(This is the second of a three-part series.)

Florida’s Big Fella faces other problems than mere cash concerns. Even with a seven-figure salary likely in the bag, his problems don’t end there.

With the Gators, Mo plays as a center, plain and simple. At 6-10 and 245 pounds, He’s bigger and thicker than everyone else on the team, and even with Kenny Kadji coming along, Donovan won’t move Speights to power forward and tire both of his bigs too soon.

In the NBA, it gets a little more complicated. On virtually every NBA team, even without a franchise center, there is someone of comparable, if not superior, height and weight to Mo. For example, the Boston Celtics have Kevin Garnett (+ 1 in. , +8 lbs.) and Kendrick Perkins (+35 lbs.), the LA Lakers have Andrew Bynum (+2 in., +30 lbs.) and Pau Gasol (+2 in., +15 lbs.), and the Phoenix Suns boast Amare Stoudemire (comparable height and weight, but more experienced) and Shaquille O’Neal (+3 in., +80 lbs.)

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Amidst talk about Mo Speights leaving, Donovan having to shove someone out the door due to scholarship problems, and chatter on the message boards about the incoming Dynamic Duo at PF and C (Eloy Vargas and Kenny Kadji), let’s look at various situations.

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THE ASSOSIATED PRESS -

Ever wish you could relive the glory days of college? Today, one lucky, overpaid man will get the chance to do just that.

In an unprecedented move, the NCAA has granted permission for Denver Nuggets center Marcus Camby to suit up for his alma mater, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, for the NIT semifinal game against the Florida Gators.

“Billy Donovan needs to learn a lesson about humility.” remarked head coach Travis Ford. “UF is weak around the low post, and bringing Marcus back was a prudent decision.”

“We don’t want to witness the making of another UCLA-type dynasty.”

The move gives UMass a feared inside prescence to counter Florida center Marreese Speights. Camby provides the perfect complement to swingman Gary Forbes, who leads the team with 19.5 points per game. Needless to say, most bookies have UMass winning in a blowout.

Upon further comment, Donovan was so irate that we had to edit out considerable portions of the transcript for vulgarity.

“Travis Ford is a ****ing b******! Everyone ****ing knows you can’t do this **** in college ball! This is ****ing bull****! Who do those guys think they ****ing are?? He’s lost his ****ing eligibility, a******s!”

The NBA’s season leader in shot blocks, Camby was drafted second overall in 1996. He has played for the Toronto Raptors, the New York Knicks (an added bonus), and the Denver Nuggets in 12 seasons in the NBA.

But Billy is not going down without a fight. The latest rumors have former Gator and current Knick David Lee spotted at Donovan’s most recent practice. Caught in its own web of hypocrisy, the NCAA will likely vote to include Lee in the Gator lineup for the sake of PR.

Either way, college sports may never be the same.

Vincent Gagliano contributed to this report

Okay, so the spring game is still five and half weeks away, and the first regular season football game isn’t until August 30. But it’s not too early to look at what made Florida a great sports school in the first place. Besides, everyone around here could use a short break from basketball and all of the nervous tension it entails.

Here is a breakdown of the team, position by position. Be warned, this might be a bit lengthy.

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When you have a staff like the one Urban Meyer has assembled at Florida, who has reached such heights over the past three years, it’s only natural that other schools will come calling.

Dan Mullen and Doc Holliday’s names were both whispered in conjunction with the West Virginia head coaching job. Charlie Strong has been a head coaching candidate for years. Should they continue to achieve such great successes, it’s only natural that all the coordinators and position coaches will be promoted or hired at other schools sooner rather than later.

John Hevesy and Steve Addazio graduated a bunch of seniors in ‘05 and then molded a young, untested offensive line into champions last year. In ‘07, they were even better, and next year, with the Gators a likely ranked pre-season #1, the line is expected to be the best in the country. Although the big uglies are frequently overlooked, the ability to control the line of scrimmage has been a key factor in Florida’s recent success. Most teams in the SEC — in fact, most in the nation — would be more than happy to trade their OL for ours.

Billy Gonzales’ wide receiver corps was among the best of the nation this season and will likely be again in ‘08. He’s also a monster recruiter. People see Percy Harvin and say, “I want a guy like that,” and then think of Gonzales. An OC or even head coaching job isn’t out of the question for him, either.

Although Florida’s running backs have not been anything more than average since this staff’s arrival, RB coach Stan Drayton needs only a season or two of success with guys like Emmanuel Moody and Chris Rainey to become a hot prospect, and I expect he will.

In some ways, this is a good problem to have; it’s a natural byproduct of success.

But losing these guys would hurt. And make no mistake about it, we’ll lose them eventually.

Danger/red alert

- Dan Mullen: operates the most powerful offense in the country. Coached muliple Heisman-candidate quarterbacks plus one Heisman winner.
- Charlie Strong: his 2006 defense was otherworldly. His ‘07 defense consistently got better throughout the year.

Warning/yellow

- Doc Holliday: already interviewing.
- Steve Addazio: Consistent success building an athletic, agile, and powerful line.

