Both remain questionable with injuries. Spikes has been dealing with a nagging injury after twisting his foot last week, and Harvin’s recovery from heel surgery has taken longer than expected.

“Percy actually practiced with the team in seven-on-seven drills,” coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday. “The one that’s not (practicing) is Spikes. Spikes has that toe and foot deal. I was disappointed. I’ll know more about him (later).”

Spikes, an all-Southeastern Conference selection, planted wrong and twisted his foot during a practice last week. He practiced sparingly Monday.

“I hope it’s a one-game deal,” defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said.

Ryan Stamper figures to be Spikes’ replacement against the Warriors, and he said the coaching staff might hold Spikes out just to be cautious. Expect the same kind of cautious approach with Harvin, an All-American candidate who for rushed 764 yards and six touchdowns and caught a team-high 59 passes for 858 yards and four touchdowns last season.

Meyer admitted he thought Harvin would have been back by now.

“They shaved off some of his heel when [the doctors] found out he had abnormal growth on the bone that was causing his issues with tendonitis in his knees,” Meyer said. “They went to North Carolina and took a good chunk of bone in surgery. He’s looking pretty good right now. If he’s ready to play, he’ll play.”

Because Harvin has been unable to go full speed since Aug. 5, UF is not preparing for Hawaii with Harvin in mind.

“Right now what we’ve done is put our game plan based on not involving anybody,” wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales said. “We’re moving guys around. … But the bottom line is we’ve got to prepare no matter who we have, if we have high school players playing for us right now or junior high young men.”

Expect both Spikes and Harvin for next week’s game with Miami.

Vanderbilt

Nickson and Mackenzi Adams competed throughout preseason practice. Both players started during the previous two seasons - Nickson 18 straight games from the beginning of 2006 to midway through last fall, Adams the final six games of the ‘07 campaign (going 2-4).

Nickson started the 2006 opener at Michigan and last season’s opener against Richmond. Injuries limited his effectiveness, leading to Adams making his first career start, at South Carolina. Vanderbilt won, and Adams started the rest of the season.

Coach Bobby Johnson said there was no “magic moment” during the preseason that prompted him to go with Nickson and added that he was equally confident in Adams.

“Chris is healthy and ready to go, confident,” Johnson said. “We expect him to play really well. If Mackenzi’s in the game, we expect him to play really well.”

With Vanderbilt replacing its entire offensive line, Nickson’s ability to escape and make plays when everything else breaks down is one of the big reasons he got the nod.

Nickson piled up 2,779 yards of total offense as the full-time starter in 2006, helping him earned third-team preseason all-Southeastern Conference honors by league coaches before the 2007 season began. Partly due to dealing with a separated shoulder, Nickson never regained his 2006 form in 2007.

Vandy’s last win of 2007 came against Miami of Ohio in Nashville. That 24-13 victory made the Commodores 5-3, and they needed just one win to become bowl eligible but lost their last four games.

The RedHawks finished last year 6-7, their second consecutive losing season. Their strength this year should be defense, which will be returning nine starters, highlighted by the linebacking corps, which returns in full.

That Miami defense, led by 2007 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Clayton Mullins should prove troublesome for a Vandy offensive line that returns no starters.

Coach Greg McMackin said that the call on who will take the first snaps of the season “could be a game-time decision.”

Junior Greg Alexander may get the start because presumed starter Brent Rausch, a sophomore JuCo transfer, rested a sore arm over the weekend and has backed up Alexander and practices this week.

“I’m going to have that mind-set that you always have to be ready and always prepared and just get ready to go and do my job,” Alexander said.

McMackin said he will evaluate the situation when Rausch is able to throw without discomfort for long periods of time. He did say that Rausch is the No. 1 if he is 100 percent healthy.

“I gotta see if his arm’s OK,” McMackin said of Rausch. “If both are playing good, it could be a game-time decision.”

However, McMackin said he doesn’t expect to rotate quarterbacks.

“The first guy in will be the quarterback,” he said. “I don’t want him looking behind.”

McMackin said Alexander and Rausch are the top two quarterbacks, followed by junior Inoke Funaki. But that depth chart could change after the Florida game as Tyler Graunke, who started two games last season and was Brennan’s primary backup the past three years, will receive some reps when the Warriors return Hawaii. Graunke was recently reinstated after missing all of training camp while addressing academic issues but won’t be ready to play this week.

“Tyler is going to get his chance,” offensive coordinator Ron Lee said. “He deserves one.”

Costa will be out a minimum of eight to 10 weeks after reinjuring his surgically repaired left knee last week; this injury comes on the heels of Costa first tearing ligaments in his knee on Oct. 30 of last season.

Justin Roper will start in the opener at home against Washington on Saturday. His backups will be Jeremiah Masoli, a sophomore transfer, and true freshman Chris Harper. Neither Masoli nor Harper has played in a Division I-A game.

