2009 Off-Season Roundup
The News Stories You Need To Know ... May 28
By
Phil Guidry
* This News Roundup could truly be all-Kiffin, all the
time. A quick sampling of the Kiffin-related items from around the
college football world:
* Kiffin reiterated that his jabs at Florida and other
rival SEC programs were nothing personal: he was just drumming up some
publicity for his program, and that every head coaching job presents
different challenges: "When you become a head coach, you take a specific
plan into that job." For example, his plan in Oakland was to enrage his
ancient owner and trot out his kicker for 76-yard field goal tries in an
attempt to get fired. In Knoxville, he's presumably going to try
something different.
* Peyton Manning said of the new Vols coaching staff,
"It's been a difficult transition for me, like a lot of Tennessee folks.
I'm a Phillip Fulmer guy, he recruited me and coached me." No doubt;
it's also been a difficult transition for Tennessee beat writers, who
have had to jump from Fulmer's laid-back style to a quote machine that
cranks up at least once a week.
* CBS has announced that its first telecast of the
upcoming season will be the Sept. 19 grudge match between Kiffin's team
and the guys who have no business getting sucked into a war of words
with Kiffin but have anyway, Urban Meyer's Gators.
* One of the other guys who will factor into that
grudge match is The Chosen One. His former teammate Percy Harvin said
recently, "If I could trade places for a day with anyone, it would be my
old teammate, Tim Tebow. Some of the stuff and some of the girls and
things that were thrown at him. We saw all kind of actors and news
reporters just kind of blatantly say, "Tebow, I want you." And he turned
them down. I'm looking at him, like, "Man, you are crazy." He's not
crazy, Percy: he's just better than all of us ... or didn't you hear
Thom Brennaman?
94 days and counting...
Lane Kiffin
http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20090526/ARTICLES/905269931/1136?Title=Kiffin-trying-to-fit-in-SEC
Peyton Manning
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090526/SPORTS/90525016/1006/Peyton+Manning+still+conflicted+by+coaching+changes+at+Tennessee
CBS
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090527/SPORTS0601/90526076/1002/SPORTS/CBS+confirms+UT-Florida+will+be+its+first+telecast
Harvin/Tebow
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college_uf/2009/05/percy-harvin-tim-tebow-turns-away-advances-from-actors-news-reporters.html