Spring football stuff (Part 1)

* At one time Alabama fans would tell you that Star Jackson was their quarterback of the future.  But academic issues have him on the sidelines this spring.  At this point he might not even be in a position to be Greg McElroy’s backup.

* They’ve both won multiple national titles in recent years and they’re both going off the rails.  Roy Williams is kicking opposing fans out of the Dean Dome and Urban Meyer is threatening to ban the Orlando Sentinel from Florida practices.  How quickly things can turn.

* Redshirt freshman Michael Ford had a good spring game for LSU with 139 yards rushing on 19 carries and 3 catches for 34 yards.  He passes the eyeball test with a good burst and looks like he won’t shy away from running between the tackles.

Offensive coordinator Gary Crowton needs to find as many ways as possible to get the ball in Russell Shepard’s hands.  He had 117 total yards in the spring game and is shaping up to be a Percy Harvin-type hybrid player…if used correctly.

* Ron Zook is a desperate coach.  After Illinois death spiraled into a 3-9 record last season, he cleaned house on his staff.  There are six new coaches this spring, including offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, who came to Illinois from Arkansas, and defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, who came  from Kansas State.

Zook can recruit with the best of them, he just hasn’t shown the ability to consistently coach his players up.  With Juice Williams no longer around to take snaps, finding a new quarterback is priority number one.  Redshirt sophomore Jacob Charest is the only contender for the job who saw playing time last season.

* It’ll be interesting to see how Allen Bradford performs at USC now that the starting tailback job appears to be his.  He came to LA back in 2006 as the nation’s top ranked outside linebacker but has turned into a pretty damn good running back.

Will Marc Tyler push him this spring?  Even if he doesn’t, Tyler’s already gotten my attention with this assessment of USC’s psyche last season:  When we started losing a little bit, you could tell we had certain guys who were just like, ‘Man, I’m just going to worry about myself and get ready for the draft — get myself healthy.’

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