On your way to the store, could you pick up some interceptions?

There’s a nice article in the Macon Telegraph today about DeMarcus Dobbs.

While it’s a good reminder that the item at the top of Willie Martinez’ preseason to-do list is “find defensive ends that can generate a pass rush”, it also manages to point to what ought to be the next thing that follows.

“DeMarcus had more interceptions last year than half of our secondary,” cornerback Brandon Boykin said with a laugh. “He did a great job of picking off passes and making plays for our defense.”

Having a non-starting defensive end tie for second place on the team in interceptions isn’t exactly how you draw things up.  Nor is it something that you want to see repeated if you plan on seeing your defense step it back up to being in the upper tier of the SEC.  Martinez needs to find some playmakers to deploy in the secondary this year.

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Don’t hate him ’cause he’s Tebow.

Gator fans who love to whine about the Tebow-haters and the jealousy need to take a minute to read this excellent post at HeismanPundit on the subject of Tebow fatigue.

I doubt I need to remind anyone of this execrable moment, but it’s worth referring to in this context.

As bad as Danielson was, he held no candle to Fox’s Thom Brenneman, who famously said during the BCS title game:

“If you are fortunate enough to spend five minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.”

Cringe worthy.  And as HP points out, probably counterproductive in terms of how he’s perceived.

It’s the difference between Tim Tebow and the GPOOE™.  The former is an admirable young man and a fantastic football player who has a real shot at being remembered as the college football player of the decade.  The latter is this artificial persona fawned over by the media to such an extent that mockery becomes inevitable.

To be fair, Tebow didn’t ask for this.  But he’s stuck with it, nevertheless.  Although I suspect that most of the people offended by the Tebow hatin’ are flat-out thrilled every time folks like Brenneman, Danielson, Uncle Verne, Dennis Dodd and a certain head coach open their mouths or type another word about the GPOOE™.

Nothing like having it both ways, people.

Kiffin watch: compare and contrast.

In some ways, I feel like we’re getting to observe a controlled experiment with the hires of Junior and Chizik.  Both are taking over programs that have slid recently.  Both have followed a similar model of hiring head coaches with less than impressive resumes from a won/loss standpoint.  Both have blown tons of money assembling staffs.  Both have coordinators on those staffs that the fan bases are pinning most of their hopes on.

So what’s different, you ask?  Well, whereas the Laner is brash and even reckless on occasion, Chizik couldn’t be more bland and uncontroversial in his public behavior.

Take for example this exchange.

… Anyway, I asked him about his thoughts about Alabama getting placed on NCAA probation last week as a result of the textbook fiasco.

Chizik approached it with a stiff-arm reminiscent of the Heisman Trophy.

“I’ve got my own issues at Auburn,” Chizik said deftly. “I just worry about Auburn.”

Still, any time something negative happens to your rival can usually be a positive, right? Especially in the Alabama-Auburn rivalry (or Auburn-Alabama)?

Chizik wasn’t biting.

“I just worry about Auburn,” he said. “I’ve got issues every day.”

Borrrring.  Junior would have been all over that fastball down the middle, to the delight of Vol fans (and bloggers) everywhere.

In the end, will their approaches make any difference?  Over time, not nearly as much as the wins will, but with all the current talk in Knoxville about exciting the fan base, it’s worth watching in the short run, anyway.