Arkansas has 20 starters returning in football, but a new player is generating as much excitement about the upcoming season.

Freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain, a high school All-American from Springdale, Ark., is coach Houston Nutt's most-high-profile signee in his eight years at Arkansas.

"We've never had a five-star quarterback, a Gatorade national player of the year," Nutt said at last week's SEC spring meetings. "We've just got to keep him grounded and work him in there slowly.

"He's already in school. There are a lot of expectations on him, but he's a pretty cool customer."

Robert Johnson and Casey Dick, who split the quarterbacking duties last season, return. Dick likely will begin the season as the starter, based on how he finished last season.

"But you've got to give Mitch Mustain a look," Nutt said. "He's very mature. He's strong. He's smart. He knows a lot about what we're doing."

The Razorbacks also know a lot about Mustain, who played high school football just a few miles from the Arkansas campus.

"I was the first one to offer him, even before he played his first high school football game," Nutt said. "The RPMs he had on that ball, the arm strength, guttiness ... He has a lot of intangibles."

He also has the advantage of having played for new Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who was Mustain's coach at Springdale.

Freshman QB II: Mustain isn't the only true-freshman quarterback who will contend for a starting job in the SEC this fall. It wouldn't be surprising if Georgia freshman Matthew Stafford beat out senior Joe Tereshinski, who was listed as the starter after spring drills.

Georgia coach Mark Richt hopes all of his quarterbacks will improve during the summer.

"They can improve a lot," he said. "Leadership is one way (to improve). They've got to take control of the summer workouts and see if the guys will respond to them.

"Some of the guys that are brand new will have to continue to work on the things they learned in the spring. They can get a whole lot better since they have such a long way to go."

But how can a freshman like Stafford exhibit leadership with veteran teammates?

"Show up every day, work, have a serious attitude, maybe encourage other guys to work," Richt said. "By the way he performs.

"One thing about leadership, if you can't be productive, it's tough to truly be the leader of the team."

Fast Learner: Florida basketball player Sarah Lowe was honored at the SEC spring meetings as one of the conference's two student-athletes of the year.

She missed the awards dinner due to a prior commitment. She's in Africa teaching English to orphans.

But before she could teach them English, she had to teach herself Swahili.

Foreign languages are nothing new for the Florida senior from Wynnewood, Pa. She has a double major in Spanish and political science, and spent a summer in Spain and Mexico.

Lowe has a 3.9 grade-point average and was a three-time captain of the Florida basketball team.

She's more interested in playing overseas than in the WNBA. No matter where she goes, she shouldn't have trouble learning the language.

Food For Thought: Former Maryville star Cade Thompson might have to eat his way up the depth chart at South Carolina.

Thompson, a redshirt freshman quarterback, had an outstanding spring game but is still the backup to Blake Mitchell, who started last season.

"He (Thompson is) doing OK," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "He needs to get a little stronger. He just hasn't gained enough weight. He only weighs about 178.

"He doesn't eat a lot. His appetite is not as good as ours."

But Spurrier added, "He's a natural quarterback."

Hamilton Striking Out: Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton is having a tough baseball season.

UT didn't even qualify for the SEC tournament after making the College World Series last year. Also, Hamilton's favorite major league team, the Chicago Cubs, is struggling to stay out of last place in the National League Central.

"Certainly, we want to be in the NCAA tournament every year (in baseball)," Hamilton said of the Vols. "I think we'll have a good squad next year."

Hamilton still hopes to take in a game at Wrigley Field this summer. He saw former UT star Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies play earlier this season while visiting a UT booster in Denver.

Team Work, Team Intact: UT basketball coach Bruce Pearl said he wasn't surprised when Florida's best players decide to return for another season after winning the national championship in basketball.

"Those are team players," Pearl said. "They care about the Florida on their chests. They weren't playing their way into the NBA. They were playing to win a championship."

Anti-NFL: Florida football coach Urban Meyer doesn't sound like someone with NFL aspirations.

"I hope we don't keep going toward pro football," Meyer said of proposed rules aimed at shortening the college game. "I get upset when I hear, 'Let's cut the game shorter.'

"College football is the strongest game going right now."