My purchase of the Athlon College Football preview has become an annual tradition for me and I think it’s my subconscious telling me that it’s officially alright to start thinking about college football again. Less than 8 more weeks until kick-off.

This is my first official post for the 2007 college football season and I thought I’d start out a little simple. Here’s five players that are poised to have a breakthrough in ‘07 and become household names.

Keith Rivers - LB - USC

Watching some of the USC games it was difficult to miss Keith Rivers. The kid plays sideline-to-sideline, loves to hit, is very athletic and pretty good in pass coverage. Rivers led the Trojans as a senior last year with 85  tackles and 47 solo tackles. My beef with Rivers in watching him last season was that he had a great motor but sometimes played a little undisciplined. Hopefully playing with what has to be the best linebacking corps in the nation with Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing will settle him down some. Expect Rivers to be a Butkus Award finalist along with teammates Maualuga.

Jonathan Stewart  - RB - Oregon

Making an appearance on the Maxwell Award watchlist, Jonathan Stewart could become a big-time playmaker for Mike Bellotti and the Ducks this season.  Though he finished with less than 1,000 yards last year, look for Stewart to exceed last year’s numbers and then some. He’ll also likely be featured more in the pass game. Though the Pac-10 is still USC’s to lose, stopping Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson will be essential if the Trojans are to make it out of Eugene on Oct. 27.

Earl Bennett - WR - Vanderbilt

The first college football game I watched last season was Vandy’s week 1 trip to The Big House to play Michigan. What I saw was a feisty, young and exciting team led by Bennett and quarterback Chris Nickson hang around the Wolverines much longer than they should have. Last season, Bennett proved that maybe he didn’t need Jay Cutler to be a potent offensive weapon and caught an SEC-best 82 balls for 1,146 yards and 6 TDs as a sophomore. As a junior, Bennett is on pace to set the SEC career record for both receptions and yards. If the Commodores are to get to their first bowl game in more than 20 yards, they’re going to get there on the back of Earl Bennett.

Andre’ Woodson - QB - Kentucky

It’s hard not to feel good about last season if you’re a Kentucky football fan. The team not only made it to a bowl game but beat a pretty heavily favored Clemson team along the way. Riding that high the Wildcats come into the ‘07 season with an offense featuring three of the SEC’s most electric offensive playmakers in Woodson, RB Rafael Little and WR Keenan Burton. If UK is to continue their winning ways and find six wins in a schedule that features road games against Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia and tilts at home against Florida, LSU and Tennessee, they’re going to need Woodson to show the consistency he did last year when he completed 63 percent of his passes. Limiting turnovers will also be essential for the UK offense, who’ll need to put up points on the board to counteract a defense that was 108th and 118th in the country against the run and the pass. If Woodson can repeat his 2006 campaign, where he threw for more than 3,000 yards with 31 touchdowns and just 7 INTs, Rich Brooks could become the Vince Lombardi of Lexington.

Dan Connor - LB - Penn State

This might seem like kind of an obvious choice but I firmly believe that Dan Connor will step out of the shadow of Paul Posluszny and make a name for himself. There are some that believe, like I do, that Connor was actually the better, more athletic player of the two and actually led the Nittany Lions with 113 tackles (70 solos) and two interceptions. With his move from outside linebacker to middle to fill in for Posluszny, who graduated last year, Connor is bound to draw comparisons to his predecessor but utilizing his great closing speed, an excellent nose for the ball and diagnosing plays and that Penn State, Linebacker U toughness, Connor will have little problem making the transition inside after three seasons at outside linebacker. Connor, along with Maualuga and Tennessee’s Jerod Mayo are my early favorites for the Butkus award.

Back from the weekend and hours of Live Earth listening and watching. I think overall the performances were pretty run-of-the-mill if not dull. I think the effect this event will have on people may be their awareness of their everyday decisions that could effect the environment but that can’t be the only residual effect. That concert was supposed to be about widespread, global policy change at the highest level. Not just me making sure my lights are off when I leave my apartment in the morning or buying non-toxic, biodegradable dish soap at Publix (which I did yesterday, I’m answering the call). The genius of Live Earth was that it let everyone know, myself included, that there are so many things you can do to lessen your environmental impacts but isn’t that a little like rummaging through couch cushions for loose change? The only way the global climate crisis (if you believe it to be such) is going to be impacted in any significant way is if governments (like ours) get involved and gets concerned. Then and only then can real, substantial changes be made.

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No, seriously…

Man assaults brother with lawn gnome.

Boy named Hell barred from Australian catholic school.

A man in New Hampshire robbed a bank dressed as a tree.

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The Detroit Free-Press offers ways to rebuild Michigan State football.

The Tennessean answers some burning pre-season SEC questions.

The Oklahoman says the Sooners have to hitch their wagon to wideout Malcom Kelly if they want to win the Big 12.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Ted Miller takes on LSU’s Les Miles’ comments about the Pac-10. And then follows up today after being bombarded with e-mails. SEC fans are as defensive of their schedule as Notre Dame fans are about how weak the Irish’s schedule is annually.

Major League baseball is not letting Worldwide Leader broadcast from the site of this week’s All-Star game. Finally a baseball story I can get behind.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wonders how hard it would be for the Falcons to move Michael Vick.

New York Magazine on how best to get your mug on television at a game. Here’s a hint: bring a kid, preferably your own or one that you know. Kidnapping is a felony.

West Virginia running back Noel Devine: The next Reggie Bush or the next Pacman Jones?

Brian Dawkins is saying that if all the Eagles’ playmakers play at their highest-level, the Birds can pack their bags for Glendale. Your lips to God’s ears, Brian.

New York Magazine on how not to get beat up at a baseball game.

The story out of Buffalo keeps getting more bizarre. Daniel Briere’s agent is refuting the claims made by Sabres management about negotiations between his client and the team.

The Buffalo News’ Jerry Sullivan says Sabres management need to take some responsibility for how poorly handled this off-season has gone for the team.

Dan Patrick is leaving the Worldwide Leader to pursue “new endeavors.” These endeavors will include looking at himself in the mirror for a minimum of three hours a day, erect a Taj Mahal-like shrine to himself in his backyard and, of course, writing love notes to Keith Olbermann.

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Well-rounded news…

Mark Cuban’s spat with the Dallas Morning News.

Live Earth expected to break records in internet streams.

Facebook to go public?

Sony cuts the price of the PS3 by $100. Microsoft to follow suit?

Northwest Airlines has announced that it is now accepting Paypal as a valid form of payment for airline tickets. Great news for consumers. Now you can buy that $2.25 autographed 8×10 glossy of Pauly Shore and a trip to see your mom the same way.

Voters are already showing signs of fatigue from the ‘08 presidential race and the election is still 16 months away.

Variety’s Steven Mirkin takes the Live Earth telecast to task.

Jim Carey will play Ebeneezer Scrooge in an upcoming Robert Zemeckis version of “The Christmas Carol.” According to reports, Carey will play at least four roles in the film, which will utilize performance capture technology similar to those in the Zemeckis/Hanks Christmas vehicle, The Polar Express.

Voting has wrapped up on Time’s New Seven Wonders of the World.

One of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman, talks to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Time Magazine’s Bryan Walsh on what Live Earth really meant.

Newsweek wonders just how green Live Earth really was.

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Inside baseball…

Slate’s Jack Shafer says the new color of sensational journalism is green.