by Chattanooga Times Free Press

It almost feels like passing three barren exits and seeing there's a Cracker Barrel at the next one: You're still hungry as you move forward, but you know enjoyment and relief are just ahead.

As June becomes July in another day, it means the SEC meetings are this month rather than next. It means we're closing in on August when players report for camp and two-a-days, and teams are developing depth charts instead of projecting them.

Sure, the weather's still brutal, and imagining a tailgate in 96-degree heat in Athens or Auburn or anywhere in two months is tough. But it's better than imagining it in three months.

We know it's coming, but the waiting, the downtime until then can be difficult.

It's not the complete absence of college football that is the most painful, because the games have become an emotional combination of angst, anger and anxiety that tests every fan's patience, persistence and perseverance.

A large part of the joy is in the process, and the preseason part of the equation is arguably the most exciting and surely the most stress-free. Think about in a month when the Volunteers or the Bulldogs or the Crimson Tide have reported to camp, everyone is hopeful. The varying issues -- especially at quarterback for most of the SEC -- are more concerns rather than true dilemmas. No one has thrown an interception, no one has thrown their hands up and no one has thrown a fit of any magnitude or meaning before the first game.

It's the complete unknown -- or in some cases the things that may be known but are not steadfast -- that can be the most maddening. And the most intriguing.

Until practice begins in earnest, most every question can be answered with merely opinion, because certainties are impossible to ascertain until the equipment is issued.

Here are two that can be addressed as we drop the count down to kickoff to 70 days for most of the SEC:

There is no player in the league that is more valuable than Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. Sure, the impassioned speech after last year's loss to Ole Miss has become a staple in Florida lore (and akin to the swine flu for the rest of the league), but no single player has meant this much to a championship-caliber team since Herschel Walker left Athens for the USFL. Seriously.

If you have your doubts, think about this: If the Gators live up to their billing, he will have three national championship rings and almost certainly will be a three-time Heisman Trophy finalist.

Forget being the most valuable player in the SEC this year. If the Gators, who almost assuredly will be the preseason No. 1, win it all, Tebow will be on the short list for most valuable college football player of all time.

That said, there is no better player in the league than Tennessee safety Eric Berry. There's a big difference between "valuable" and "best." Put it this way: As a college player, would you rather have Shaquille O'Neal or Christian Laettner? O'Neal was a monster who had success at LSU and became one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time. Laettner was the centerpiece of a Duke dynasty and is one of only two men's players to play in four Final Fours, but his value peaked in college and his NBA success was not as impressive. But which was the best player?

The Tebow-Berry comparison is another perfect example. Both are splendid athletes who could play any number of positions well, but Berry's value to the Vols' secondary and overall success, while high, can't compare with Tebow's, primarily because of the differing importance of the positions they play and the expectations for the Gators.

That said, Berry likely will be the highest drafted safety in the modern era if he elects to leave after his junior season, and he will be long off the board before Tebow's name starts to flash on Mel Kiper Jr.'s big board.

How well-regarded and highly skilled is Berry? Well, people actually care if his 13-year-old twin brothers are interested in playing for the Vols four years from now, even though they have not taken a snap in a high school football game yet.

Now that's an expectation of greatness that is seriously down the road.

E-mail Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com

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