There might not be real football to be played until late August, but that doesn’t stop news from breaking around the Southeastern Conference. In the past week, SEC football TV schedules were announced, Florida’s 2015 recruiting class picked up two commitments and a former Gator national champion announced his return to the Gainesville campus.
SEC on CBS: The 2014 SEC football schedule on CBS was announced last week, which included the annual Florida-Georgia matchup. The Gators and Bulldogs will meet in Jacksonville on Nov. 1st at 3:30 p.m. This marks the 12th consecutive time the game will air on CBS. Florida will likely be seen again on the network, potentially for its game at Tennessee on Oct. 4 and its date with LSU at home on Oct. 11.
SEC Nation: The new home of the Southeastern Conference — the SEC Network — will launch a spinoff of ESPN’s “College Gameday” set to air Aug. 28. The show will travel to a different SEC campus each Saturday and will preview the week of games for each team in the conference. The show’s host will be longtime ESPN TV personality Joe Tessitore, who will be joined by analyst Tim Tebow—former Gator great and two-time national champion. The two will be joined by SEC radio host Paul Finebaum and former LSU and NFL star Marcus Spears.
The show will air from Gainesville on Sept. 13 and from Tuscaloosa for Alabama’s meeting with Florida the following week.
Potential Early Signing Date: In Destin, Fla., during the SEC meetings last week, league commissioner Mike Slive addressed the conference’s coaches’ proposal for an early signing date for football recruits. Although Slive was clear that the conference would prefer not to have one, the commissioner announced Wednesday that the proposal would set the early signing date for the Monday after Thanksgiving.
The proposal will be presented to the Conference Commissioners Association if necessary. Recruits would be eligible to sign early only if they had not taken any official visits, and they cannot take any officials after signing their letter of intent.
Recruiting commitments: Florida landed two verbal commitments late last week — three-star wide receiver Derrick Dillon and three-star defensive tackle Andrew Ivie.
Ivie is the younger brother of Joey Ivie, who saw action in three of Florida’s last five games last season at defensive tackle.
Dillon’s tape shows impressive speed and escapability — he can cut up-field in a hurry, too. Dillon frequented at quarterback during his junior year, which could provide Florida with another option at quarterback, if necessary.
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
UF quarterback Tim Tebow tosses a football while warming up before the Gators' 13-3 win against LSU Saturday, October 10, 2009 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
