My top 5 Biletnikoff candidates

5. A.J. Green, Georgia-In his freshman year, Green had 56 catches for 953 yards and eight touchdowns. The 6-4, 207-pound sophomore has the hands and body control of an upperclassman and has the ability to be a dominant reciever. It will be interesting to see if his production drops without Matt Stafford under center.

4. Brandon LaFell, LSU-This guy is good enough to be making big money in the NFL right now. The 6-3, 209-pound senior; similar to A.J. Green, had 63 catches for 929 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2008 in what was his most productive year at LSU. Even with his unlimited potential, he could be somewhat underutilized as sophomore Jordan Jefferson develops at QB.

3. Damian Williams, USC-The 6-1 195-pound senior will look for a big senior season under Pete Carroll and will look to follow in the steps of other USC greats such as Mike Williams, Dwayne Jarrett, and Keyshawn Johnson. Williams had 58 catches for 869 yards and 9 touchdowns in 2008 and is close to becoming the best Trojan receiver of the decade. Williams has the ability to run tight routes, picks up a lot of yards after the catch, and can catch almost anything within arm's length.

2. Julio Jones, Alabama-Jones will likely be a star in his sophomore year under head coach Nick Saban. In his freshman campaign, Jones had 58 catches for 924 yards and 4 touchdowns. Look for Jones to have a tremendous yards per catch stat in 2009, in 2008 he averaged 16 yards per reception and had a 64 yard catch in the SEC title game against Florida. At 6-4, 211 lbs. Jones is bigger than most receivers and has the ability to overpower defensive backs, he'll need that size and power in the stingy SEC West.

1. Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State-Under the high-powered Cowboy offense in 2008, Bryant had 87 catches for 1480 yards and 19 touchdowns. The only point of concern is whether he can stay healthy and stand out in the big games. If Bryant can have a big game against Georgia in the opener and the Cowboys win, it should be his award to lose. Combining with QB Zac Robinson, Bryant was an unstoppable offensive force in 2008 and looks to continue the same trend in 2009. Standing at 6-2, 215-pounds, Bryant has the size and speed to compete with almost any defensive backfield and almost always seems to come through with the big catch in the clutch.

3 games to watch in college football's first week

Thursday, September 3: 16th ranked Oregon travels to No. 14 Boise State for a late-night tilt on the famous blue turf. Boise State eeked out a close win over the Ducks in Eugene last year so the Ducks will be looking to exact revenge. If Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli can orchestrate Chip Kelly's spread offense and RB LeGarrette Blount can provide a healthy running game; I see no reason why the Ducks shouldn't be able to score on the Bronco defense. Boise State's secondary is a good one, but the run defense struggled in their big games last year. Look for the Ducks to test the Broncos' defensive front in this one and run the spread. The game can be seen on ESPN at 10:15 P.M. ET.

Saturday, September 5: The 13th ranked Georgia Bulldogs travel to Stillwater Oklahoma to face Dez Bryant, Zac Robinson, and the 9th ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. If Oklahoma State wants to set an early tone for the season and get that ugly Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon out of everyone's mind, they need to show some staying power and handle Georgia. Georgia has a very stout defense with many returning starters, so it will be tough for Oklahoma State's high-powered offense to get into a shootout. Georgia has a first-year starter at QB, senior Joe Cox, so I look for the Bulldogs to try and keep this as low-scoring as possible. 3:30 P.M. ET on ABC.

Saturday, September 5: This is the second installment of the ACC-SEC Chick-Fil-A College Kickoff Classic in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. 7th ranked Virginia Tech rolls in to face No. 5 Alabama in what should be a knock-down drag-out slugfest. Hopefully the ACC will actually show up this year; Clemson was drubbed last year by Alabama 34-10, with their only touchdown coming on a kickoff return. The game was a springboard to an undefeated regular season for the Tide and sent Clemson down a road that ended in the firing of Tommy Bowden. VA Tech comes in boasting a stellar defense led by coordinator Bud Foster and senior FS Kam Chancellor. Likely Alabama starting QB Greg McElroy will have a tough time getting past the Hokie defense without OT Andre Smith and RB Glenn Coffee, both of whom have moved on to the next level. I look for this to be an old-fashioned southern football game, something in the 14-10 range. 8:00 P.M. ET on ABC.

Nagy advances to match play

Corey Nagy has advanced through stroke play and into the match play stage of the 2009 US Amateur Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The three-time all-American choice for the 49ers posted back-to-back rounds of two-over par 72 to finish tied for 14th in a field of 312 players at +4, 144.

