Courtesy of SEC-TV and Fox Sports South
ATLANTA — LSU linebackers Trev Faulk and Bradie James will be featured today on SEC-TV, Fox Sports Net’s weekly, Emmy Award-winning Southeastern Conference magazine program.
The show will air in the Baton Rouge area at 5:30 p.m. on cable channel 37 (Fox Sports-Southwest). The show will also be re-aired at Friday at 11 a.m. in Baton Rouge. Host Dave Neal is joined in FSN’s Atlanta studio by football analyst Charles Davis, for an in-depth look at Saturday’s SEC football clashes.
Neal and Davis break down Saturday’s key East versus West match-up – No. 2 Florida at No. 18 LSU. SEC-TV also highlights this weekend’s other games – Georgia at No. 6 Tennessee, Mississippi State at Auburn, Kentucky at No. 13 South Carolina, Ole Miss at Arkansas State, and UTEP at Alabama.
LSU is coming off an emotional 26-18 loss at Tennessee, while Florida is fresh from a 52-0 home triumph over Mississippi State. Against LSU, Florida holds a 13-11 advantage in games played in Baton Rouge, and the Gators have won the longstanding series’ last three meetings by substantial margins. LSU’s only win in its last 10 meetings with Florida came in 1997, when the Tigers’ 28-21 “Death Valley” win over the Gators registered the school’s only “W” ever against a No. 1-ranked team.
Amanda Jahn reports Thursday from Baton Rouge, on a special bond between LSU junior linebackers Bradie James and Trev Faulk. James, a 2000 second-team All-SEC performer, lost both of his parents last year. In fact, just two days removed from his father’s death, James was named the game’s defensive MVP in LSU’s Peach Bowl win over Georgia Tech.
A first-team All-SEC player a year ago, Faulk has been rated by The Sporting News as college football’s premier inside linebacker. In 2000, he finished second in the SEC in total tackles (113), and he earned LSU’s “Mike Miley Leadership Award” following this year’s spring drills. Faulk and James have formed a formidable linebacking tandem, and their intense friendship has helped shepherd James through an extremely difficult period in his life.
Also on Thursday’s SEC-TV is a remarkable story about Florida senior center Zac Zedalis, who, partly through an unorthodox therapy regimen, has overcome a devastating knee injury that sidelined him for two seasons.
Actually a sixth-year player – he was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA because of his medical hardships, Zedalis was injured in the opening game of the 1999 season and was lost for the year. When a rare disease caused his knee ligament to calcify, he was forced to the sideline in 2000 as well. Through a friend, Zedalis learned about a cutting-edge treatment in which bee stings administered to his knee have proven instrumental in his recovery to playing health.