Strange: Freshmen in starting roles not a rarity

How soon do you dare put a true freshman on the field? When do you know they're ready for SEC football?

"It depends on who he is and how desperate you are to play him,'' Georgia coach Mark Richt said this week.

Florida wasn't desperate in 2006 but the Gators wouldn't have won a national championship without true freshmen Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin playing supporting roles.

Three weeks into the 2007 season, true freshmen aren't exactly revolutionizing the game. Even the top-ranked high-school player in the nation last year, quarterback Jimmy Clausen, hasn't been able to get Notre Dame's offense in the end zone.

Still, true freshmen are already on the field at virtually every program in the nation. The majority of SEC teams have at least one starting.

Florida has started at least one true freshman on opening day in each of Urban Meyer's three seasons. The Gators have played 17 this year.

And yet Meyer came across like a protective mother hen this week.

"I always believe with the skilled athlete, you don't put them on the field until they're ready,'' he said.

"I'd rather play them 'after' than 'before' but some disagree with me, even guys on our staff disagree. If you have a young person go out there and fail in front of 90,000, and millions on TV, that's a rattled player.''

Meyer illustrated his team's youth by recounting that freshman Chris Rainey asked him this week if the Gators would leave Friday or Saturday for their first road game at Ole Miss.

Tennessee has started defensive back Eric Berry. Defensive end Ben Martin is just overcoming an August knee injury or he would have played more prominently.

Disgruntled fans are impatient to see more of the highly touted freshmen receivers. Ahmad Paige, Brent Vinson, Gerald Jones and Denarious Moore have a combined two catches (both by Moore). Jones has been injured. Vinson moved to cornerback.

Arkansas freshman Crosby Tuck has two catches: a 42-yard touchdown and a 40-yard touchdown.

At Alabama, linebacker Rolando McClain is the leading tackler. Auburn hopes athletic quarterback Kodi Burns will jump-start the offense.

"We've played a number of guys,'' said Les Miles, coach of very un-desperate and No. 2-ranked LSU, "and we'll redshirt a few.

"We understand the fifth year is something everybody enjoys and that its the opportunity for many to play his best football. But so many times if you play a guy as a freshman, based on injury, you may get that fifth year anyway.''

Tide Stride: What a grand week to be an Alabama fan. Bama rallied in the final seconds to beat Arkansas while Auburn lost to lowly Mississippi State.

Although it has a morbid ring, Alabama might start calling the end zones at Bryant-Denny Stadium "Grant's Tomb."

Terry Grant, a redshirt freshman, has been named SEC Freshman of the Week all three weeks. Does that mean he gets to keep the trophy?

Grant ranks No. 8 nationally at 134 rushing yards a game and has scored five touchdowns.

Gotta Step Up: Georgia fans are worried about a key substitution in Saturday's visit to Alabama.

For the second game in 42 years and the first since 1990, Larry Munson won't be hunkered down behind the microphone.

Munson, 84, has given up road games this year. Scott Howard, his color man for 14 years, takes over play-by-play.

Munson told Georgia media this week his favorite call is the "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot" from the win at Tennessee in 2001, replacing "run, Lindsay, run," from 1980.

Bo Knows D: LSU is allowing 2.3 points per game, which should make defensive coordinator Bo Pelini a hot head-coaching prospect.

Pelini is in his third year at LSU after brief stints at Oklahoma and Nebraska and with three NFL teams.

Count offensive guru Steve Spurrier, whose South Carolina team is a 16-point underdog, among the impressed.

"They've got their own deal there,'' Spurrier said. "He doesn't really copy anybody else that I've seen.

"They play some coverages different than most people. It gives everybody a new scheme of things to try to attack and so far nobody has attacked it very well.''

Shhhh!: Going to Arkansas on Saturday, Kentucky's Andre Woodson is 14 short of the NCAA record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Woodson is at 257. Trent Dilfer's 271 at Fresno in 2003 is the standard.

"Usually when you start talking about something is when it ends,'' said coach Rich Brooks, "so let's hope he can get through another game and get that record.''

Other media contributed to this report.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com. Mike Strange may be reached at strange2@knews.com or 865-342-6276.