It is July on the Florida campus, which means by the time you walk from your car to the football building you need a towel and a sweet tea. The word “languid” comes to mind. Coach Urban Meyer’s office is dark, its occupant stealing the last moments of summer on a coach’s calendar.

And then Tim Tebow bounds up the stairs after a noontime workout. It is July on the Florida campus, but the word “languid” never applies to Tebow. He is wearing a black Gators T-shirt, shorts, blue and orange Crocs and a summer beard.

Not that the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Tebow ever resembled a fuzzy-cheeked boy, but the beard is a subtle visual cue that one of the (already) memorable careers in the history of the game has begun its final year.

Read all about July in Gatorville!

When the bell rung to signify the start of the 2009 NBA free agency sweepstakes, the Detroit Pistons were standing at the front of the line with approximately $19M in cap space available to upgrade their team after saying goodbye to Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and possibly Antonio McDyess.  They wasted no time by agreeing to terms with two former UConn standouts, shooting guard Ben Gordon and hybrid forward Charlie Villanueva – brought in to join another fellow Huskie, Richard Hamilton.  Both Gordon and Villanueva signed five-year deals, valued at $55M and $35M respectively.

There goes the Piston cap space, and there goes their ability to sign anyone from the fabled 2010 free agent class next summer.  Was this a wise investment by Joe Dumars?  Both Gordon and Villanueva have been solid starters at times, but more often are viewed as spark-plug sixth men.  Next summer, many superstar players are available and can and will be had at a similar price tag.

But hey, maybe Joe D will continue this trend and propose a trade to bring in Josh Boone.

Under the current rules, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James would have played at least one season of college basketball before they joined the NBA.

Those two went straight to the pros. Potential had to be evaluated at the high school level.

But when the NBA changed the rules to require at least a year before entry into the NBA, the college game changed.

Suddenly, there were a rash of “one-and-done” players, guys who came into college as highly-recruited prospects and the intention of staying only one year.

Read all about how draft rules changed the game!

A 16-year-old baseball phenom dubbed the game’s “Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated plans to skip his final two years of high school in hopes of entering the Major League Baseball draft earlier, his father said.

Bryce Harper has registered at a community college where he plans to attend classes in the fall and play next season, his father Ron Harper said.

Harper, a 6-foot-3-inch catcher whom experts say could be a top draft pick when he becomes eligible, recently signed enrollment forms and a letter of intent to play for the College of Southern Nevada.

Harper plans to take a high school equivalency test and enter the draft in 2010 or 2011, Ron Harper said.

Check out all the Bryce Harper news here!

With the 2009 NBA Draft set for June 25th at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, COED is here to bring you up to speed on the top ten collegiate prospects that are ready to make the leap from the dorm cafeteria to the luxury revolving restaurants atop city skyscrapers.  This is not a mock draft that dares to predict where each player will be selected, but rather an evaluation of the top prospects heading from the NCAA to the pros.

P.S. In case you have an awkward mancrush on Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings, don’t expect to see your boy below. (more…)

The women’s soccer coach at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., has resigned after being accused of sending sexually explicit cell phone messages to a girl he coached in a youth soccer club.

The college says it is looking for a new coach to replace James Riverso, who was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor.

Police say the girl, who was 16 at the time, complained in May that Riverso sent the numerous text messages to her beginning last summer.

Read all about Riverso’s dirty exploits!

Boston College received a commitment on Saturday from 25-year-old quarterback David Shinskie, a former star at Mount Carmel High School in Pennsylvania who spent the past six years playing minor league baseball.

Shinskie, who hasn’t played football since the East-West Shrine game in June, 2003, had originally signed a letter of intent to play football and baseball at Delaware but was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fourth round that year. He pitched for six years in Double-A before joining the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor league system. Shinskie was released three weeks ago but said he didn’t want to stop competing.

Read about his commitment to BC and his history as a top HS quarterback!

Inning after inning, Austin Wood kept heading back out to the mound.

First called on in the seventh in a 2-2 tie against Boston College, the senior left-hander expected to work a few batters, maybe an inning — or two — to help the top-seeded Longhorns on their way in the NCAA tournament Austin regional.

But one batter led to another, one inning rolled into another and Wood stayed on the mound, mowing down batters while working a masterpiece. In the longest game in NCAA history, Wood pitched 13 innings, including 12 1/3 of no-hit ball, before the Longhorns pulled out a 3-2 win in a 25-inning epic. Wood threw 169 pitches, struck out 14 and gave up two hits.

The game began at 6:02 p.m. Saturday in Austin, Texas, and concluded 7 hours, 3 minutes later at 1:05 a.m. Sunday. There were three “seventh-inning stretches” and the teams played nearly the equivalent of three full ballgames.

Read all about Austin Wood’s amazing performance here!

ESPN “College GameDay” analyst Lee Corso recently suffered a minor stroke, but plans on being back for the kickoff of the 2009 college football season.

Corso suffered no permanent damage in the minor stroke, which was caused by the blockage to a small artery, according to a statement from Corso. He is expected to make a full recovery.

“This is just a small bump in the road,” Corso said in a statement issued by ESPN. “A ‘not so fast, my friend’ in my game of life. I look forward to making a full recovery and returning to ESPN for my 23rd season analyzing the greatest sport in the world — college football.”

Read all about Lee Corso and his stroke!

Manhattan College coach Barry Rohrssen needed a big man to complete his recruiting class this season and he landed a huge one when he hauled in Kevin Laue. The fact that Laue is 6-11, 232 pounds is one thing. The fact he has no left hand is another.

Laue, who averaged 10 points and five rebounds for Fork Union Military Academy (Va.) this past season, was born with a birth defect that left him without a left arm from just below the elbow. But after a stellar career at Amador Valley HS in Pleasanton, Calif., the Bay Area product more than held his own at one of the premier prep schools in the country while playing 20 minutes a game for coach Fletcher Arritt.

Calls to Laue (rhymes with “wow”) were not immediately returned, but Rohrssen said he saw something special in Laue that made him want to take a chance on him.

Check out his statistics and read more!