SIX BITS: Antwine’s injury, Vandy KR, soccer wins, Kiffin runs mouth (again), Harvin develops

By Adam Silverstein
November 5, 2009

1 » Battling back from what was a potential career-ending back injury in 2007 and a torn knee ligament in 2008, Florida Gators redshirt junior defensive tackle Brandon Antwine is facing a long recovery once again. Antwine re-injured his shoulder against the Mississippi State Bulldogs two weeks ago and is considering season-ending surgery. “Your heart bleeds for him because he’s all Gator, he’s 100 percent in and he’s a really good player,” coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s fighting like a maniac.”

2 » Drawing the attention of Meyer this week is Vanderbilt Commodores kick returner Warren Norman. Norman, who as a freshman became only the second player in Southeastern Conference history to record three touchdowns on kickoffs in a season, can break the SEC all-time single-season kickoff return yardage record with just 51 more. “I’ve never seen a freshman return three kickoffs for touchdowns and it’s not against one of those smaller schools. It’s against SEC opponents,” Meyer said. Meyer wants to prevent that from happening, though considering the Gators are giving up 19.5 yards per kick return, he should be able to pass it in two or three attempts.

3 » In the opening round of the 2009 SEC Championship Tournament in Orange Beach, AL, the No. 8 Florida soccer team (15-4-2, 8-1-2 SEC) defeated the Tennessee Volunteers (8-9-3, 4-5-2 SEC) 1-0 in two overtimes. The one-seed in the tournament, the Gators will move on to face the the No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks (16-3-1, 7-3-1 SEC) on Friday, Nov. 6 at 8:30 p.m.

Three more BITS on Kiffin, Georgia and Harvin after the jump…

4 » Never missing an opportunity to deliver a pot shot to Meyer, Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin responded to questions about the Florida coach from reporters on Wednesday. “Urban Meyer … criticized the officials?” Kiffin said. “That will be interesting to see.” Asked whether or not he believed Meyer would be subject to a fine or suspension, Kiffin added, “You guys got the same memo that I got.” Last but not least, he was asked if he saw the incident regarding Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes. His response? “Obviously, [Meyer] will discipline his team – or not – however he feels.”

5 » Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress knew he wanted to draft Gators wide receiver Percy Harvin. With the 22nd pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, Childress believed he would have a chance to draft Harvin. But should he, considering rumors of Harvin’s character issues and the label that he is “injury prone?” Whether or not he should have, he did. “I felt I had to go get to know Percy, see where he came from,” Childress said. “I got to visit with him, his mom and dad. Grandma was over in a recliner. His sister, his little niece and their shitzu dog were in the living room. I just said, ‘This remind you of college recruiting?’ They all nodded, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, there’s one big difference — I’m doing the choosing.’” Childress continued: “I rode in Percy’s car over to Gainesville and we went up and saw Urban Meyer. Urban was painfully honest.”

6 » Learning that Meyer sent a video of his late hit on senior quarterback Tim Tebow in to the SEC for review, Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Nick Williams was surprised. “Emotions were flying, and I was just trying to make a play,” Williams said. “Tebow is a great player, and it’s obviously you got to get him on the ground or he’s going to spark something. I didn’t think anything of it. I wasn’t trying to hurt him or anything but was just out there playing. Emotions got going. It’s Georgia-Florida, you know.” Williams’ head coach Mark Richt, when asked if his player’s hit should have drawn a penalty, was candid. “I agree with that,” Richt said. “[Williams] could have gotten called for that.”

5 Comments

  1. Kaity says:

    So are Richt’s comments going to be “reviewed” by Slive as well? He basically said the same thing as Urban. He answered a question honestly.

    I can’t wait til all of this blows over!

  2. ReptilesRule says:

    Meyer may have questioned the officials judgement but not their integrity like Kiffin did. When he said he was afraid to run another play in the bama game to set up a shorter field goad for fear of a mystery flag, he questioned the very intent of the refs. Then he made light of the reprimand letters sent by the league and then suggested that Florida and Alabama live on because of the actions of the conference. THAT was a pretty serious indictment!!

  3. You are 100% correct RR.

  4. Brittany says:

    I agree with you ReptilesRule, what Kiffin said and what Meyer said are two totally different things. And the people who are trying to draw comparisons are ridiculous.

  5. Gatorfan33 says:

    I am so tired of Kiffen that this isn’t even laughable. Banter back and forth between 2 head coaches is good for a rivalry but Kiffen is a motor mouthed cry baby. DUDE SHUT UP ALREADY. He will be fired from UT in 2 more years and if UT was smart they would hand the job to his dad with the condition that he not hire his son in any capacity. This is why I wanted Urban to hang 50 on UT because with the score as close as it was it doesn’t give him enough reason to shut up about Meyer and UF.

    Adam you need some smilies on here. One that is pissed off would be great right about now. 😉

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