Nagy had two birdies, two bogeys, and one double bogey in his second round on the par 70 layout. 49er freshman Andy Sajevic finished with a two-round total of +12, 152. He finished tied for 143rd, landing him a spot in the top half of the field.

Nagy is the 16th seed in the 64-man match play bracket and will face Canadian Christopher Ross, the 49th seed in the first round of match play. Match play begins at 8:00 A.M. on the first tee at Southern Hills Country Club Wednesday morning. Nagy will be in the second group off the first tee at 8:10 CDT.

Tim Jackson of Germantown Tennessee placed first in the stroke play qualifying with a two-round total of even-par, 140. Notables to miss the stroke play cut were 2007 British Amateur champion and Virginia Tech standout Drew Weaver, 2008 US Amateur runner-up Drew Kittleson, and 2008 US Amateur Public Links champion and 2009 Masters Tournament participant Jack Newman.

Mack signs 2-year deal with AEK Athens

Former Charlotte 49er standout forward Lamont Mack has signed with AEK Athens in Greece. AEK Athens competes in the top professional division in Greece, the A1 league.

Before joining the 49ers, Mack was a Junior College all-American at Angela C.C. in Luftin, Texas. Mack was the 49ers’ most consistent scorer during his two-year tenure with the team. The 6-7 forward scored in double figures 52 times in 64 games played and scored 20 or more points on 10 different occasions.

As a senior, Mack scored in double figures in 28 of the 31 games he played in and managed to reach double figures in all 18 A-10 games, including a career-high 32 point effort against Richmond in his final game at Halton.

Mack was a consensus 2009 third-team all-Atlantic 10 choice after leading the team with a 15.2 scoring average and averaging 5.7 rebounds. He ended his two-year campaign with the 49ers with 908 points and 353 rebounds and was named A-10 player of the week on Feb. 14 after averaging 19.7 points over a three-game span.

The Chicago native is projected to start at strong forward for AEK Athens, a team that has won 8 Greek championships throughout it’s 85-year history. AEK was the first Greek team to participate in the Euroleague Final Four in 1966 and throughout their storied history, has won 2 Saporta Cups, 8 Greek Championships, and 3 Greek Cups.

Other notable players that have played in the A1 League include New Orleans Hornets head coach Byron Scott, nine-time NBA All-Star Dominique Wilkins, San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Roger Mason, and former Stanford star Josh Childress. AEK Athens is the only team other than Panathinaikos and Olympiacos to have won a Greek championship over the last 17 years.

Jones to play for Virgin Islands national team

Charlotte 49ers 6-10 center Phil Jones is one of 12 players that have been named to the Virgin Islands national team. The team will be competing in the FIBA Americas Senior Men’s Championship, Aug. 26-Sept. 6, in San Juan. The top teams from the tournament automatically qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The Virgin Islands will play in Group A alongside Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay. Jones will be making his first appearance with the team, who has played in four of the five tournaments held this decade. In their previous three tournament appearances, the team has a combined record of 2-14 with their last appearance coming in 2005.

Don’t worry, Jones isn’t leaving the 49ers. The senior center has lost 15 pounds from his 2008-09 playing weight of 270 and is in the best basketball shape of his life. Jones had a team-high 43 blocked shots in 2008-09 and more than doubled his scoring average from the previous year; he averaged 7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and shot .472 from the floor.

“I picked up my books for my fall classes and I’ll have those with me, so I’ll be busy training with the team and keeping up with my schoolwork while I’m there.” Jones noted.

Jones’ mother, now deceased lived in the Virgin Islands and Jones spent part of his childhood growing up in there, he still has family in the area. He was able to visit the Islands while with the 49ers last year when the team competed in the Paradise Jam.

Boomer

If Oklahoma and Texas find themselves in the same situation as last season, who will or who should get the nod for the BCS National Championship game?

Personally, I think Texas should get the nod over the Sooners. Granted, Oklahoma had a great regular season last year and looked to be one of the top two teams in the country. The only regular season hiccup the Sooners had was in the "Red River Rivalry" game against Texas. The two teams finished with the same regular season record, yet Oklahoma got into the national championship game against Florida. How did this happen? Don't ask me.

My question is, if the same scenario played out this year, would Oklahoma still get the nod over Texas? They shouldn't. Oklahoma has been terrible in recent years in BCS games. Since 2002, the Sooners have played in 5 BCS bowl games. Unfortunately, they have lost every single game by a combined score of 191-127. Bob Stoops is a great coach, but instead of his old reputation as "Big Game Bob", he now gets the tab of "Big Game Boob".

