FSU, Miami off to fast starts



If nothing else, coaching changes at Florida State and Miami have led to a ton of early recruiting commitments at each school. Both are far ahead of where they usually are at this stage of the recruiting "season."

FSU has 11 commitments, including key ones from linebackers Nigel Bradham (Crawfordville Wakulla Co.), Nigel Carr (Jacksonville First Coast) and Vincent Williams (Davenport Ridge Community), wide receiver Avis Commack (Jacksonville First Coast) and defensive tackle Moses McCray (Tampa Middleton).

UM has 10 commitments, with the biggest names being cornerback Patrick Johnson (Pompano Beach Ely), defensive tackle Micanor Regis (Pahokee), linebacker Jordan Futch (Hollywood Chaminade Madonna) and offensive lineman Brandon Washington (Miami Northwestern).

Washington is one of two Northwestern standouts committed to the 'Canes; the other is quarterback Jacory Harris. What Florida did in February at Lakeland High -- signing seven members from a state-championship team -- UM could do next February at Northwestern. Wide receiver Aldarius Johnson and defensive tackle Marcus Forston generally are considered among the top 10 players nationally at their positions, and both are supremely interested in UM. So are three other good Northwestern players -- defensive end Benjamin Jones, linebacker Sean Spence and wide receiver Tommy Streeter.

The revamped coaching staffs at FSU and Miami have re-energized recruiting efforts after both schools were spanked by Florida in the past two recruiting cycles. As for the Gators, they seem especially interested in recruiting nationally this year; that's somewhat ironic in that the Gators' lone oral commitment, defensive end Earl Okine, is from Gainesville High, which is less than two miles from UF's campus.

The fast starts by FSU and UM don't necessarily mean each is going to have a better recruiting class than UF. What the fast starts do mean, though, is that the differences between UF's class and the classes at the state's other "Big Three" schools may be negligible.

A lot o' greenbacks

Alabama Coach Nick Saban finally had his contract OK'd late last week, and there are some interesting numbers contained therein.

It's an eight-year deal worth $32 million, and there are lots of bonuses. Among them: $75,000 for reaching the SEC Championship Game, $50,000 for winning the SEC title, $125,000 for reaching a BCS bowl, $200,000 for reaching the BCS title game and $400,000 for winning the BCS title game.

Saban receives $65,000 for getting the Tide to any bowl; if they go to the Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Outback or Capital One bowls, he gets $90,000.

The Birmingham News also found an interesting change in the language between Saban's contract and that of predecessor Mike Shula.

Shula was to use his "best efforts to maintain good public relations with the public news media and sound alumni relations, and for promoting and participating in various alumni events." The same verbiage applies to Saban -- except the phrase "with the public news media."

Heh-heh.

Oh, and there's no buyout clause.

This and that

We were remiss last week in not mentioning Arizona's continued domination of Division I softball. The Wildcats won their eighth title in 16 years, and their second in a row, earlier this month by beating Tennessee in a best-of-three series. Arizona scored in just two of the 24 innings in the series, yet still won. Junior Taryne Mowatt pitched every inning of Arizona's 13 postseason games.

Continuing with the title theme, Tampa won its second consecutive Division II baseball title earlier this month. It was the Spartans' fifth crown in 16 seasons. Tampa junior pitcher Jonathan Holt, a former standout at Leesburg High and Seminole Community College, was the tourney's Most Outstanding Player.

The College World Series sure has some surprising entrants among its eight teams. Only three of the top eight national seeds made it to Omaha -- No.2 Rice, No.3 North Carolina and No.5 Arizona State -- and two teams (Louisville and Oregon State) were regional No.3 seeds. That's roughly the equivalent of a team seeded between ninth and 12th making it to the basketball Elite Eight. Also of note: Seven of the CWS entrants hosted super regionals.

Iowa basketball coach Steve Alford resigned March22 to take the New Mexico job. The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reported that the next day, assistant Craig Neal -- headed to New Mexico with Alford -- asked whether Iowa officials would pay for his and Alford's trips to the Final Four. Uhhh, one guess as to the answer.

Grid Bits

Man, it's going to be hot for Miami's first two home games this season (which may be its final season at the Orange Bowl). The 'Canes host Marshall at noon on Sept. 1 and Florida International at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. Both games will be on ESPNU, which asked for the daytime kickoffs.

Florida A&M will play Southern on Sept. 1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference/Southwestern Athletic Conference Challenge in Birmingham, Ala.

Former Florida QB Chris Leak was scheduled to attend the quarterback camp run by Illinois Coach Ron Zook this weekend. Zook was coach when Chris Leak signed with UF.

The fastest player in college football? If the NCAA track meet is any indication, it's LSU WR Trindon Holliday -- all 5 feet 5 and 159 pounds of him. Holliday, who will be a sophomore this season, finished second in the 100-meter dash, behind Florida State's Walter Dix. Dix was clocked in 9.93 seconds, Holliday in 10.06. FSU backup CB Michael Ray Garvin finished sixth, in 10.30.

Cause and effect at work. Texas sophomore SS Robert Joseph, expected to contend for a starting job this season, was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary of a vehicle last week, then was suspended by Coach Mack Brown. Joseph later announced he was leaving. "I think it's in my best interest now to transfer and get a fresh start," he said in a statement.

SMU senior Reggie Carrington, who would've been one of the best linebackers in Conference USA, has left the team to deal with personal issues, Coach Phil Bennett said. Carrington was the Mustangs' leading returning tackler and was a second-team all-league pick last season. Senior Damon Hurst, a junior-college transfer who made eight tackles last season, is the likely replacement.

A Final Thought: Just hold on a little longer -- 74 days until the season starts.

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