TWO BITS: Neiron Ball’s health, annual LSU game

1 » Florida Gators redshirt sophomore linebacker Neiron Ball (vascular condition) wrote Thursday evening on Facebook that he will be able to rejoin the team for the 2012 season after receiving medical clearance from team doctors. “Got GREAT news today!!!I am CLEARED TO PLAY FOOTBALL AGAINl!This is one of many God’s Blessings….I am so thankful and excited!PRAISE GOD!,” he wrote. Florida has not officially announced that Ball has been cleared (he is not currently listed on the Gators’ 2012 roster) though head coach Will Muschamp said last month that he expected all to go well with his player’s evaluation. “Our medical staff is [reevaluating him]. They’re going to do that in March,” he said. “They certainly feel like he’s on schedule. That’s all I know at this point. He looks great but that’s something that will be totally up to our medical staff.” Ball was hospitalized last February after a blood vessel in his brain ruptured. He was diagnosed with a congenital vascular condition and released four days later but was forced to sit out the 2011 season as he recovered.

2 » In a story published Thursday by the Baton Rouge Advocate, LSU Tigers athletic director Joe Alleva said that the annual game between his team and the Florida Gators could come to an end as the Southeastern Conference looks for ways to tweak and adjust the league’s football schedule going forward. As part of his comments, Alleva said that both schools were “interested in ending” the annual series that began in 1971. However, CBSSports.com’s Brett McMurphy reported Thursday evening that the feeling is not mutual on UF’s part as “Florida sources” told him “that the Gators have given no indication they want their series to end with LSU.”