Yes, this is late in arrival.  Hand me the late slip.

--- ESPN's Bruce Feldman adds another weekly mailbag to the collection.

From Matthew in Ohio: What do you make of "sure thing" QBs slipping in the last three drafts: 2005: Aaron Rodgers; 2006: Matt Leinart; 2007: Brady Quinn. It is quickly becoming a draft-day tradition to see the once heralded "No. 1" pick get left in the green room all by himself. Is this evidence that college football quarterbacks are overhyped based on their numbers/teams success, that college football and the NFL are not nearly as similar as people believe, just a coincidence or something else entirely?

Feldman: It's an interesting observation, provided that Quinn would indeed drop. The most obvious answer would be that all of the time and added scrutiny exposes flaws. (I remember being surprised watching the Senior Bowl practices last month, hearing Mike Mayock say that Jon Beason, along with Lawrence Timmons (both juniors) were the two top linebacker prospects. But then, he explained that it's still early and they will evaluate more film of those younger guys.

To me, the evaluation process always seems to be a hunt for flaws, and people are so eager to find tips about why a guy might not succeed rather than reasons why they will.

Best answer is the shortest: No Fun League.

I'm one of those people that thinks the two sports are divergent and growing less common over time.  Scan a handful of NFL rosters and you'll see tons of nobodies.  We're talking guys who couldn't hack in college ball but suddenly emerge as significant contributors on teams with much smaller rosters than D-IA football.  How else to explain why Mike Furrey can badly outplay three first round receivers in Detroit, or how Jason White can't survive the first week of NFL camp cuts yet Cleo Lemon's been in The League's employ for several years now.

The NFL is where college stars go to be merely average or worse.

--- ESPN's Ivan Maisel asks, "is Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema the next Barry Switzer or the next Bill Battle?"

Stay tuned.

Also from Maisel: Wake Forest tailback Micah Andrews' return.  Andrews tore his left ACL in Wake's third game last year, missing out on most of their historic season.

As a slight aside, it should be interesting to see where Wake goes this year.  They won't be sneaking up on people anymore, but they also get one of their best players back and their system is predicated on a nifty run attack and overall cohesion as each incoming class generally redshirts together.  I'm assuming they'll do fairly well again, unless the ACC roars back with a monster year here in 2007.

Also from Maisel: Pay attention to the Pac-10.

Well, duh.  The league has been this way for at least a decade now, deeply competitive within itself from teams one through ten and nationally there always seems to be a strong team or two.  The magic of it all is that USC's recent dominance aside, one never knows who will be good.

There is no permanent underclass (although I have deep concerns about the direction Stanford has taken these last few years) and there are no permanent overlords.  As much as people dog the league, its champion(s) have gone through hell in achieving the league crown thanks to the quality of coaching and upset-making offenses scattered throughout the league.

Also from Maisel: Iowa has derailed the last two years.  This time around they're paying attention to details and other cliche stuff.

--- ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski is unhappy about the whole recruiting game.

He offers a solution at least.  It's meh, but I was ready to write the column off as nothing but overdramatic and done-before recruiting complaints until I saw this:

Wouldn't it be nice to simply eliminate the recruiting process? Just get rid of it. No more 95 million kilobytes of text jibberish. No more insanity. Give each recruit 10 official visits. A coach, his staff, his players, his university have 36 hours to make an impression. Seriously, how many schools did you visit before picking a college? How many professors text messaged you? When you interviewed for your first full-time job, did it take longer than a day or so? And if you were lucky enough to have multiple job offers, did you attend a news conference holding baseball caps of the two corporate finalists?

To tell you the truth I think the recruiting websites have brought tremendous sunshine into the process.  Recruits will talk about what happens on their visits, who is calling them and saying what and sometimes things are revealed that long before would have never been known about.

--- ESPN's Pat Forde gives a living eulogy to departing Arkansas Athletic Director and former football coach Frank Broyles.

It's a stirring walk through history.  CFR recommended.

--- Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel sees a return of the return game in college football thanks to a new rule change pushing kickoffs back to the 30-yard line.

There is one proposed change, however, that should have coaches around the country raising an eyebrow -- and devoting a whole lot of practice time this spring to kickoff coverage.

Remember when Ohio State's Ted Ginn Jr. returned the opening kick of the national championship for a touchdown? That rarest of plays could soon become a whole lot more common as the committee has proposed moving kickoffs back from the 35- to the 30-yard line. The goal: Less touchbacks, resulting in more returns and, in turn, more elapsed time on kicks.

"We're trying to introduce a very exciting play back into football, particularly at the Division I level," said [NCAA Football Rules Committee chair Michael] Clark. "We also think it will add more scoring back into the game."

Rocket Ismail and Desmond Howard come to mind as I read this.  I'm looking forward to the on-field results.

--- Sports Illustrated's Arash Markazi interviews the SI Swimsuit models who took pictures with the USC Trojan Marching Band.

Julie Henderson: The coolest thing was when I ran outside at USC and starting saying, "Fight on!" to the USC football team when they were walking back from practice. I was probably more excited to see them than they were to see me. The looks on the faces of some of the players was priceless when they saw me in my two-piece cardinal and gold swimsuit. I felt bad because I made one of the players [Ed- reserve quarterback/safety Garrett Green] run into a golf cart on his way back but I think he was fine. I would've felt really bad if he got injured.

More on that here.

--- The Sporting News' Matt Hayes has had his run-ins with Illinois coach Ron Zook, but sticks his neck out to defend him against rumors of recruiting impropriety.

The point is, he and I haven't seen eye to eye and he doesn't really like me. But I'll tell you this: the guy is not a cheater -- no matter what those at high and mighty Notre Dame think.

Also from Hayes: Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, for all that zen talk, is a nuts and bolts guy.

Last week's outburst was humorous, but I read it as the sign of a natural transition from one coaching regime to the next.  New coaches come in and they inevitably chase away much of the roster, alienate some of the die-hards and otherwise create chaos until the program is remade in their image.  The cost of that invariably includes letters from peeved parents and other things coaches would rather not worry about.

Also from Hayes: Several hotshot frosh quarterbacks who may be playing sometime next fall.  Besides the obvious Jimmy Clausen, he mentions Willy Korn (Clemson), Keith Nichol (Oklahoma) and Mike Paulus (North Carolina).

"When you play a freshman [quarterback]," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says, "he's either really good or you really need help."

--- The Mobile Register's Paul Finebaum once again defends new Alabama coach Nick Saban.  And of course he takes a few shots at LSU and coach Les Miles.

All that is different now is two years and a change of address. Oh, and something else. Saban is now at Alabama, a school that has one of the best facilities in the country and among the richest names and traditions in college football history.

Bottom line: If he could become the top coach in college football at LSU, a school that had fallen off the radar screen, he can do it at Alabama.

That's why Alabama fans are so optimistic and confident with Saban on board. It's also why LSU fans -- and those of other schools -- are so green with envy. They know what Saban is capable of doing. They've seen it first-hand. Now they are fearful he'll do it all over again at Alabama, and if history is any indicator, they have good reason for their fear.

Also from Finebaum: An examination into the nature of coach terminations.  Us fans are a fickle lot, but so too are the athletic departments that hire, extend and fire coaches sometimes within days of such action.  Good read.

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