Ole Miss No Longer a Sleeper Under Nutt

Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt has a message for his players as spring drills approach. The Rebels will deal with a considerably higher profile in 2009, Nutt’s second season with the team. “I’ve told them they’re on the radar. Last year, (the Rebels) were under it,” Nutt said. “You could sneak into The Swamp, get a victory (over Florida, which went on to win the BCS national title) and get out This year, you’re going to have a bull’s-eye on your back.” That’s because Ole Miss won its last six games, including victories over LSU and Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl, to finish 9-4. Some national publications are already pegging the Rebels as a possible Top 10 team. Jevan Snead returns as the quarterback, and talent is in ample supply, but Nutt is intent on starting anew with this team. – Sun Herald

New Book Gives Scrutiny to Power Struggle at Georgia

A new book scheduled to be released Tuesday in Atlanta paints a not-so-favorable picture of University of Georgia President Michael Adams and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. “Behind the Hedges: Big Money and Power Politics at the University of Georgia,” written by the late Rich Whitt, a former Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner, examines the internal power struggle between Adams and athletics director Vince Dooley and how the controversy resulted in the split between the Board of Regents and the UGA Foundation. By all accounts, Adams is made out to be the bad guy. “Adams doesn’t come out looking too good but everybody looks complicit,” said Suzanne La Rosa, publisher of NewSouth Books of Montgomery, Ala. “As a publisher I wanted a balanced account of the story and this is a solid work by Rich Whitt. What I love about it most is it’s not pointing fingers. It shows a collective failure on the part of the educational system and everyone is implicated, including the governor of the state of Georgia.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gators Battle Complacency

The Gators return 18 starters from their national championship team from 2008. It’s almost the exact same group that worked harder and stayed focused after rallying behind Tim Tebow’s famous speech. Many of them have two championship rings. They know coach Urban Meyer’s program and know what it takes to be a winner. So the Gators know how to stay hungry after two national championships in three years, right coach? No chance of complacency? “No chance? Big chance,” Meyer said Wednesday after the Gators opened spring practice for the 2009 season. “It’s our job not to let that happen.”— Palm Beach Post