Even in scrimmage, it’s still a contact sport.

One of the big arguments against Dabo Sweeney’s call for spring games between schools is that players could get hurt.  So I doubt the irony is lost here:

… that’s the position in which Tony McNeal finds himself this morning.  In a release, Clemson announced Monday evening that the reserve quarterback suffered a torn ACL on the last offensive play of the Orange & White Spring Football game.  As a result, McNeal will miss the entire 2012 season.

Boy, that’s some awful timing.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

One problem with the SEC winning six national titles in a row is that the fan base begins to get a little nonchalant with the hardware.

The next stage will be somebody picking up a trophy and deliberately throwing it into a fireplace as a gesture of celebration.

Todd Grantham, mad scientist

Going into Todd Grantham’s third season in Athens, I’m beginning to think the guy rolls out of bed in the morning mulling over how many combinations of players in the front seven he can come up with.

– Who he learned about this spring?

“I learned about everybody. Everybody who wasn’t a returning starter I kind of learned about. Because that’s what you’re doing, you’re evaluating. For example, I already know what Jarvis (Jones) and John (Jenkins) and Abry (Jones), I know what those guys can do. I know what Shawn Williams can do. But you’ve gotta find out what the guys that don’t play all the time can do. For next year, if there’s an injury, who’s the next guy in the game. And how you match people up. That was the biggest thing that to me I learned. I think it’ll help us make sure we get the next-best player on the field.

– Did Cornelius Washington play well enough at defensive end that that’s not just an experimental thing this spring?

“Oh yeah. He’s a versatile guy. He’s athletic enough to play outside backer. But he’s got enough size and strength and explosiveness and pad level that he can play as an inside guy. And what he does in there, is he’s got athletic ability. So I think we’ll continue to play him at both (spots) as we move forward, which gives us more depth, and gives us a chance to play some other guys. Like Ramik Wilson, who made an interception there in the first half, he’s a guy we’re looking at, at outside backer too. So I just think it allows us to get another guy on the field.”

If I had to point to the biggest difference between his defensive philosophy and that of his two predecessors, it wouldn’t be the scheme change (Georgia doesn’t play in a true 3-4 half the time, anyway), it would be his relentless pursuit of mixing and matching personnel to get the best players on the field at any given time.

Spring practice is experiment time.

… Exactly how much did the addition of talented prospects like Jordan Jenkins and Josh Harvey-Clemons affect Grantham’s decision to test outside linebackers Cornelius Washington and Ray Drew at defensive end during spring practice?

“A lot,” Grantham said, “because I kind of have an idea of what those guys can do and their skill set, and also what Ray and Cornelius can do. By making that transition, it allowed us to give us more flexibility. The big thing you’ve got to have is flexibility while you’re on defense, because like I’ve said, it’s always about getting your next best guy in the game.

“I think that those guys being as dynamic as they are and I think the versatility of a Ray and a Cornelius allow us to do some good things.”

For the moment at least, VanGorder is still the gold standard for defensive coordinating in the Richt era, but I don’t remember him being this consumed with flexibility.  (Mercifully, I’ll leave Martinez out of the discussion here.)  It’s a big issue now, even – maybe particularly – on the recruiting trail.

“Defense is a game about athletes. The bigger, faster and stronger you are, the more you can win a one-on-one matchup,” he said. “Generally what happens is [big, fast, strong] guys in high school tend to play those positions. They can grow into things. To me it’s all about recruiting big, strong, physical, fast guys that can run and then, as their bodies take off and go, you kind of filter them in where you need them.”

That may be as good a distillation of the “Jimmies and Joes, Xs and Os” wisdom as you’re ever gonna get.

Tuesday morning buffet

A little of this, a little of that to nosh on.

• Rivals looks at the top schools for producing receiver talent for the pros, shockingly leaves Georgia Tech off the list.
• Bill Connelly breaks down the Missouri spring game.
• I would think it’s a problem when a Florida beat writer ranks fullback as a greater position of strength for the Gators than quarterback.
• “We’re all trying to do what’s good for college football,” said Slive.  Here’s what he means by that.
• Meanwhile, for some reason, Mr. Conventional Wisdom keeps trotting out Roy Kramer for his opinion on what the commissioners should do.
• If you didn’t know, Tennessee is ending its current structure of separate men’s and women’s athletic departments.  The inevitable personnel carnage has started.
• Some cautious optimism about Georgia’s offensive line situation is expressed here.
• Allen Kenney parses stats to gain some insight into the age-old debate about whether it’s the Big 12 quarterbacks who are so good, or the Big 12 pass defenses which are so bad.  (At least we’re likely to get a clue about that when Missouri and Texas A&M play in the SEC this year.)
• Matt Stafford talks about marijuana problems… on the Detroit Lions.  I blame Bobo, of course.

“Two national titles is a wonderful thing…but still…”

So, the bat-shit craziness has come to this:  a Florida writer slams Urban Meyer by living vicariously through Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina career.  Am I going mad, or is it everybody else?