Joel Buchsbaum's college notepad

By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print Aug. 20, 2001

• Florida State lost one of its three highly regarded senior receivers for the year when Robert Morgan tore two left ligaments in his left knee (lateral cruciate and anterior cruciate) in a non-contact pass catching drill in mid-August. Due to the loss of Morgan, Chris Rix will start at quarterback for Florida State and Anquan Boldin moves back to wide receiver after practicing at quarterback during the spring and the start of fall camp. However, during the Seminoles’ first scrimmage of the preseason, Boldin went down with a knee injury of his own, and results of an MRI were not expected until after presstime.

• Utah OG Ed Ta’amu was suspended for the first three games of the season after being charged with misdemeanor assault in an incident in which the other man allegedly did numerous things to provoke Ta’amu, but Ta’amu may have overreacted. Ta’amu allegedly punched a man who was firing off fireworks after the following events occurred: One of the man’s fireworks landed in an area near Ta’amu’s home where Ta’amu and some friends were standing. Ta’amu asked the man to stop, but the man continued to fire, and Ta’amu repeated his request. Ta’amu did not hit the man until the alleged victim kicked the can he was using to launch his rockets into Ta’amu’s chest. At that point, Ta’amu allegedly punched the victim.

• Michigan State has moved backup TE Ivory McCoy to outside linebacker, and he looks as though he could make a big impact as a pass rusher. He is no Julian Peterson yet, but he is playing the same position Peterson played before the 49ers drafted him in the first round of the 2000 draft. McCoy has made cameo appearances as a pass rusher in the past.

• First, USC moved rugged RB Frank Strong to safety. Now new head coach Pete Carroll is moving him again, this time to outside linebacker, to get more team speed on defense. USC has the fastest team on the West Coast and perhaps in the entire nation, but the Trojans don’t have as many studs in the trenches as they need to play in this year’s Rose Bowl, which is the national championship game.

• Tennessee CB Willie Miles suffered head and back injuries in a preseason practice and was taken off on a stretcher and hospitalized. Early indications were that Miles suffered a bruised spinal cord, but now it appears as if his injuries are not that serious because he is expected back in time to play in the opener.

• Florida CB Robert Cromartie may redshirt after tearing a pectoral muscles in a preseason scrimmage.

• Nate Hybl won the right to replace Josh Heupel at quarterback for Oklahoma.

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2001 - 2002 Season