With all the hype surrounding that hot-topic Florida quarterback, another special Florida player in Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 Florida and No. 4 LSU who has gone all but unnoticed — senior running back and kick returner Brandon James.While the special teams superstar may be laying low in the media with talk of whether Tim Tebow will be at full strength, James is on LSU’s radar as the main target for the Tigers’ special teams to watch.”Brandon James is a tremendous return man and a guy who is very dangerous,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “He’s extremely elusive, has great speed and has the anticipation for making big plays.”One reason he may stay under the radar may be his short stature, as he stands at 5 feet 7 inches tall.Like LSU’s 5-foot-5-inch senior kick returner Trindon Holliday, James uses his short stature as a way to explode around the opposing special teams and run through gaps larger runners wouldn’t dream of finding.That explosiveness has allowed James to return four career punts and a kickoff for a touchdown in his three-plus years as a Gator.”We’ve been paying attention to what he’s been doing,” Holliday said. “He’s a great return specialist, and he’s very explosive.”LSU isn’t the only team to take notice of James in his role as a kick returner, and many teams have begun to game plan against his return, especially with punts.This season, James has a mere 16 yards of punt returns in 10 tries after having a 13.8 yard per return punt average in 2008.”The punter for Kentucky did a phenomenal job of averaging hang times of over five seconds, so even the returns we have planned for him can be ended with those type of punts,” said Florida coach Urban Meyer.Joey Wiles, James’ high school coach, said a team kicking away from James is nothing new for the tiny speedster.”We very rarely got balls kicked deep to us,” Wiles said. “There were some schools that would punt it directly out of bounds just so he wouldn’t touch the ball.”But kicking away from James on kickoffs has been a bit more difficult for opposing teams, apparently, as James has returned eight kickoffs this season with an average of 34.5 yards per return, including a return for a touchdown.Meyer and his staff would like to see that elusiveness transfer to the team’s offense this season, as Meyer said they have been trying to increase his touches on that side of the ball, akin to what LSU is trying to do with Holliday.But they haven’t been efficient at it.The 2008 Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Year has rushed only nine times this season for 51 yards and has five catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.The most rushing yards James has gotten in a single game in his four years at Florida came in 2007 against South Carolina, where he had 49 yards, including a 14-yard rush, his career long. He has only two rushing touchdowns as a Gator.But Wiles sees James’ role steadily starting to increase in the Florida offense, which is no surprise to him because Florida runs an offense similar to the one at James’ high school, St. Augustine in St. Augustine, Fla.”He’s doing some of the same things now for them that he did for us,” Wiles said. “He carried the ball a lot for us, and he’s involved in their offense now. He’s on the field the whole time.”- – – -Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]