The Sooners simply can't win a big-time bowl game, The Longhorns meanwhile, have won their last three BCS bowl games, including a national title in 2005 against highly-touted USC. Texas coach Mack Brown has developed his reputation as a "big game" coach and has shown his ability to win those games in the past. If it comes down to it and the two teams are tied once again, Texas needs to get the invite to the big game. Send Oklahoma to the Holiday Bowl, a game Big Game Boob has shown the ability to win in the past.

What Favre can do for the NFL

Brett Favre is great, and the NFL should thank him many times over for making his return with the Vikings. With all the great games that will be on TV throughout the season, Favre just made some of them alot better.

Combining Favre and Adrian Peterson could give the Vikings one of the league's top scoring offenses to go along with one of the top defensive teams in pro football. Think about some of the games that Favre just made better. The Vikings only have three primetime games all year, with Favre, they could easily have three or four more.

October 25 at Pittsburgh. The game features possibly two Hall of Fame QB's in Favre and Roethlisberger, two of the league's top defenses, and Favre will be facing the defending Super Bowl champions for the first time since the 2005 season.

The very next week, the Vikings travel to Lambeau to finish out the season series with the Packers. This could possibly be the most interesting game of the NFL season. The Packers will be much improved and their high-powered offense will be tested against the Viking defense. It will also be interesting to see how the Packer fans receive Favre as the longtime Packer makes his first return to Lambeau since the gut-wrenching 2007 playoff loss. It will also mark the first time Favre and Aaron Rodgers have met in competition.

December 6th, the Vikings head out west to play the defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. With Favre, this game will feature two 2008 playoff teams, and two of the most high-powered offenses in football. The Vikings also manhandled the Cardinals in Phoenix late last season and Arizona should be looking to exact revenge.

January 3rd could prove to be the most pivotal game of the 2009 season as the Vikings host the New York Giants in the final game of the regular season. The Giants dominated the regular season last year and are coming off a dissapointing home playoff loss to the Eagles, the Vikings were defeated by the same Philadelphia team a week earlier. It will mark the first meeting between Favre and the Giants since New York ended Favre's magical 2007 season with an overtime victory at Lambeau. The game could also be for home field throughout the playoffs and supremacy in the NFC.

Brett Favre may cause alot of controversy and has the tendency to hold teams hostage throughout the summer months with his career plans, but TV executives should be sending him their thank-you cards anytime now. With the flexible schedule now in place, more than one of the Vikings' late season games could be moved to primetime, which means bigger TV audiences and more money.

Panthers

It's only halftime, and I know it's just a preseason game, but the Panthers were utterly pathetic in the first half. DeAngelo was a bit of a bright spot and had some decent runs, but it looked like Jake didn't have his timing down at all. Suzy Kolber reported before the game that Delhomme was working on fundamental things like footwork and holding onto the ball with two hands. What? The guy is 35, shouldn't he be working on timing and not turning the ball over instead of holding onto the ball the right way?

Does the offense know the objective is to score instead of turn the ball over and set the other team up for points? I don't think they do. Four fumbles and one interception lost in one half of football?

The defense has looked very vanilla and just plain boring. The tackling was very poor, our No. 1 defensive back Chris Gamble got run over on the Giants' first touchdown and Danny Ware drug Hillee Taylor into the end zone for the second Giants touchdown. I know it's just preseason and I'm probably just getting riled up for football because I haven't seen any since February but I really hope John Fox doesn't break camp early this year.

The Lions finally won a game?

Did I see that correctly? I think the box score on nfl.com said the Lions beat the Falcons 27-26 on Saturday night. Must have been a glitch or something.

Anyway, this has to be positive news for Lions fans even though it was just a preseason game. The Falcons were a playoff team last year and lets face it, the cowardly Lions have lost 23 of their last 24 regular season games. The Lions' have won only one game since week 9 of the 2007 season; the Patriots meanwhile, have won 20.

The Lions went undefeated in the preseason last year and then, as we all know, became the first team in NFL history to lose every regular season game. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and say that the Lions will go undefeated and complete the most improbable turnaround in NFL history but at least Lions fans got to see a win.

Why Tiger won't win the PGA tommorow

Tiger Woods is almost always a lock to win major championships when he shares or holds the lead going into the final round. But never has he been in this position before. The man that stands two shots behind him has recently been one of the best at coming from behind in majors.

Padraig Harrington stands at a three-round total of six-under-par, 210. In recent years, this has been the position Harrington thrives in.

In his 2007 Open Championship win over Sergio Garcia, he was six shots behind the Spaniard entering the final day but fired a final round 67 to get into a playoff and win his first major championship.