Roper, a 6-foot-6, 204-pound sophomore, accounted for seven touchdowns against one interception in the final two games of 2007, when he took over following injuries to the four quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart. One of those was Costa, who was on track to redshirt before he tore ligaments in his left knee during late October practice.

“Right now, he’s the guy,” UO offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said of Roper. “Looking at our track record with quarterbacks, I’d be very pleased if he got 100 percent of the snaps, because if he did it means he didn’t get banged up.”

Kelly said the playbook won’t change because of the switch in quarterbacks, and coach Mike Bellotti called Roper’s performances in the past two scrimmages the best of any Duck quarterback this offseason.

Costa’s mobility had given him an edge over Roper in their competition, until last week’s injury. The non-contact incident occurred late in practice as he slowed up on a run.

“I’ve been saying all fall camp, we’ve got two great quarterbacks,” running back Jeremiah Johnson said. “The only thing we’ve got to do with Roper is just keep his confidence up if anything goes bad.”

If Costa does not play this season, he could apply for a medical redshirt after his senior year in 2010. Bellotti is hopeful he can return for this season’s final month, however. It basically depends on what is found during surgery because MRIs were rather inconclusive on the total damage because of scar tissue from the last injury.

College football season

Neither team is ranked, but Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks are a potential sleeper in the SEC. South Carolina had a good defense last season but struggled on offense, so maybe that’s why Spurrier waited until this week to name his starting tailback: Taylor Rank.

This was a surprising move, to say the least.

Rank had just two carries for five yards last season and began the preseason third on the depth chart behind Mike Davis and sophomore Brian Maddox. Davis, the presumed starter who shared time with graduated Cory Boyd last year, missed the final two weeks of preseason camp because of a shoulder injury and stomach.

“He looks OK. He looks OK,” Spurrier said of Davis. “Taylor Rank’s going to start. He’s had a little bit better preseason practice. He had a good summer with going to workouts. And Mike did, too. But Mike will be in early. He’s ready to play.” 

Davis, who has rushed for 1,658 yards in three seasons, was listed No. 1 on the depth chart issued Sunday. Rank, a redshirt junior, has only one previous start. He rushed for 101 yards on 15 carries two years ago against Florida Atlantic.

A good start could be crucial for South Carolina, which is just 21-16 under Spurrier. The team collapsed down the stretch last year after starting 6-1.

The Wolfpack also held out until announcing a starter at a key position: Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson will start at quarterback, with senior Daniel Evans his backup.

Coach Tom O’Brien said he picked Wilson because he “gives us the best opportunity to win the football game.”

He’s the Wolfpack’s third starting quarterback in O’Brien’s two seasons. Evans made eight starts during N.C. State’s 5-7 season in 2007, and third-stringer Harrison Beck started four games.

True freshman Jacory Harris will start Thursday’s game and will be Marve’s backup this season, although Harris will see action in every game. Coach Randy Shannon said Marve will return as the starter the following week against Florida no matter how Harris performs.

Marve is one of seven suspended Hurricanes for Thursday’s game, Miami’s first as the new co-tenant of Dolphin Stadium. Marve will be benched for an off-field legal incident that occurred last October (charges were dropped), leading some to question why Shannon waited so long.

“Robert Marve will be our starting quarterback for the season… . We have two great quarterbacks,” Shannon said. “They did a great job of competing and getting this team ready to play. Jacory Harris will play in every game that we play this season. Robert Marve will be the starter. We will not have a controversy.”

Shannon said he waited until nearly 10 months later to tell Marve because “I wanted him to have a competition. Just to compete, like normal.” The coach said he knew all along he was going to suspend Marve because he broke team rules.

The other players suspended: running back Damien Berry, receiver Kayne Farquharson, fullback Eric Houston, long snapper Chris Ivory, defensive end Adewale Ojomo, and safety Randy Phillips. The possible starters among them were Farquharson, Phillips and Ojomo.

Shannon also released his starting lineups. With senior Eric Moncur and sophomore Allen Bailey not expected to play at defensive end (both projected starters are banged up), Miami will have true freshmen in three of the four end spots on the two-deep roster.

The Hurricanes also have 13 true freshmen either first or second team.

These suspensions won’t hurt UM against Charleston Southern, an overmatched I-AA team (I’ll never say Bowl Subdivison, etc.), but not getting Marve any game experience won’t help for next week’s game at Florida.

Stull took the majority of first-team snaps in practices and clearly outperformed his competition, so this is hardly any surprise. The redshirt junior completed 14-of-20 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown against Eastern Michigan last Sept. 1 before tearing ligaments in the thumb on his right (throwing) hand in the third quarter, which ended his season.

“A lot of guys have injuries, and they approach the redshirt differently,” Wannstedt said. “For some guys, it’s a year off. For some guys, it’s a year to sulk; for some guys, they take advantage of it.

“I think that’s what Billy did. He’s a little bit stronger. His arm is stronger. He was in every meeting last year, so it gave him another year to learn the offense and see defenses and try to make himself better.”

