One thing you love about the preseason is how much filler gets written in advance of the games. The problem is some of it comes off as being poorly researched like this blurb here from SI.com's Cory McCartney:
Mike Paulus, QB, North Carolina: Mike -- the younger brother of Duke point guard Greg Paulus -- is a four-star prospect who threw for 52 touchdowns as a senior. If he doesn't redshirt, Paulus could be the starter by midseason.
This article was posted Monday. I know for a fact on Monday we had write-ups in the N&O and the Charlotte Observer basically telling the world Paulus was sitting in the three spot behind T.J. Yates and Cam Sexton. In fact I had that information posted by Saturday night because I bothered to read scrimmage notes on Tar Heel Blue before writing my post evaluating the candidates. Tar Heel Blue also had an interview with Paulus in which he stated he was having trouble getting acclimated to the offense and was actually surprised by this fact.
Of course despite McCartney's total absence of attention to pesky things like practice reports he did provide some positive albeit utterly simplistic analysis of DT Marvin Austin:
Marvin Austin, DT, North Carolina: Austin, Rivals.com's top-rated defensive tackle, will make an instant impact on a defense that was last in the ACC against the run last season. The 6-2, 291-pounder had 85 tackles and 17 sacks as a senior.
Forget what I just said, this does not even rate as simplistic analysis. Well of course he is going to make an impact, he was the freaking top rated DT in the class of 2007 joining a defense that was horrible last season. Saying Austin is going to have an impact is like saying Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are going to make the Boston Celtics a better team. In fact the whole article has the feel of something someone wrote after perusing the rankings on Rivals.com and the stat sheet from the various conferences. I guess this kind of brain dead analysis is what passes for good journalism these days.