In the 2008 Open Championship, Harrington was two shots off Greg Norman's lead entering the final day but shot a final round 69 to capture his second straight Open Championship. Less than four weeks later at Oakland Hills in the PGA, Harrington shot 66-66 on the weekend to overcome a three-shot final day deficit to defeat Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis by two.

If not for a gaffe by a European Tour rules official last week, Harrington might have won the Bridgestone Invitational but made a disastrous triple-bogey eight on the sixteenth hole after he was put on the clock for slow play. Harrington, who was tied for the lead at the time, ended up losing by four to Woods.

Harrington is one of the more accomplished players in the sport and has no problems with going low on the final day of a major. As long as Harrington doesn't get put on the clock during the final round, I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to overtake Tiger Woods for his second consecutive PGA title.

Michael Phelps

Why am I not surprised to see Michael Phelps' name in the news again. This time, Phelps was involved in a car accident Thursday night in Baltimore. Another car ran a red light, causing the accident and Phelps was not found to be at fault. He was however cited for driving with an expired, out-of-state license and told police he had a beer about an hour and 15 minutes prior to the accident.

I know the accident wasn't his fault, but this guy needs to get his act together and stay out of trouble. This isn't his first run-in with the law. Earlier this year, USA swimming suspended Phelps after a British tabloid published a photo of him using a marijuana pipe. Phelps was also arrested in 2004 following the Athens Olympics for drunken driving and was sentenced to 18 months' probation

"Getting into a car after anything to drink is wrong. It's dangerous and unacceptable," Phelps said after his 2004 arrest.

If Phelps wants to salvage whats left of his image, he needs to keep his name out of the news for as long as possible unless it's swimming related. Olympic champions need to set good examples, not bad ones.

Vick to the Panthers?

Rumors have been circulating about the Carolina Panthers as a possible suitor to free-agent QB Michael Vick. Vick's personal mentor and former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy said that he believes Vick's return to the NFL is not a question of "if" but "when".

Dungy said that he believes a deal is imminent with a team by the end of this week. Vick's agent Joel Segal also said. "there are a lot of teams interested" in signing his client. Dungy, who has been serving as Vick's personal advisor since his recent release from prison has fielded calls from various head coaches and has recommended Vick, saying that he is "a better person and very determined to come back and do well".

The Carolina Panthers have been a popular pick by many experts to be the team for Vick. The Panthers are coming off possibly the most dissapointing loss in team history aside from the Super Bowl. After a 12-4 regular season record and NFC South title, QB Jake Delhomme turned the ball over six times in a 33-13 divisional home playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Panthers recently signed Delhomme to a lucrative 5-year extension, but the QB is reaching the golden years of his career at 34 and many experts have questions about his ability to take care of the ball with his aggressive style. Delhomme has the guts of a burglar and can often pull off the impossible, but in some cases, the "Brett Favre" style isn't always the most rewarding.

Delhomme will be the starting QB this year, but Vick would play a nice supporting role and could possibly serve as the starter down the road. Vick's running style could also prove to be a deadly combination with the Panthers' two-headed monster in the backfield with Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams.

The Panthers were one of the top running teams in the NFL last year and with Vick could have a deadly, ball-control offense with the ability to break open a big play. Vick also has a rocket for an arm and along with Steve Smith and DeAngelo Williams could give the Panthers one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL.

College Player Watch: Brandon Spikes

Simply put, this guy could be the best defensive player in the SEC in 2009. The 6-3, 258 lb. linebacker cemented Florida's defense in 2008 and played a key role in the Gators winning their 2nd BCS Championship in three years.

Spikes has appeared in 35 games during his three year tenure at Florida with 27 starts and is the leader of the Gator defense. Has accumulated 239 total tackles (142 solo) in his first three years in Gainseville and was a team captain in 2008. Spikes has also recovered three fumbles, has four interceptions returned for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

Spikes' best season came in 2007 when he had 131 total tackles, 16 for a loss, and 1.5 quarterback sacks. Was a four-year starter at linebacker and defensive end at Crest Senior High School in Shelby, N.C. and was listed as the top college prospect in N.C. by Rivals.com in 2006.

In 2007, Spikes started all 13 games at linebacker and led the team in tackles 10 times. Was a First-Team All-SEC selection by the league's coaches and the AP and was selected as Second-Team All-SEC by Rivals.com.

In 2008, Spikes was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award and Chuck Bednarik Award. He was also one of only five players with two interception returns for touchdowns.

Look for Spikes to solidify the middle of the Gators' defense at middle linebacker with his sheer power and experience and make the Gators one of the most powerful teams in the country.