Wannstedt kept the competition open to include sophomores Pat Bostick and Kevan Smith, both of whom struggled last season. Bostick started eight games last fall, passing for 1,500 yards with eight touchdowns and 13 interceptions, while Smith started three games and passed for 415 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. Pitt’s pass offense averaged only 178.1 yards per game, which ranked 104th among 119 Division I-A teams nationally.

Wannstedt said the competition for the backup between Bostick and Smith will continue.

The No. 25 Panthers host Bowling Green Aug. 30 in their season opener.

“It feels awesome, but I’m just glad that I was able to prove to the coaches, myself and my teammates that I’ve earned the spot again,” Stull said. “It’s out in the open, and now I’m ready to move on to Bowling Green.”

Riley, who led Cal to a 21-point comeback to earn Armed Forces Bowl MVP honors last season, emerged in the last portion of training camp. Riley was 36-of-56 for 563 yards, five touchdowns and one interception as a redshirt freshman. He threw for 269 yards and three TDs in the bowl game against Air Force.

Cal coach Jeff Tedford also said that Longshore, last year’s starter for most of the season, will play at some point Aug. 30 against the Spartans, and the competition between the duo will be ongoing.

“Kevin is going to start the first game,” Tedford said. “We feel like both of them have had great camps. Kevin will take the first snaps, and we’ll see where we go from there.”

Longshore ranks fourth all-time at Cal in passing efficiency (133.1), sixth in passing touchdowns (62) and seventh in passing yardage (5,732). He is also second all-time at Cal with 18 victories as a starting quarterback. But he threw 13 interceptions last season, a number of which came late in close games. Longshore missed most of spring practices, but his knowledge of the offense and consistency made him the early front-runner before Riley caught fire late in camp and became more comfortable with the offense.

“We feel like Kevin has the ability to make plays; we feel great about Nate’s experience and knowledge and his play-making ability as well,” Tedford said. “We want to see with the roles reversed, how that works. We’re looking for the best chance to be successful. It’s so close, it’s going to continual evaluation.”

Cal is one of just four teams in the Pac-10 with two quarterbacks returning who have started games – UCLA (with three), USC and Oregon State are the others. However, two of UCLA’s quarterbacks are injured.

Moore had been in a battle with senior Bush Hamdan, and Hamdan seemed ahead after completing nine of his 14 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns during the team’s second scrimmage on Aug. 16. Moore finished the day 13 of 21 for 159 yards and a touchdown.

But coach Chris Petersen and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin said Moore’s feel for the game (he’s a coach’s son) and knack for making the right decision gave him the edge over Hamdan.

“He’s got a very good feel for playing quarterback and how a guy can use his tools to manipulate a defense and take advantage of a defense,” Harsin said. “That showed. He’s obviously got a grasp of what we do.”

Petersen said it came down to a “gut” decision. Hamdan also lost a tight battle last year with Taylor Tharp, who became the first senior first-year starting quarterback in school history.

Hamdan will be the backup. Junior Nick Lomax and sophomore Mike Coughlin will compete for the third-team job and Coughlin may play as a dual-threat quarterback in some situations, Harsin said.

Harsin said each quarterback had the best fall camp of his career, but Moore led the way with a completion percentage in the mid- to high 60s.

“Kellen has just got great football savvy” Petersen said. “He understands our offense extremely, extremely well and he has performed very consistently throughout spring ball and fall camp.”

Moore’s debut is set for Aug. 30, when the Broncos host Idaho State in the season opener. His first major test comes Sept. 20 at Oregon.

“It’s all about now,” Moore said. “We got to take back the WAC.”

“Really, ever since spring ball, Allan’s been in the huddle, he’s been able to make calls, he’s had game adjustments,” Badgers coach Bret Bielema said.

“He’s definitely got a lot of ability. What he’s been able to do these first couple weeks of camp is separate himself, being able to manage and handle the game. We want him to make good decisions. We don’t need him to be an all-star, we just need him to make the plays that are out there, make the right throws.”

Evridge threw for 1,365 yards and six touchdowns at Kansas State in 2005. After transferring to Wisconsin, he sat out the 2006 season and then spent last season as a backup to Tyler Donovan, appearing in seven games and completing 5 of 12 passes for 66 yards.

Evridge missed part of training camp with a hamstring injury and looked shaky during last Saturday’s scrimmage. However, neither Sherer nor Tolzien did enough in camp to move past Evridge.

Experience was definitely the deciding factor for Bielema. Evridge was also in competition for the QB job last summer with Donovan, who was named starter at this time last year and led UW to a 9-4 record.

Sherer, meanwhile, appeared in only one game last, taking a knee at the end of a victory over Indiana. He has played briefly in three games over the last two seasons and is 0 for 3 with one interception. Sherer is listed as the No. 2, but Bielema stressed that job remains open and that Sherer, Tolzien and redshirt freshman James Stallons will continue competing for it.

“If we had to play a game tomorrow,” Bielema said, “Dustin would be the guy based on experience.”

The Badgers open the season Aug. 30 against Akron.