Shocking news for Georgia Tech: McShay doesn’t rate Nesbitt. AJ-C writer doesn’t get McShay.

I don’t really want to pick on Joshua Nesbitt, who’s proven to be a fine triple option quarterback, but why would any journalist worth his salt find it notable that a quarterback with a career completion percentage of 45.0 and a career TD-interception ratio of 13-12 isn’t considered NFL draft-worthy?

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You probably didn’t expect this. (Or at least some of it.)

Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit break down the SEC heading into the 2010 season. Herbie goes along with half of the conventional wisdom on the SECCG matchup, but catch his darkhorse surprise for the conference.

“The playbook is a big playbook.”

Roger Clarkson takes a good look at the struggles of the incoming defensive linemen.

… Georgia brought 17 scholarship newcomers into preseason camp, most with glowing resumes from recruiting experts. More than half will not take a live snap this season.

Many didn’t realize the magnitude of chore of earning immediate playing time until the first practice.

“It’s a big step,” freshman defensive lineman Mike Thornton said. “I came in with a lot of high expectations about being the man and everything, but I found out quick. It’s a lot of hard work.

“It was the first day of camp, as soon as we got out there and got a little contact in, I started learning that I’ve got a lot of learning to do.”

For some perspective on how big that step is, keep in mind that Justin Anderson, a converted offensive linemen who has become the leading candidate to start at defensive tackle, had this to say about his early success at learning the new position:

“Coming on defense, I was kind of nervous at first. I knew I was physically going to do well. But in the past on the offensive line, I’ve had trouble with playbooks. So that was probably my biggest –- I wouldn’t say fright, but I was kind of skeptical about it. But I’ve picked up on it pretty good.

“Playing nose tackle,” he noted, “you just have to learn the base package.”

Anderson, inexperience and all, is still a junior with several years in the program under his belt.

Monday morning buffet

Trying to get the week started on the right foot:

• Is it just me, or is this whole should-they-put-Michigan-and-Ohio State-in the same-division debate similar to the Florida State/Miami alignment issue the ACC struggled with when it went to division play?  That’s worked out well.
• Here’s a look at some of the key SEC position battles going on now.
• It sounds like Emmanuel Moody has had his fill of running quarterbacks.
• Compare Cameron Newton to Vince Young?  Gene Chizik doesn’t go there (to his credit).
• You want to know about the quarterback-center exchange?  Mark Richt’s your guy.  (h/t Leather Helmet Blog)
• Recipe for a long year in Knoxville:  “When you’re operating at 72 scholarships … we’ve got 15 guys missing on the team who could be sophomores and juniors…” Better hope nobody gets hurt.
• It’s amusing to see the consequences of the Tuberville regime slowly dawning on the Texas Tech faithful:  “Maybe the big surprise is that the offense has been “tweaked” enough that it favors the more refined Potts to hand the ball off to a stellar group of running backs and run the play-action pass more than Red Raider fans –and opposing teams — were led to believe.” ‘Ya think?
• Speaking of Tuberville, I noticed this over the weekend on CBS’ college preview show – the man’s forehead is ginormous.
• No grading on the curve in this review of Florida’s position groups.  I’m by no means a Gator fan, but some of those marks strike me as being on the low side (the Gator secondary no better than “B” and “B-“?).