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Irish smiles LoVecchio, returnees give Davie spring confidence
As he strolled through a hotel lobby greeting colleagues at the American Football Coaches Convention in January, Bob Davie hardly wore the expression of a man who, just a few days earlier, had suffered an embarrassing 41-9 Fiesta Bowl thumping against Oregon State. Actually, Davie was one of the calmest among the terminally stressed head men on hand in Atlanta. In the course of a year, he had gone from the hottest of hot seats -- the subject of rampant buyout rumors following a nightmarish 5-7 season -- to the brink of returning Notre Dame to proper glory. One lopsided bowl loss did little to diminish Davie's confidence after winning seven consecutive games with a true freshman quarterback thrust into emergency service. "If you stay in the game long enough, as a player or a coach, you're going to get your butts kicked once in a while, and we got our butts kicked in the bowl game," said Davie. "We're going to try to use last season and what we did in the bowl game as a positive. When you consider what we went through with [injured QB] Arnaz [Battle] -- when we found out he wasn't even going to come back, there was plenty of reason for doom and gloom. So getting into the Fiesta Bowl, with a new quarterback in the fifth game who won seven games in a row ... We feel good about what we accomplished." The return of that QB, Matt LoVecchio, along with DE Grant Irons, LB Rocky Boiman and the tailback tandem of Tony Fisher and Julius Jones provide a solid corps for Davie to work with. LoVecchio is being pushed in the spring by touted classmates Carlyle Holiday and Jared Clark, but Davie is comfortable with the incumbent. "This is his first spring," Davie marveled about LoVecchio, who threw for 980 yards, 11 touchdowns and only one interception before struggling against Oregon State. "So I think when you look back, what he did is incredible. And we've pretty much settled on a certain style of quarterback."
Among priorities for Notre Dame this spring are finding new blood in the secondary, where starters Brock Williams and Tony Driver departed, and the offensive line. Two other departees, WR Joey Getherall and TE Jabari Holloway, may just be replaced by former Irish QBs -- Battle at wide receiver and Gary Godsey at tight end. And with last year's top two rushers out for the spring (Jones was suspended for breaking team rules; Fisher is recovering from shoulder surgery), the coaches get to look at some new faces in the backfield -- freshman Garron Bible and sophomore Chris Yura. Of course, the Irish would be wise to come out of spring with as few questions as possible. There will be plenty more to worry about soon -- N.D. opens at Nebraska and Purdue.
'Bama hopes low Tide behindEx-North Carolina head coach Carl Torbush is already making his mark as Alabama's defensive coordinator -- that is, if a recent scrimmage was any indication. In 125 plays, the Crimson Tide defense held the offense scoreless, while registering nine sacks, forcing eight fumbles and intercepting six passes, according to the Mobile Register. Then again, it could also be a sign that last year's dreadful offense -- which returns QBs Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts, RBs Santonio Beard, Ahmaad Galloway and Bandon Miree and WR Freddie Milons -- has yet to improve. "I think things are going in the right direction," new coach Dennis Franchione said at spring's midpoint. "I'm not disappointed in where we are, just that we aren't further along." For the past several months, the headlines coming out of Tuscaloosa have gone from bad to worse, from last year's 3-8 disaster to Mike DuBose's termination to the Albert Means scandal and possible NCAA infractions. Yet as Franchione and the new staff go about their business this spring, there's every reason to think the Tide can compete for the SEC West title this season. Numerous key players, like Zow, Watts, Milons and LB Saleem Rasheed, still remain from the 1999 SEC championship squad. And an influx of talent from the past two recruiting classes is just starting to contribute, including the likes of DBs Brooks Daniels and Thurman Carter. The highest-profile recent recruit is Brodie Croyle, the All-American home state QB who enrolled in January. Accustomed to dominating in high school, Croyle got a rude awakening in the aforementioned scrimmage, going 2-for-8 for 12 yards and two interceptions.
Gators get defensiveIf Florida indeed garners the expected No. 1 preseason rankings, it will be due to an offense the likes of QB Rex Grossman (or, hot on his trail, Brock Berlin ), WR Jabar Gaffney and RB Earnest Graham. But Steve Spurrier also took strides over the offseason to improve a defense that last year bordered on mediocre. Two new defensive coaches, Ricky Hunley (line) and Jerry Odom (linebackers), look to inject life into coordinator Jon Hoke's unit, which allowed more than 400 yards five times in 2000. Most notable is the large, fiery former linebacker Hunley, a former Arizona All-America linebacker and Denver Bronco who worked with Hoke at Missouri. He was associate head coach to Larry Smith at Mizzou before Smith's firing last year. Before going to Gainesville, Hunley was a candidate for the head coaching job at his alma mater that went to John Mackovic. The Gators return nine defensive starters, including DE Alex Brown, DBs Lito Sheppard, Bennie Alexander and Todd Johnson and LBs Travis Harris and Andra Davis, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. LBs Travis Carroll, Byron Hardmon and Marcus Oquendo-Johnson are out for the spring with injuries. The NFL defection of Gerard Warren left a hole at tackle, but juco transfer Brian Savelio is expected to compete for a spot. Hunley and Odom's presence have already been felt, both in recruiting and on the practice field. "With a lot of the defensive guys we have new coaches and a lot of the guys are being more energetic, wanting to show off some," said DE Clint Mitchell. "There definitely is more hype in practice."
Worth notingIt's beginning to look like Anquan Boldin's return to quarterback after two years at receiver will be more than just an experiment for Florida State. The high school QB was 7-of-15 for 206 yards in a recent scrimmage, far outplaying counterpart Chris Rix. ... After serving three days of academic suspension, I-back Thunder Collins returned in time to shine during Nebraska's first scrimmage. Collins is expected to battle Dahrran Diedrick for starting duties ... Junior Jason Johnson opened spring as Arizona's No. 1 QB, but watch out for redshirt freshman and former Tennessee signeee John Rattay, brother of former Louisiana Tech standout Tim. ... The biggest star of Miami's first scrimmage was redshirt freshman Willis McGahee, who ran for 121 yards on 11 carries. Despite the presence of junior Clinton Portis and senior Najeh Davenport in the Canes' crowded backfield, McGahee is seeing time with the starters. ... Auburn senior Jeff Klein has emerged over touted redshirt freshman Jason Campbell at quarterback, while frosh Ronnie Brown leads sophomore Casinious Moore and Nebraska transfer Chris Butler in the race to succeed the departed Rudi Johnson. ... At Mississippi, former juco transfer Omar Rayford (19 catches for 229 yards last season) has been turning heads this spring while emerging as QB Eli Manning's go-to guy. CNNSI.com's Stewart Mandel will offer his latest Offseason Beat notes regularly from now till Kickoff 2001. If you have questions, comments, ideas or scoops for the Beat, click here.
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