2008 SEC Spring Dates and Needs

My final trip around the BCS conference for the spring takes me to arguably the best conference in the country, the SEC. The defending champions LSU is going to face some stiff competition from Florida and Georgia for top dog next year. Also in their own conference both Auburn and Alabama look to be teams on the rise. SEC East Georgia Spring Practice Begins - March 3 Spring Practice Ends - April 5 with their squad scrimmage that day. The Bulldogs are going to be close to, if not at the top of many pundit’s preseason polls, and rightfully so since they return a lot of starters. Knowshon Moreno has developed into a running threat but Matthew Stafford must continue on with his development. For that to happen the Dawgs’ must find Stafford some real threat wide receivers. The loss of kicker Brandon Coutu will force Georgia to find an ever important kicker. Tennessee Spring Practice Begins - March 11 Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day. The Vols biggest loss might be their offensive coordinator to the Duke Bluedevils. The first job for the new offensive staff is to find a new quarterback now that Erik Ainge is gone. Jonathan Crompton looks to be the front runner, but Nick Stephens will push him. On defense, the Vols lost a lot up front, mainly linebacker Jerod Mayo. Ellix Wilson and Rico McCoy will be two people filling in that slot. Florida Spring Practice Begins - March 19 Spring Practice Ends - April 12 with their squad scrimmage that day. Florida needs a running back to compliment Tebow, and so he doesn’t have to take as many hits. The Gators get that blessing with USC transfer Emmanuel Moody. Defensive end Derrick Harvey left for the NFL early. Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap are two athletes that will compete for Harvey’s spot. Finally, the Gators need to find some lock down corners to allow the defensive to blitz freely and put some needed pressure on the quarterback. Kentucky Spring Practice Begins - March 26 Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day. There are a few glaring holes for the Wildcats to fill. The first one is they need to find a replacement for quarterback Andre Woodson. Curtis Pulley, Mike Hartline, and Matt Lentz will be three returning players looking to win that spot. Kentucky will also be a little young at wide receiver which will not help the development of a young quarterback. If that was not enough, Rafael Little is gone at running back; Tony Dixon among others are suspected to fill that void. South Carolina Spring Practice Begins - March 19 Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day. Gone are the days where Coach Spurrier had an assembly line of quarterbacks waiting to be plugged into his offense. Sophomore Chris Smelley has shown signs that he can get the job done, but needs to work on his consistency. The Gamecocks also need to work on making their SEC worst running game a little more potent in order for their passing game to work. Vanderbilt Spring Practice Begins - March 11 Spring Practice Ends – TBD with their squad scrimmage on March 29. The Commodores were not good at all on the offensive side of the ball, mainly because they could not get good play from their quarterback position. Mackenzi Adams and Chris Nickson will fight for the starting position, and from what I hear, both of them have a lot of talent. But for those guys to have a good year, they must get good blocking up front. That is hard to do when you lose all 5 offensive linemen to graduation. SEC West LSU Spring Practice Begins – February 29 Spring Practice Ends – April 5 with their squad scrimmage on that day. The Tigers thought they were set at quarterback but with the recent troubles of Ryan Perrilloux, coach Les Miles should start there. On defense, LSU has some talent on the defensive line with Marlon Favorite, Ricky Jean-Francois, and Tyson Jackson, but they will have improve since the luxury of Glenn Dorsey getting extra attention from them will not be there anymore. Losing two starters from the secondary will also make that an area of attention. Auburn Spring Practice Begins – February 24 Spring Practice Ends – March 29 with their squad scrimmage on that day. Brandon Cox is gone from under center for the Tigers, which means Kodi Burns, (transfer) Chris Todd, Neil Caudle, or DeRon Furr will be the one to run Tony Franklin’s spread offense. Game breaking wide receivers are another need for Auburn. On defense, the Tigers need to fill the huge hole left by defensive tackle Pat Sims. Converted defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, Zach Clayton, Mike Blanc, and Jemarcus Ricks, and Kyle Coulahan will battle to win that position and the other one on the defensive line. Arkansas Spring Practice Begins – April 3 Spring Practice Ends – April 26 with their squad scrimmage on that day. It will be Bobby Petrino’s first spring in Arkansas and one ENORMUS hole comes to mind; the one in the backfield left by Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. He’ll also have to find a quarterback to run his passing offense (Casey Dick returns) and some receivers to get open and catch the ball. To make things simple, the entire offensive side of the ball has some holes to fill. Alabama Spring Practice Begins – March 13 Spring Practice Ends – April 15 with their squad scrimmage April 12. I wonder if 92,000 fans will show up again this year for the Tide’s spring game. John Parker Wilson is back at quarterback, but Alabama will have to find another game breaker at wide receiver since DJ Hall Keith Brown and Matt Caddell are gone. The Tide fans might have to wait till this fall when Julio Jones comes to camp. Mississippi Spring Practice Begins – March 17 Spring Practice Ends – April 12 with their squad scrimmage that day. The Houston Nutt era begins in Mississippi. He inherits a lot of talent left by the old coach, most of all a quarterback transfer from Texas Jevan Snead. UCLA transfer Jeremy McGee and Cordera Eason could become Nutt’s next duel thread in the backfield. Mississippi State Spring Practice Begins – February 25 Spring Practice Ends – March 29 with their squad scrimmage that day. The Bulldogs must work on their passing game to compliment a rushing game that has the potential to be dangerous. Two players, Michael Henig and Wesley Carroll, are competing for the starting quarterback job. Both have weaknesses as Hening can’t stay healthy and Carroll does not have much experience.