EXTENDING DEPARTMENTS:
THE GENERATION GAP AND MORE

What of older players in college football, the former Mr. Carry and the Georgia Tech WR?

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"Yea, I like Nirvana."

[Ed's note: We're taking department pages from the back of the current issue of ESPN The Magazine and updating them because, hey, you as a reader deserve it.]

The focus of the college football department page in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine is "generation gaps" in college football: guys who are older than 22 but still playing on Saturdays. Three examples are briefly profiled: Ball State's DE/TE Brandon Crawford (the oldest player in NCAA Bowl Subdivision football this year, at 32—also known as one year older than Tom Brady); Texas Tech OL Rylan Reed, who is 26 (he turns 27 before the end of this season) and Ole Miss LB Tony Fein, 26. You can read about those three here. For more information on them and other examples of "generation gaps" in college ball, click 'Read More.' You'll also find an update on former department subject Javon Ringer, the RB for Michigan State—and a few other things we're "crushing" on over here.

GENERATION GAP
Crawford, who legitimately lists 19 year-old QB Nate Davis as one of his best friends on the team, spouts wisdom in accordance with his age. Regarding the Cardinals' Top 25 start, he said simply: "You worry about what you can control. Nothing is ever going to be perfect." (Interestingly, it's almost word-for-word the same quote John Malkovich gave Esquire this month in their "What I've Learned" column, although that doesn't appear to be online presently.)

Cue Rylan Reed, who has a rather large game this Saturday night in Lubbock against the No. 1 Texas Longhorns: "You respect everyone and fear no one. You do your job one week at a time." When we interviewed Reed, we immediately asked about Texas and Oklahoma; he responded, "This week is Texas A&M and that's who I'm focusing on now." Sidebar discussion of interest: Reed was the Chicago White Sox Organizational Pitcher of the Year a few years back. If Ozzie Guillen had called him up in '05, he'd be a World Series champion right now.

Tony Fein served in the Army and his attitude reflects that. Almost all his quotes were about fitting into the team. This should be noted, though: arguably the single-biggest play of Ole Miss' season to date is Fein corraling Florida's Brandon James on 3rd and 10 in Ole Miss' 31-30 win over the Gators. James, who could be the fastest player in the SEC (that says a lot), had gotten nine yards and was about to break the first down when Fein dragged him down. The Rebs stopped Tim Tebow on 4th and 1 and an upset was secured. (Made this dude happy.)

The second oldest guy in NCAA Bowl Subdivision is Louisiana Tech QB Al Hawkins (29). The Bulldogs are 3-4 (1-2 in conference), but Hawkins sees limited action. Ryan Pretorius, a kicker for Ohio State, is 29 as well. He came to the Buckeyes after playing pro rugby in France. Apparently, he's now thinking about the NFL, although sadly, he's probably best known for getting a kick blocked in the BCS Title Game. Alesana Alesana, an O-Lineman at Kansas State, has a sad yet compelling personal story for his 27 years; you can read it here. Edwin Lopez, also 27 and playing for the Arizona Wildcats, is a former Air Force vet.

The biggest things these guys do, whether or not they're starters, is simple: guidance. "I tell the guys, if they have questions or they don't want to go to the coaches on something, I will be there to give them advice truthfully," says Crawford. Reed adds, "We've all been through things when we were younger and you want to try to make a positive out of those experiences for the guys."

JAVON RINGER UPDATE
Michigan State RB Javon Ringer was the subject of a previous college football department page in this Magazine. Since then, his Spartans got absolutely decimated by Ohio State—Ringer's numbers in the game were 22 touches (16 rush, 6 receiving) for 86 yards—and recovered with a nice win over rebuilding Michigan this past weekend (Ringer: 39 touches for 219 yards and 2 TD). He's likely not in the Heisman race anymore, although his 300 carries at this point in the season is still fairly remarkable, but here's a bigger issue: is he even the unequivocal best RB in the Big 10 anymore? (The next issue of ESPN The Magazine will have a college football department item on Shonn Greene.)

DEMARYIUS THOMAS
Take a look at the current ACC Standings. Some of Lindsay Lohan's decisions the past three years have been easier to analyze. Demaryius Thomas of Georgia Tech was profiled by the Magazine and he's certainly very good, despite Tech's loss this past weekend. A receiver you should be paying attention to in the ACC: Darrius Heyward-Bey of Maryland, a team that's already bowl-eligible. They have a tough closing schedule: Virginia Tech (down year, sure, but Frank Beamer is an excellent coach) next, then two teams in the Top 25; still, Heyward-Bey is absolutely amazing. He kept finding holes in a pretty good Wake Forest defense when the Terps handed the Deacons their first shutout loss since 1998 two weeks ago. For a good piece on him, read this.

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