense, too. Even so, and this is the fact
everyone seems to gloss over, Michigan still has more talented players
from top to bottom than Rich Rodriguez ever had at West Virginia. This
is Michigan, and it's supposed to be in the national title hunt every
year no matter what, but I have this sinking early March feeling that a
1-4 start if very, very likely with losses to Utah, at Notre Dame (yes,
at Notre Dame ... the D will be good), Wisconsin and Illinois.
2) Emmanuel Moody. Georgia fans are killing me over a previous
article I wrote saying Florida might be the best SEC team coming into
the season, and while I love the Dawgs, especially all the young
potential on offense, Florida is just as loaded after a year of
rebuilding. The one X factor in the SEC race, and possibly the national
title hunt, might be Emmanuel Moody, the USC transfer who might finally
give the Gators a real, live, non-Tebow/Harvin running game. If he
really is "it, " I'm not sure how the Florida offense will be stopped.
3) Will Muschamp at Texas. Mack Brown is just renting his new
defensive coordinator for a year, because Muschamp is destined to run a
really, really big-time program very soon. It's not like Texas hasn't
had good defensive coordinators, and it sure as shoot has had NFL talent
by the boatload, especially in the secondary, but the D hasn't been
nearly as good as it should've been over the last two years since
winning the national title. Even so, Texas has been this close to
winning two straight Big 12 South titles, so if there's just a little
bit of improvement, and the O line is better, Mack Brown's club might
actually be a sleeper.
Q:
What are the three most important storylines this spring?
A: 1. The status of LSU QB Ryan Perrilloux. Just when it
looked like Perrilloux was about to approach his insane high school
hype, he goes ahead and gets suspended for the third time in less than a
year. He’ll be back at some point because he’s real good and because
unlike recent years, LSU has no safety net at quarterback. In case
Perrilloux isn’t done living on the edge, familiarize yourself with
redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee, the new Plan B in Baton Rouge. How many
chances would Perrilloux have gotten if he was a backup safety? Just
wondering.
2. Michigan’s first spring under Rich Rodriguez. It doesn’t
matter which team you follow, the changing of the guard in Ann Arbor is
fun stuff. In terms of culture shock and potential headlines, this is
like Mark Cuban replacing Myles Brand atop the NCAA. While it might
take a couple of years to get all the right parts in place, this will be
our first chance to see how Coach Rod’s new-age spread offense looks in
the traditional maize and blue of Michigan.
3. Mark Sanchez vs. Mitch Mustain in the battle of Troy. Let’s
see, the top-rated prep quarterback of 2005 is set to duke it out with
the top-rated prep quarterback of 2006…at USC. Yeah, you’re not going
to find a position battle that has more energy this spring than this
one. While the importance of Mark vs. Mitch is up for debate, since
both are capable of leading the Trojan offense, it’s one of those spring
competitions that’s so juicy, it’ll demand close scrutiny, even if Pete
Carroll withholds a verdict until August.
Q:
What are the three most important storylines this spring?
A: In terms of the big-ticket schools and
the national title race, the big spring storylines will be different
from the kinds of stories that will affect the sport on a deeper level.
With that in mind, let's provide two separate lists:
With respect to the national title race:
3) The installation of Rich Rodriguez's offense at Michigan. Lots of
urgent work needs to be done at the old-money power, which faces the
biggest systemic transition in its entire history.
2) The development of Florida's defense. It's not Mao's China in the
1950s, but a "Great Leap Forward" needs to take place in Gainesville if
the Gators are to challenge Georgia for the SEC East, the SEC, and the
national crown.
1) The quarterback clash at USC. Mitch Mustain and Mark Sanchez will
face major man-making motivational moments in Tinseltown, under the
watchful eyes of Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian. The race to
continue Troy's tremendous quarterbacking tradition begins in earnest.
The stakes are higher than high for two young men and a proud program.
With respect to the health of the sport:
3) The employment status of review officials, particularly in the
Pac-10. No conference has witnessed more embarrassing and outrageous
blunders from the review booth than the Pac. Commissioner Tom Hansen is
hopefully ensuring that Washington-Oregon State '07 (like
Oklahoma-Oregon '06) won't ever happen again.
2) The bonding and strength training taking place in the University of
Washington locker room. Of all the teams and coaches who need to succeed
in 2008 in order to improve the health of the sport, it's hard to top
the Huskies and Ty Willingham. After the offseason resignation of
Athletic Director Todd Turner, followed by a Seattle Times series
exposing the wreckage caused by the Rick Neuheisel era, it's important
for college football that this team does well in the fall. If Ty
Willingham can win the right way in Seattle, an important message will
reverberate throughout the West Coast, and possibly other parts of the
country.
1) The thought processes taking place inside the minds of Neuheisel and
Bobby Petrino. Since Kelvin Sampson couldn't change at Indiana what he
started at Oklahoma, it's entirely relevant and, moreover, fair to
wonder if Neuheisel and Petrino will change their wayward ways at UCLA
and Arkansas, respectively. College football needs these two men to
become the good citizens they haven't been in the past.
