I have to admit it -- I had bittersweet feelings when, at halftime of the Florida-Miami game, I saw Nate Hybl trying to rally Oklahoma against Alabama and then was told that Jason White had torn his other ACL and was lost, again, for the season. Obviously, no one even wants to hear about a kid who battled so hard to come back getting injured all over again, but then I thought about Hybl.

	Hybl stepped up for the Sooners.

I got to know Nate a little over the summer when I was in Norman to go flying with his housemate Trent Smith, OU's all-American tight end. We ended up sitting around their place watching some bad movies and playing golf on PlayStation (by the way, Hybl actually has a national championship ring for playing on the Georgia golf team four years ago and could probably make a living as a pro in that sport).

I remembered seeing Nate play last season and hearing how he got booed and had to deal with all the Internet speculation and talk-radio babble -- if Jason White were healthy, OU would've won another national title. And even though Hybl says he doesn't pay any mind to that stuff, you know he did. It's the downside of playing the most glorified position in sports. And as he prepared for his final season in Norman, you knew he knew that pretty much everyone (outside of his teammates and coaches) had written him off. Thank God Jason's back. And if he's not 100%, well then wait till you see Brent Rawls throw it. Conveniently, everyone overlooks the fact that last season's Sooners O-line was ravaged by injuries and many opponents had already adjusted to OU's spread system and were flooding short and intermediate zones. Oh, and Hybl also played through a separated left (non-throwing) shoulder, a strained knee and a concussion. But, that didn't seem to matter -- just blame Hybl.

I wondered, as Nate talked this summer about 7-on-7 and working out at dawn and watching film and then having to go to his job the next morning, how much fun college football was to him. I wondered if it was worth it. Coach Bob Stoops said the quarterback job was wide open going into fall camp, but being around the program, it felt like everyone except for maybe Trent believed it was Jason's job. I think Nate believed it too, and maybe that's what ate at him, knowing he might not get another chance to prove himself. After all, last season (his first season) he says he played as if he were trying not to make mistakes. Next time, if there was a next time, he would just play, play to make plays and be a quarterback. Not just a caretaker.

And so now, with everyone saying Texas' hopes of finally beating OU have just gotten better, Hybl gets his mulligan.

He might not have the quickest release or have White's wheels, but he does throw the deep ball pretty well (and the Sooners will become a more vertical team this year). Above all, though, he's got the heart.

Tough break for Northern Illinois, which appears to have lost Thomas Hammock. The standout TB has been found to have a heart-related condition that probably will end his career. The 5'8", 211-pounder has rushed for almost 2,200 yards the past two years and is also one of only two major-college runners to have gained 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons and made first-team Academic All-America. (Tiki Barber was the other).

Word out of L.A. is that Notre Dame landed a stud when safety Freddie Parish verbaled to the Irish earlier this week. Parish is from blue-chip factory Long Beach Poly and turned heads at this summer's Nike combine up at Stanford where he ran 4.53 forty, benched 185 18 times and shined in DB drills. The performance was key since Parish was actually just a back-up FS at Poly last season. (He was behind all-world DB Darnell Bing). Parish did start both ways in 2000 at South Torrance High.

For every NCAA recruiting rule there seems to be a neat little exception that always comes into play. Take, for instance, last Thursday night's prep game between a couple of north Florida powerhouses, Tallahassee Lincoln and North Florida Christian. The game was at Lincoln and there were nine Florida State coaches in attendence, two more than the NCAA limit, but before the NCAA watchdogs go into heat, it must be noted the two extra FSU coaches were Seminole offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden and his dad Bobby. Turns out, Jeff's daughter is a cheerleader at Lincoln and the rule states that if you have a family member playing or cheerleading you can go watch them.

Coach Bowden also got to watch linebacker Ernie Sims, the nation's top prospect, who plays for NFC while also catching a glimpse or two of WRs Antonio Cromartie, Todd Brigman and CB Ryan Gilliam, who play from Lincoln. All are on the Noles' recruiting board.

Can't wait to see how Cal's Kyle Boller does Saturday against No. 15 Michigan State. Thus far, the cannon-armed senior has been very sharp, completing 64% for five TDs and 0 INTs after having spent the off-season packing on 20 pounds and overhauling his delivery with new Cal coach Jeff Tedford. Before Tedford, Boller had completed 45% of his passes as a three-year starter on some dreadful Bears teams. The Spartans' pass D has kept opposing QBs to 27 of 60 (45%) in their first two games.

Houston FS Hanik Milligan deserves a shout. He plays on a pretty bad team, but after piling up 10 tackles last weekend, he extended his streak of consecutive double-digit tackle games to 15.

For Rutgers, the bad news is, in the latest Sagarin ratings, the Knights are No. 181. The worse news is they are behind more than five dozen 1-AA schools, including Princeton (No. 175). Now, the really bad news: Nate Robinson, a 6'4", 315-pounder from Irvington, N.J., who is considered by many the top DT prospect in the nation, was at the game where Rutgers got mauled by 1-AA Villanova. Robinson has already scheduled visits to Miami and Michigan State, and wasn't too impressed by what he witnessed against the Wildcats.

"Yeah, that was pretty tough to see," says Robinson, whose top five is now Miami, North Carolina, Michigan State, Virginia and Nebraska.

For whatever it's worth, I'm still on the bandwagon. Of course, I'm starting to feel a little like Gilligan looking at the waves crashing around the Minnow.

Bruce Feldman covers college football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espnmag.com.