Nate Tice (6-4, 195), a quarterback from Edina High in Minnesota and the son of Jacksonville Jaguar assistant coach Mike Tice, has been invited to the NIKE Top-125 summer football camp in Orlando this summer. He will also attend Meyer’s camp at Florida. His grade point average is 3.5 and ACT is a 27. He is interested in BYU, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and UCF. He was hurt his junior year (lacerated kidney) and missed most of the season. This season he is the projected starter at quarterback. Coach John “Doc” Holliday said Tony Joiner was the other starting safety along with Reggie Nelson. Holliday said safety Kyle Jackson’s back injury put him behind. John Curtis and Dorian Munroe are also providing depth at the position.

GEORGIA: Senior offensive tackle Daniel Inman has been given a two-game suspension (Western Kentucky and South Carolina) for a violation of a team rule. Back-up center Ian Smith is also suspended for the first two games. Inman’s suspension means only two offensive tackles Michael Turner and Ken Shackleford have playing experience. Freshman John Miller enrolled in January, but was held out with a shoulder injury.

Bulldog signee Brandon Wood (6-1, 254), a defensive end from Haralson County (Ga.) High, has qualified. He will be one of three defensive end signees for the Bulldogs including Kiante Tripp and Michael Lemon. The defensive end starters are Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson. Marcus Howard and Roderick Battle are their backups. Sophomore linebacker Dannell Ellerbe’s has been suspended for the first three games. He was charged in early January with theft by taking, driving while intoxicated, underage possession of alcohol and providing false information after wrecking teammate Marquis Elmore’s car.

SOUTH CAROLINA: JUCO signee Clarence Bailey (6-7, 330), an offensive lineman from Trenton, N. J., has cleared up his academic issues and will graduate this month and enroll at South Carolina shortly afterwards. Mike Aresco, the Vice President for CBS programming, said the network is looking at the USC-Florida game on Nov. 11. He also said the Kentucky-USC game or Arkansas-Auburn game (noon kickoff) could be a part of a doubleheader featuring LSU at Florida on Oct. 7. Coach Steve Spurrier said Syvelle Newton, who played quarterback, receiver and running back last year, should be full speed after his Achilles injury when camp opens in August. It was announced Tuesday that the football team compiled a GPA of 2.596, the highest ever for the football team. When Spurrier was hired in late Nov. 2004, the GPA was 1.8. Spurrier gave the team in ultimatum of either going to class or running stadium steps at 5 am.

ALABAMA: Linebacker Juwan Simpson, Alabama’s leading tackler from last season, was arrested Saturday for marijuana possession, carrying a pistol without a license and 2nd degree charge of receiving stolen property (a pistol). The felony charge of stealing the pistol was reduced to a misdemeanor when it was determined the gun was worth less than $500. The 2007 Alabama-Auburn game has been pushed back until Thanksgiving weekend next season. SEC athletic directors recently voted to require all teams to play their final regular season game one week before the SEC Title game on the first Saturday in December. The policy will be announced this weekend at the annual meetings in Destin, Fla. The league wants all schools to have the same amount of time to prepare for the title game. This means that Alabama will not have to play LSU and Auburn in consecutive weeks. Chris Lett (6-1, 205), a defensive back from Pensacola, Fla. has committed to the Tide. Florida, Auburn and Illinois are recruiting him.

AUBURN: Craig Stevens (6-2, 185), a linebacker from Tallahassee Lincoln High, is verbal commitment No. 4 for the Tigers. LSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, N C State, among others have offered him. Receiver signee Chris Slaughter, who is from Fort Valley (Ga.) Peach County, did not qualify and he will head to Hargrave Military Academy. Slaughter was a four-star receiver according to Rivals.com

LSU: Cotton Bowl officials have contacted LSU about a regular-season, neutral-site game against a Big 12 Conference opponent. Bowl officials have contacted nearly a dozen schools including LSU, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Texas A & M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. LSU officials would like to play Notre Dame, but Irish officials are interested. The Tigers have played in the Cotton Bowl only one time in 40 years-the 2003 Cotton Bowl. LSU is signed up for a home-and-home series with TCU in 2013-14. Ryan Perrilloux, the probable No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart, has denied reports that he is looking to transfer. There was a television report that his uncle had contacted Grambling to see if there was interest in him transferring.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: The Bulldogs have three transfers—Tulane’s Christian Ducre, Memphis’ Cortez McCraney and Florida’s Michael Brown—who will be eligible to play in 2007.