Safe (for now)/green

- Stan Drayton: needs better RBs to start producing. He’ll get them.
- Chuck Heater: Turned a 3rd-string CB at Utah into an All-American and NFL draft pick (Ryan Smith).
- Greg Mattison: strikes me as a lifer.
- Billy Gonzales: still on the young side for a HC job; possible future OC for UF.
- John Hevesy: not sure he has the right personality to snag a HC job.

Jarred Fayson has been granted his release from the football team in order to transfer to another school, citing a frustration with lack of playing time. This comes on the heels of not playing in the FSU game last Saturday.

My first reaction is: what the hell? With Bubba Caldwell graduating, you’d think Fayson would be a prime candidate to find his way onto the field a lot more in 2008.

I’ll be the first to admit he didn’t see the field as much as someone with his talents might ought to, and I understand why, too: as good as Fayson is/was, there are guys on this team who are even better.

Still, this seems like an odd choice now that Fayson has paid his dues, beefed up and even won a championship ring as a freshman.

Fayson always struck me as one of our more talented young players. He had some great runs and catches this year. He has close to Percy Harvin speed and is an elusive runner. I was expecting big things out of him in 2008.

This is a disappointing day for Gator Nation.

Deonte Thompson, Florida’s freshman phenom wide receiver is probably most famous for the Miami Hurricane propaganda that he wants to transfer down south to play in the worst offense in the state of Florida.  While the Hurricanes could definitely use some talent at receiver, who wants to go down to Miami to block for Javarris James and Graig Cooper all day long?  UM is a decent quarterback and a functional offensive line away from having a respectable passing game.  But that Cane fairy tales aside, Thompson has been tearing it up on the Gator practice field and Coach Urban Meyer has stated that Deonte has been impressive in practices and one of the better receivers on the team. 
 
With the recent spate of injuries to the UF wide receiver corps it begs the question, should Deonte play this year?  If he plays it means he will be unable to earn a redshirt and he will likely lose a year of eligibility for just a few dozen receptions at best.  Florida has three bona fide deep threat receivers in Percy Harvin, Andre Caldwell and Riley Cooper and have a fourth, Louis Murphy, with the speed to be a deep threat.  Unfortunately in looking at injury reports three of those very same names show up - Harvin, Caldwell and Cooper.
 
A basic tenet of the spread offense is to spread the field deep with speed.  With three of Florida’s deep threats dinged up or out due to injury is it time to let Deonte show his stuff on the field?  Personally I believe so.  Florida has other bodies at wide receiver in Jarred Fayson, David Nelson and Justin Williams but none of these are the speed merchant that Deonte is and none of them have proven consistent in games (I don’t believe Justin has ever caught a pass yet in fact).  On top of that, history has proven that Harvin, Caldwell and Cooper are injury prone and the talent drop-off after those players is just too great (although Fayson has the physical ability he seems to lack the confidence and comfort level he needs).
 
If Deonte is as good as they say (and some of they are the Florida coaches)  then what are the chances of him staying at Florida for 5 years anyways?  Extremely slim.  If Deonte really is a Chad Jackson or Percy Harvin type talent then he’s gone after 3 or 4 years so what is the point of keeping the redshirt?  If he has an injury like Caldwell (who probably would have left early had it not been for the injury) he can use the redshirt at that time.  Thompson needs game experience and Florida needs another deep threat.  I say we should put all our playmakers on the field regardless of class distribution.  Let Deonte show his stuff and give opposing defensive coordinators yet another weapon to defend against.

We’re wrapping up the cupcake portion of the Gators’ early season schedule. Things are about to get real serious here with Tennessee coming to town on the 15th.

We know a few things about our ‘07 Gators in the early going. Our defense is fast and talented, but also wobbly with inexperience. Our defensive tackles are my biggest concern as we are just not able to put any pressure on opposing quarterbacks, which always starts with a push in the middle. Our cornerbacks — who knows. They’re definitely not as good as the Lewis/Smith combo of ‘06. Kyle Jackson at safety is not very good but I have high hopes that frosh Major Wright will take over that slot this season. I like our linebackers more with each passing game and our defensive ends are strong. Overall, though, this unit is not a top-tier SEC product right now.

This defense is not going to get stops on 90% of opposing team’s possessions like we’ve been accustomed to in the recent past. That is a distinct reversal from the character of Meyer’s squads of ‘05 and ‘06. We’ve known it was coming, Gator fans, but it’s time to accept it: teams are going to score a pretty good number of points on the Gators this year. Troy breaking the 30-point barrier was the Category-A evidence and it’s probably going to get worse in SEC play.

Well, here’s one way to look at it: Spurrier won this way. Shootouts. Lots of points going both directions. Balls flying all over the “ballpark.” Welcome back to the 90s, with a spread-option twist.

The key element in the Gators’ success is Tim Tebow. And thank God he’s ours. Despite the average Gator fan’s tendency to align Tebow with Hercules, Superman, and the Incredible Hulk, this kid has lived up to expectations. Tebow has thrown for 536 yards and 6 TDs, plus rushed for 3 additional touchdowns (and 93 yards against Troy) in six quarters of football. Remember, Tebow didn’t play in the 4th quarter against Western Kentucky, and Cam Newton was mopping up Troy for most of the final period of that contest, so for a game and a half, that’s awesome production. In scoring alone, that’s 2.2 total touchdowns per quarter. Yowza!

