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By From Times staff, correspondent and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2000
Palmer looks at the "woulda, coulda, shoulda'
GAINESVILLE -- Jesse Palmer set out this season to be the No. 1 quarterback for Florida throughout his senior season.
After two injuries, Palmer may have to earn his starting job back from redshirt freshman Rex Grossman . Although Palmer is expected to be ready to play Saturday, coach Steve Spurrier named Grossman the starter.
"I'm not sure if things would have totally changed if I would have stayed healthy," Palmer said Tuesday. "But at the same time, you know, it's kind of like woulda, coulda, shoulda; you don't know what really would have happened. I'm just happy to be back full speed, ready to go."
Palmer's first injury occurred during the Kentucky game, in which he was 12-for-19 for 190 yards and one touchdown and had four rushing touchdowns.
A hip pointer kept Palmer from practice, and a sprained ankle against Mississippi State caused him to miss most of the game and several days of practice. With Palmer injured, Grossman made the most of his first start as a Gator, completing 18 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns against LSU on Saturday.
"Hopefully, Rex can build on last week's game and continue to improve in this week's ballgame," Spurrier said.
RECORD SEEKER: Placekicker Jeff Chandler needs seven points to become the highest-scoring player in Florida history. He is fourth with 220, two points behind Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith.
"(Smith) is going to be in the Hall of Fame one day," Chandler said. "And to have my name ahead of his, it would mean so much."
INJURY UPDATE: Wide receivers Alex Willis (left ankle), Reche Caldwell (left ankle) and Taylor Jacobs (hip) are expected to return Saturday.
- DEBI JONES
TALLAHASSEE -- Defensive end Jamal Reynolds was held out of practice with a sprained right knee. The senior hopes he will be healthy enough to return to practice today. Reynolds, who has nine sacks through six games, sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of FSU's 59-7 win over Maryland on Sept. 28. He had an MRI exam on the knee Monday as precaution. The results were unknown.
"I'm expecting to play, but if (doctors) hold me out, I got to do what they say," Reynolds said.
Reynolds' injury comes as another blow to FSU's already-bruised defensive line. Senior defensive ends Roland Seymour and David Warren have missed considerable time because of injuries.
MEDICAL REDSHIRTS: Senior offensive tackle Ross Brannon (reconstructed right knee) and freshman defensive tackle Travis Johnson (sprained neck) will sit out the rest of the season and apply to the NCAA for medical redshirts.
- ALEX ABRAMS
TAMPA -- With a bye this weekend, South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said he decided to give his team a break by letting it out of practice 20 minutes early.
"We actually moved through everything we needed to go quickly, so we let them out early," Leavitt said. "We worked on the punt team, offense and defense. The No. 1 defense went up against the No. 2 offense, while the No. 1 offense went up against the No. 2 defense. We need to turn our offense around."
BOWL GAME: Though the Bulls cannot participate in a bowl game this season, they will play in the "Bull Bowl" on Thursday. Leavitt is setting up the light scrimmage for players who have not had playing time."The guys who don't travel with us will participate," Leavitt said. "The other guys will just do a lot of running."
FREQUENT FLIERS: The coaching staff is catching up with recruiting this weekend. Seven coaches were scheduled to leave Tampa today. "We've got people flying all over the place," Leavitt said. "They are going all over the country. Of course, we still focus on Florida, but this is an ideal time to go out and find kids out of the state."
- ROBYN DISNEY
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida A&M practiced for the first time since its weekend loss to Grambling, but the Rattlers are not having problems getting excited about their next opponent, North Carolina A&T. The Aggies clinched the 1999 MEAC title with a 30-15 win over FAMU in November.
"I would hope that the players will be fired up to play North Carolina A&T because they're an outstanding team and a great program -- and they did beat us last year," coach Billy Joe said. "They're also the defending MEAC champions. I would hope that is enough to get them fired up to really play the best football that they have in them."
Joe said his team will have to improve its timing. Several key errors cost FAMU in Saturday's 12-10 loss. "We have to work on being on the same page in the same chapter, reading the same book," he said. "We have to get synchronized. There's been some discombobulation, and it's wreaking havoc with us."
- JABARI RITCHIE
ORLANDO -- Central Florida implemented its offensive and defensive schemes for this week's game against Eastern Kentucky. Coach Mike Kruczek said that though EKU's defense is very good, he is confident the Golden Knights will be able to have success on offense.
Kruczek said the most frustrating part of being 3-3 is that his team is not being outplayed, but continually beating itself with mistakes.
"Teams aren't better than we are; we're just killing ourselves right now," Kruczek said. "I said we've got a great team, but I can't prove it."
- DAVE MARSTERS
CORAL GABLES -- Quarterback Ken Dorsey, who passed for a career-high 328 yards and two touchdowns in Miami's 27-24 win over Florida State on Saturday, was named the National Player of the Week by USA Today. With his team trailing 24-20 and 1:37 left, Dorsey led the Hurricanes on a 68-yard drive to a touchdown by completing 6 of 7 pass attempts. Dorsey's 13-yard pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey with 46 seconds was the winning touchdown.
Dorsey, a sophomore, ran his string of pass attempts without an interception to 163 as he broke the UM school record of 123 previously held by Gino Torretta.
- TIMES WIRES
GEORGIA TECH: The mother of player Dustin Vaitekunas has talked to a lawyer about filing criminal charges against coach George O'Leary over a practice drill gone awry. Wanting to teach a lesson to Vaitekunas, a second-string offensive lineman struggling to make his blocks, O'Leary handed him a ball and told him to stand alone against four defensive lineman coming at full speed. The coach said the foursome wasn't supposed to hit Vaitekunas, only give him an idea of how a quarterback feels when blockers miss their assignments. But Vaitekunas was pummeled by at least two teammates, leaving him sprawled on the ground for several minutes, gasping for breath. Vaitekunas left Georgia Tech the next day.
-- TIMES WIRES