OLE MISS: Quarterback signee Brent Schaeffer said he has been cleared to walk for graduation on May 27. He said his teachers told him that he passed all his courses.

FLORIDA STATE: Receiver signee Brent Brewer (6-2, 195) from Sandy Creek, Georgia might have a decision to make after the June Baseball Draft. Team One Baseball has projected him to be the nation’s No. 57 draftee. Another signee D’Vontrey Richardson, a quarterback from Lee County in Georgia, is also mulling his baseball future. Richardson, rated by Rivals.com as the No. 1 athlete in the state of Georgia, is also attracting interest from teams, but he is expected to stick with his college commitment. Jacoby Monroe (6-2, 290), tight end/defensive end, from Sandalwood (Fla.) High in Jacksonville has coaches drooling at his talent. He recovered a fumble on the first play on special teams. Three plays later, he carried the ball for a 40-yard gain. Two plays later he lined up as a tight end and caught a pass. He benches 315 and has a squat max at 750.

Nole defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. He was a two-way player playing for Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. Matt Hayes of the Sporting News writes that FSU wanted to try quarterback Xavier Lee at receiver, but he missed all the drills due to his shoulder surgery. He wants to stay at quarterback. Lee might want to heed to advice of former FSU quarterback Anquan Boldin who is making a lot of money in the NFL as a receiver. Noel Devine (5-8, 175), a running back from North Fort Myers, Fla., is considered the best running back in the state. Devine really likes FSU and Miami. Last year, he ran for 1,986 yards and 24 touchdowns. He has academic issues. The only linebacker the Noles are recruiting is Brandon Hicks (6-3, 210), who is from Jacksonville (Fla.) Forrest. Miami and Florida have also offered him.

MIAMI: Coach Larry Coker on his booster tour said he expects all freshmen to be eligible and he intends on using running backs Javarris James, Kylan Robinson and Graig Cooper this season. He wants Cooper to be a kick returner. Coker expects tailback Tyrone Moss to be ready for FSU. He also plans on installing a package for backup quarterback Kirby Freeman. Coker also admitted that “our neighbors up north” are using the poor stadium attendance recruiting accusations against the Canes. Senior associate AD Pete Garcia told a Broward County booster group that Western Michigan, Rutgers and Ole Miss have better facilities. Offensive signee Orlando Franklin, who is 6-foot-8, has gained 10 pounds of muscle and he is up to 310.

ABC COLLEGE FOOTBALL BROADCASTERS: The network has announced that Dan Fouts will do play-by-play replacing Keith Jackson. His partner will be Tim Brant. ESPN’s Paul Maguire, who has not covered college football since 1986, will join Bob Griese and Brad Nessler on Saturday’s afternoon’s top game on ABC. Mike Patrick will call the Saturday night games with Todd Blackledge. Doug Flutie is the likely replacement in the ABC studio for Aaron Taylor. Chris Fowler will take over play-by-play duties for Mike Tirico on Thursday ESPN night games. On Saturday nights, Kirk Herbstreit teams with Bob Davie and Brent Musburger.

LINDY’S MAGAZINE TOP TWENTY SELECTIONS:
1. Notre Dame
2. Ohio State
3. West Virginia
4. Texas
5. Florida
6. USC
7. Oklahoma
8. Auburn
9. Cal
10. LSU…
12. FSU…
14. Georgia…
16. Miami…
18. Clemson…
20. Virginia Tech
Lindy’s picks Florida to beat Auburn for the SEC title.

UCF: Coach George O’Leary will sign a 10-year, $10 million contract extension offered by school officials. With incentives, some years, he could make closer to $1.5 million per year.

BRENT BEAIRD IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR THE CLAY COUNTY LINE IN ORANGE PARK, FLA., HE ALSO WRITES FOR RIVALS.COM, SAMSPORTSLINE.COM AND GATOR BAIT MAGAZINE. HE CAN BE HEARD ON ESPN 1460 ON MONDAY AND THURSDAY AFTERNOONS ON THE RUMBLE WITH MIKE DEMPSEY AND TOM MCMANUS.