College Sports

NASHVILLE — Maybe Jacksonville State won't have an all-former Southeastern Conference backfield after all.

Initially, the Gamecocks were expected to put former Alabama cornerback Tremayne Coger at running back — alongside former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux — to improve their ground attack, which was a disappointing seventh in the league last year.

Now, they're thinking it might not be such a bad idea to leave Coger in the secondary.

"We originally thought we'd play him at running back, then we got to a point where we were going to play him wherever he could play the quickest," JSU coach Jack Crowe said Tuesday. "When a guy's played in the SEC two years at corner, the quickest way for him to play for us was to play corner, and I think that's where that's headed.

"We've got to have August practice to finalize anything in that area, but right now it looks like Tremayne's going to be at corner. That's just something that's happened here recently."

That would put Coger and Alexandria's T.J. Heath at the corners, with Carnell Clark and Kenny Walker at the safeties, making Crowe feel real good about the prospects of having the best defense in the OVC that can score points.

But it still leaves an issue at running back. The Gamecocks averaged 166.5 yards per game rushing last year and their depth chart at the position looks the same as it did a year ago — Daniel Jackson and Shawn Green.

Jackson did lead the team in rushing (509 yards), but needed 73 yards and a limited game from quarterback Cedric Johnson to do it.

"Finding a running back is our top priority," Crowe said. "I've got a lot of pressure on (the running backs) to be the backs they can be. I'm not sure at all right now what's going to happen, but it's at the point something's got to happen.

"I wish I could tell you I had the solutions. I think we got a little better in the spring, but we've got a lot of work to do there in camp."

• ALL-OVC GAMECOCKS: Perrilloux might have been one of the nation's top prospects coming out of high school and a bona fide SEC talent, but he'll have to earn his way onto the all-conference team.

The Gamecocks did put three players on the preseason All-OVC team — and none were on offense.

Senior linebacker Marquise Elston, of Anniston, senior kicker Gavin Hallford and senior return specialist Maurice Dupree, of Centre, made the team. Elston had 42 tackles (8 for loss) and three sacks last year. Hallford kicked a JSU-record 22 field goals last year, leading the nation. Dupree averaged 29.4 yards per kick return and 13.9 yards per punt return.

Eastern Kentucky quarterback Allan Holland was the preseason offensive player of the year, a spot many expect Perrilloux to occupy at season's end. Eastern Illinois lineman Pierre Walters was the preseason defensive player of the year.

• BACK HOME: After two years discovering life beyond college football on Saturdays in the fall, Mike Parris returns to the microphone this fall to call JSU games on the radio.

There was quite a stir among the Gamecock Nation when Parris was replaced by Matt Coulter in 2006 after a quarter century as the team's lead announcer. He'll partner this year with former JSU All-American quarterback Ed Lett.

"I missed it," Parris said, "But I found out, as a friend of mine told me, that people actually do other things besides college football on Saturday; not many, but there are some other things going on. I'm looking forward to it."

Particularly the opener. Parris didn't grow up a Georgia Tech fan, but as a Georgia native he was well aware of the Yellow Jackets and said it would be "neat" to do a game at Grant Field.

The Gamecocks have at least four stations carry a game. Campus station WLJS (91.9 FM) will serve as the flagship. The Gamecocks will also be found on WVOK-FM (K-98) in Oxford, WKXX (102.9-FM) in Gadsden and 100,000-watt WYDE (101.1 FM) in Birmingham.

• PLAY NICE: It's not the OVC's intent to stifle the spectacle that is college football, but bands that insist on playing while the ball is live and affecting play will cost their team 5 yards.

OVC game officials hoped to make their point with a sideline warning, but the NCAA dissolved sideline warnings. Third and subsequent sideline penalties, either to the band or the bench, will be 15 yards.

Perhaps the most significant rule change for 2008 involves game timing. In an effort to speed up games — JSU played a 3-hour, 33-minute marathon at Homecoming last season — the play clock and game clock in college games both will operate just as they do the NFL.

This season, a 40-second play clock will commence at the end of every play, the 15-second play clock coming out of a timeout is gone, and there are only 12 times when the clock will set at 25. Additionally, when a player runs out of bounds, the clock will resume when all is well (except in the last 2:00).

Other items of note: horse-collar tackles are illegal (except inside the tackle box or quarterbacks in the pocket); the "low" definition on chop blocks is the thigh or below; and receiving teams have the option on free kicks out of bounds to have the ball 30 yards beyond the previous spot.

While some rules are similar to the NFL's, Jim Jackson, the coordinator of OVC officials, said it's not the college football rules committee's objective to brings its game closer in line with the pros.

"But," he said, "... those people have spent a lot of time and money — and they've got all the money in the world — to do research about what works and what doesn't, so we utilize their mechanics ... We're going to do what makes sense."

With Samford's departure to the Southern Conference, the OVC has reduced its roster of officials to 35 — five full crews. Two of their officials are from Alabama — Tom Danner and Chip Shields, both from Tuscaloosa.

• NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: There was something new to this year's OVC Media Day — players. Each program brought at least one player to the event, some brought two. The Gamecocks had safety Kenny Walker and guard Al Jefferson.

"Everybody wanted at some point to incorporate players," OVC assistant commissioner Kyle Schwartz said. "Other conferences invite players to their Media Day and we try to pattern ourselves after the best conferences out there because we feel we're one of the best conferences, especially at the FCS level, and the next logical step was to do whatever we could to get student-athletes at our Media Day."

Schwartz said it was hoped in future Media Days each team would bring two players and the activity schedule could be expanded.