Sit down, Joe.

You've had all winter to reflect on last season, and now, finally, it's back to spring practice. As we speak you are sorting through the players, seeing who has made strides in their off-season workouts. There are some battles out there, eh? Who's going to stop the run from the linebacker spots? Who wants to back up Larry Johnson? Is freshman quarterback Michael Robinson precocious and heady enough to challenge incumbent Zack Mills already?

These are all things the fans, and even you, Joe, are wondering about.

But there are other things to take care of at the moment.

Let's talk about Yaacov Yisreal. I know you don't want to talk about; you made that abundantly clear at your press conference last Wednesday. But it's something that needs to be discussed, all your old-school program secrecy be damned.

Yisreal, a starting safety last season, was stopped for driving under the influence in the early morning hours of Nov. 4, after the Southern Mississippi game last season. The thing that burns you, though, is that you didn't find out until Dec. 12, when the story finally appeared in the Centre Daily Times. Of course, you don't even read the papers, so somebody had to call you and tell you that the whole Centre region knew of Yisreal's digression before you did.

Your image is that of a simple and loyal guy who relies on your players to follow the example you have set for so long with brutal honesty and straightforwardness.

Yisreal did not do that. You are torn.

"He is kind of on, I guess you could call it probation," you said at the Wednesday press conference. "There are some things that he has to prove to me that he should be in the game. Right now I am not planning to play him in the first five games of the season, but I could change my mind on that. We will see how that works out."

You've proven with the past couple incidents that you have faith in your players. You stood by Rashard Casey last season when he was charged with assault, and you came out clean.

"I try to take every one of them one by one," you said, referring to each disciplinary situation.

See, freshman linebacker Tim Johnson was picked up for driving under the influence on Jan. 20th. All indications are that you won't take the same stance with him as Yisreal.

"As I said, there is a little difference between them if you look at it and it was one during the season while he was playing," you said of Yisreal. "Johnson was out on a Saturday night off-season."

Your reasoning there is sound. Yisreal made his bad decision in the middle of the season. His commitment to the team was lacking and his actions could have affected his performance on the field.

So it's a tough spot to be in.

"I don't want to be ruthless and I don't want to be toothless," you said. "I want to try to be fair."

Fairness is something we can all agree on. And the college football world is a different place now, tainted with a decidedly professional atmosphere. It's tough to run a tight program these days. You admitted it yourself.

"Twenty years ago these weren't problems," you said of the recent off-field incidents. "Obviously, I have spent an awful lot of time thinking about it. I go back to some of the really good football teams that I have had and some of the great players I have had and how I was able to handle those situations differently than I can now because there is so much focus on each one of these kids."

All of that is true. The media (yeah, like me) tends to pry, for better or worse, into the lives of 20-year-old kids more often then they used to.

But boys will be boys and boys have been boys. A 19 or 20 or 21-year old guy is going to go out and have a few beers. He may find trouble.

The problem is your phrasing on Yisreal's punishment. Is he out for five games for sure, or is he on a game-to-game basis? What does he do to prove to you that he's earned his way back on the field?

If Yisreal happens to come back just in time for the Nebraska game -- whether he has rightfully earned it or not -- how is it going to look?

What type of message is it going to send?

Each case is unique, but there needs to be consistency. Situations like the Yisreal and Johnson situation are difficult, but they must be dealt with emphatically and concretely.

The message must be clear and delivered without hesitation, because Yaacov Yisreal is not the only one listening.