Mickey is always like that this time of year. We have a lot of starters coming back from surgery. We also have some good freshman line backers coming in. Brian Coulter is a five star and there is Maurice Harris, who are both good defensive players. They are both going to help. I am not too worried about the defense.

This is a rundown on my take of the coming season so far.

How much talent a team has or what is going to happen this year could be debated until August night and day I suppose. In the end, that is why we go out on the field and play the games. There is one area where I think many are way off the mark and that is the offensive line. There is a ton of talent there they were simply allowed to get fat and lazy and nobody pushed them. The first thing that Trickett told them was that Jenny Craig will be in town tomorrow.  A bunch more were recruited and Piurowski has converted from tightend mainly because he is big and fast at 6-7, 270 lbs.  We now have something like 24 offensive lineman for Trickett to work with. Trickett opened holes for Slaton at WVU that most say you could drive a truck through them. He says he has better talent to work with at FSU than he had there. This man is not someone hired to keep him off unemployment. He is one of the best and I will have to take his word on the talent level. It is difficult for me to believe he cannot do the same thing in Tallahassee.

Some of the guys he signed like Grosso for instance is 6-6 and benches 435 coming out of highschool. Ganzugga was overlooked but Trickett thinks he can be a center and well the guy simply has a mean streak and showed up very well in the combine against some of the better tackles. Hudson is another that Trickett has been watching since junior high out of Mobile where they play a pretty brutal brand of football. He did say everyone in the country would have been after him if he were 6-4 and not 6-2 but "I am not worried the guy has a big barrel chest." So the guy is not someone they recruited just to fill a signing slot. They may not have the stars but Trickett did transform a two star, Dan Malzin into an all American first round pick.

Trickett says he is going to look at some he recruited to play when they get there. There were some injuries at center lately in spring practice and when asked by the media if he was worried the OL coach said I never worry about injuries. Some of the guys injured would have probably been beaten out by the younger guys playing anyway. This was in reference to McMahon who is at center now having switched over from defensive tackle. So he is a bit fun to listen to and people at spring practice say the guy follows them around screaming in their face and slapping them with his ball cap.

So in short offensive line is an area I am least worried about.  For the record, the backs have been breaking long gainers, something we have not seen in awhile.

Jamaal Edwards broke a 65 yarder as well as Smith. The backs are better than people think, but time will tell. They mostly use Sims around the goal line. He is the brother of the NFL linebacker and is a big fast physical kid. The football prognosticators are calling the ground game "potent", which is something FSU has not been accused of in a long time.

Another place that will surprise is the receiving corps. Some of these young receivers like Preston Parker, Rod Owen, Damon McDaniel and Richard Goodman are pretty good receivers with speed. They are being taught to actually run routes again which will be refreshing. Preston Parker was running number one and very adept at taking swing passes out of the backfield until the "separated shoulder."

Brandon Paul, Taiwan Easterling and Bert Reed are coming in as freshman. They are all around 4.4 in the forty. Brandon Paul is in the top ten athletes nationally if what I read is correct. Fisher calls him a guy who does not just get you a first down but changes the scoreboard. I know you know about Reed anyway. Easterling was a top 25 athlete out of mississippi and is a big physical receiver.  The book says he loves contact and he caught over 1200 yards receiving in highschool. He also says he wishes he were there now so he can get started. So being a Seminole and eternal optimist, I really do not see a receiver problem. Now you can say they are freshman but if someone had said the same about Harvin things might have been a bit different for UF this last season.

As for the quarterbacks, well we all know they have not dazzled the college football world lately. The talent is there and well and this is Fisher's bread and butter, developing quarterbacks. That is what he does. He is having to deal with changing their throwing motion. Reports are that he has been a little hacked at some of them lately and is giving Ponder more snaps. I am prone to believe he will find one to do the job. Lets face it Johnny Unitas might have been overlooked under the JB tractor offense. It is a blight that never should have happened and I refuse to dwell on it any longer.

Most polls do not project FSU in the top 25. Nobody expects us to be rated #1 after last year but for some to project UCLA #9 after the way we went through them like a buzz saw, is a bit bizarre. It further undercuts the already low esteem of the polls. How teams are rated after the season is what counts. I would love to find someone with a pocket full of money that really believes FSU will not finish in the top 25.

On defense I expect about the same. Brian Coulter coming in from junior college is said to be an NFL prototype and Kelly has been showing up at linebacker. Kenny Ingram is coming back at safety out of junior college and he was four star, 6-6 and now 215 lbs. He can help Williams out there. Amato did recruit Maurice Harris who was a linebacker in highschool out of Miami and a wrestler. They think with 4.4 speed he can project as a safety.  I don't worry too much about defense. I know they will not be on the field 70 percent of the game with the jb three and out anyway.

I must close by saying however, in the end there can be only one! College football will again fear the spear!

The word around the campfire is things do not look very good at practice. The new quarterback is showing up a little better than Tebow, completing more passes, has a better arm and is a better runner.

Mon Williams is out for a year at running back due to a torn ACL and they have few back on defense. Right now they have a converted running back and a wideout as the corners.

After all the hullabaloo about AK-47s they are now talking about free shoes still on their webpages and McPherson. All this when they are way out front for the Fulmer cup. Gator hypocrasy knows no bounds. If you find yourself agreeing with them you are probably wrong.

Let's not let reality spoil the magic.......Walter Bagehot