Florida's Ijjas handles pressure by kicking for scholarship

As bad as Florida's placekicking was last year - the only weakness on the Gators' national championship team - you'd figure Florida coach Urban Meyer would find someone who could handle pressure.

So last week in practice as Gators' senior kicker Joey Ijjas lined up a 52-yard field goal, Meyer flung his hat to the ground, looked at Ijjas and screamed, "Free ride."

In short, Meyer was offering Ijjas, a walk-on, a scholarship if he could make the kick. Ijjas, who kicked off for the Gators last year, didn't blink. Perfect snap. Perfect hold. Perfect kick, right down the middle.

Sign here please, Mr. Ijjas. Welcome to the world of being on scholarship. And way to handle that pressure.

"It doesn't matter how good you are if you can't kick it under pressure," Ijjas said.

Meyer admitted the whole "free ride" battlefield promotion was premeditated.

"I knew that we were probably going to reward him (Ijjas)," Meyer said, "and I thought that pressure kicking situation would be a good chance to energize our team.

"It was a great idea. But if he would have hooked it left, we would have had to seek some counseling."

Brown Back: Georgia senior tailback Thomas Brown, who started five games last year before tearing up a knee against Vanderbilt, is back in the starting lineup again. Brown had such an outstanding preseason camp that he got his job back.

"You just can't keep him off the field, and we have not been able to keep him out of the starting lineup," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "We just wouldn't have predicted after that knee injury that he would come back that strong and be that confident that fast."

Nick the Quick: Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson, with a year as a starter under his belt, said he now knows the Commodores' offense. That may be a scary thought since last year he threw for 2,085 yards and 15 touchdowns while running for 694 yards and nine TDs. If he did that on natural talent, think of how good he could be this year. Vandy coach Bobby Johnson is ready to fully entrust his offense in Nickson.

"He (Nickson) will make decisions at the line of scrimmage that we don't have to call from the press box," Johnson said.

Feeling Better: Another quarterback who feels he's better than last year is South Carolina backup Chris Smelley. Except he'll be starting in the opener against Louisiana-Lafayette today for Blake Mitchell, suspended for his lack of attendance at summer school.

"I definitely feel a lot better than I did last year against Mississippi State (in the season opener)," Smelley said. "I feel comfortable with the offense. I feel confident I can help the team win."

Let's not get carried away, Chris. You're just playing a Division 1-A bottom feeder.

Kentucky Confident: Win eight games and a bowl, like Kentucky did last year, and all of a sudden the Wildcats feel like Superman heading into today's opener against Eastern Kentucky, one of four Division 1-AA schools playing SEC teams in the opening week.

"The confidence is the highest it's been in the five years I've been here, it's beautiful," Kentucky defensive end Dominic Lewis said. Receiver Keenan Burton added, "There's pressure, but we don't want to fail our fans, our coaches or ourselves. So we have to step up to the plate."