What truly makes it impressive, though, is the fact that it’s efficient production. Tebow is completing 73.8% of his passes and as God is my witness, most of his incompletions are drops. Not some, most. The kid puts the ball on the money every time. Take away the drops and a batted ball or two and I think he completes 80-85% of his passes against WKU and Troy. That’s crazy good no matter what the quality of the competition. The arm and the accuracy still have to be there to make the throw, and he’s making the throw.

He’s also making great decisions in the pocket. Tebow will scare the dickens out of every defensive coordinator the Gators play simply because he has the power to make an entire linebacker corps — sometimes safeties, too — cave in towards the line with a single faux-step prior to the drop-back. We’ve seen it countless times in the Gators’ openers and we will continue to see it throughout the season.

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We may lose senior captain and starting OT Phil Trautwein for more than just the season opener.

He might be out for the entire season.

Right now, that’s looking increasingly likely.

Urban Meyer: “Traut will be fine…You hate to see something like this especially with a really invested guy,” Meyer said. “It is his third stress fracture and I found out more last night when we all found out. I thought it was a sprained ankle and almost fell out of my chair, but he also had a couple in high school.”

The buzz around Gator circles is that the stress fracture is likely to require surgery, which would end Trautwein’s season. There’s no official word yet on a decision regarding his immediate future, but I’m putting 2:1 odds on the knife. It’s just a matter of time before we hear the announcement. Hope I’m wrong.

This would be a tough loss considering Trautwein was one of Florida’s best offensive linemen in the 2006 championship season. Stepping into the void we have true frosh Maurkice Pouncey, who’s uber-talented but also uber-inexperienced.

Even if Pouncey plays well out of the gates, the Gators will lose significant depth on the line.

Positives: at least this is a strong unit to begin with. If you told me we lost Brandon Spikes, Derrick Harvey, Tony Joiner or any of our corners for the season I’d probably start gearing up the negative brainwaves for some worst-case scenario propositions which involve more than 2 losses.

Get well soon, Traut!

Endless promise. A huge, infectious smile. A young man brought up, by all accounts, to be the polite, respectful kid you were proud to know.

A total team player in high school. A lock-down cornerback who had “Future in the NFL” stenciled on his helmet.

We’ve lost him; Avery Atkins is no longer with us. Somehow, it was all short-circuited by a seemingly endless train of bad decisions followed by a steady descent into the dark world of drug abuse.

I wrote just last week about the Sad Saga of Avery Atkins not knowing how sad the ending would truly be. Losing a future in football and possibly the NFL is a huge disappointment, but it doesn’t even register on the scale compared to losing a family. And that is what Avery Atkins lost — himself, his family, his future days with his son, named Avery Atkins Jr. The exact cause and reason for death is not yet known, but it seems that whether Avery intended to end it all on purpose, or by accidental overdose, the cause was still the same. Avery’s bad decisions, and his inability to cope with their consequences, led to his death.

I never knew Avery Atkins. I followed his story from the time he was recruited, which seems like yesterday. I watched him play in the ‘05 spring game, and watched him step in as a freshman for an injured Vernell Brown and make big plays against Florida State later that season. I watched him whoop and holler and beat his chest and hug his teammates as the Gator offense strapped on their helmets and ran back on the field. It might have been one of Avery’s best moments; certainly one of his best as a football player, although hopefully the moment he first met his son was his best as a man.

I’m angry at Avery Atkins. Angry that he could squander so much. Angry that he didn’t have the strength to get his life on track, to take care of his family, to take care of himself. I’m angry that a young man with so much potential — not just in football, but in life — fell down, couldn’t get back up, and for all I know, didn’t even try — despite the help of so many around him, including Urban Meyer and the coaching staff, even after Atkins’ days as a Gator football player were done. I’m angry that a young man who had a chance to graduate with a University of Florida diploma threw that amazing opportunity away. I’m angry that a little boy will grow up never knowing his father and will likely watch that FSU game fifteen or twenty years from now, watch his father leap up and make an amazing play which brought 90,000 people to their feet, practically feeling the cackling energy flowing through his young and athletic body like an electric current, full of life, full of hope, full of promise, and wonder how he could be found dead in a garage less than two years later.

I’m angry. But Avery Atkins was a kid. Kids do stupid things.

And sometimes kids aren’t strong enough to get back up.

Kids are supposed to get a few chances to get on track, to get things sorted out, to re-prioritize, to focus. To grow into adults. To become parents. To live their lives.

Avery ran out of chances. That’s no one’s fault but his own. But he was just a kid. Don’t lose sight of that fact.

I didn’t know Avery Atkins. But I’ll remember that improbable leap, defying gravity as he soared skyward to pick off an errant pass, and remember how happy a young future father-to-be was, staring into the yawning gape of a brilliant future, on a beautiful fall day in Gainesville, Florida, in 2005. And I hope that is how you’ll remember him too.