Waiting for Gus Malzahn — the college football coach most recognized for the hurry-up, no-huddle offense — to comment on the proposed rule change that would make offenses wait 10 seconds before running a play.

“I was definitely caught off guard,” Malzahn told reporters Tuesday of the proposed change. “But the bottom line is gathering the facts.”

The only way a rule can be changed this year is if it’s safety related because 2014 is a non-rule change year. So the play-clock proposal was presented as one that is best for player safety.

Malzahn said he reached out to Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, who is the chairman of the NCAA Football Rules Committee to present his case.

“I don’t think we need to lose sight of the fact that the only way you can change a rule is the health and safety of our players. And it’s got to be documented, and there’s got to be proof. And there’s not,” said Malzahn, who said he asked Calhoun to move the discussion to next year when rules changes can be made.

He’s not the only coach to publicly comment against the change. Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin are also among the coaches who have said they disagree with the proposal.

“For me, it goes back to the fundamental rules of football," Rodriguez told the Associated Press. "The offense knows where they are going and when they are going to snap the ball. That’s their advantage. The defense is allowed to move all 11 guys before the ball is snapped. That’s their advantage.

“What’s next? You can only have three downs? If you play that extra down you have more chance of injury.”

Sumlin said everyone was caught off guard by the proposal.

"There's no evidence out there that suggests that this is a player safety issue," Sumlin said last week. "Everything is done within the rules of the game. And coaching and creativity matter. And to be able to limit the amount of creativity that goes into the game, I think that's bad for the sport. There's all kinds of inherent problems with this rule. They call it offense and defense for a reason."

The rule is up for vote on March 6.

“I am first and foremost concerned about player’s safety and I’ve always been,” Malzahn said. “We play in a very violent game, but as far as this particular rule with no evidence I disagree.”


SABAN, MERCEDES-BENZ DEAL


Nick Saban says he's getting into the car business.

The Alabama football coach confirmed he and a partner are working to open a Mercedes-Benz dealership in the Birmingham area after lawyers for a competing dealer said they intend to subpoena Saban to find out if he was doing business with Mercedes.

"My partner and I have entered into a letter agreement with Mercedes Benz to open a new dealership in Irondale," Saban said in a statement Monday provided by his attorney, Bobby Plott. "We are honored to join the Mercedes family and are extremely excited about the benefits this dealership will bring to the citizens of Birmingham, Irondale and surrounding areas."

Saban's partner, Joe Agresti, told AL.com that land has been purchased for the new dealership near Irondale's Grants Mill Road auto mall. But he said construction is delayed until a civil suit filed by another area Mercedes dealer is resolved.

Attorneys for Crown Automobiles of Hoover sued Mercedes-Benz USA in December, saying word that a second Mercedes dealership was planned for the Birmingham area derailed plans to sell the Hoover car lot and caused its owners "immediate and irreparable harm." Mercedes-Benz attorneys have argued the automaker is within its rights to open another dealership.

Saban isn't a party in the lawsuit. But his name came up when Crown Automobiles' lawyers filed a notice of intent to subpoena the coach in an effort to uncover any business ties he had to Mercedes. Plott said the coach will comply with any subpoenas that end up being issued.

Agresti, who already sells Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Louisiana, said Saban years ago expressed an interest in partnering on an Alabama dealership.

"He told me, 'I don't have a minute to run it, but I love the brand,'" Agresti said.

Mercedes-Benz won't allow the planned dealership to bear Saban's name, Agresti said, but the coach will help with advertising and marketing and plans to appear at special events for customers.

"You'll get to see his smiling face on TV often," Agresti said.


HARVEY-CLEMONS GONE


Georgia safety Josh Harvey-Clemons has been dismissed from the team, the school announced Tuesday.

The sophomore was third on the team in tackles last season despite missing two games. He had 66 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, an interception, five pass breakups and recovered a team-best three fumbles.

He was reportedly going to be suspended for the Bulldogs’ first three games of the 2014 season for a violation of team rules.

Of course, his most memorable play was not one he’d like to remember. He was the player who tipped the pass that Auburn’s Ricardo Louis caught after the deflection and scored from 73 yards on a fourth-and-18 play in the game’s final minute.

The 6-5, 212-pound Harvey-Clemons was a 5-star prospect coming out of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Ga.


BEAVERS NAME OC


Former NFL assistant coach John Garrett has been named offensive coordinator of the Oregon State Beavers.

Garrett's duties include the quarterbacks and tight ends, Oregon State announced Tuesday.

Garrett, who once played for Beavers coach Mike Riley in the now-defunct World League, was wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season. Before that, he was on the staff of the Dallas Cowboys under coach Jason Garrett, his brother.

Garrett has also held positions with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Arizona Cardinals. At the college level, he was an assistant coach at Virginia and a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Princeton.

His father, Jim, was a longtime assistant coach and scout in the NFL.


VANDY DL COACH SUSPENDED


New Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason has indefinitely suspended an assistant coach charged with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Mason suspended Vavae Tata on Tuesday after learning of the defensive line coach's arrest Sunday morning. A university statement says officials are investigating the incident involving the coach, who was added to Mason's staff on Jan. 24.

Tata, 37, was arrested Sunday morning when police located him a few blocks away from an accident where he had crashed into two parked vehicles.

Tata told police he was trying to walk back to his hotel. He recorded a 0.18 percent blood alcohol content on a Breathalyzer test, above the state limit of 0.08. Tata was arrested and released on bond. He is scheduled for a court appearance March 5.


COLTER TESTIFIES


The National Labor Relations Board opened a closely watched hearing Tuesday on a bid by Northwestern football players to form what would be the first union for college athletes in U.S. history.

From a witnesses stand in a federal court building, Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter testified that players adhere to sometimes grueling schedules, putting in 40- to 50-hour weeks on football during and before the season. During August training, he said, players wake at 8 a.m. and often only finish practice at 10 p.m.

"It's a job, there is no way around it — it's a job," said the 21-year-old Colter, who is a senior and whose college career is over. He is expected to be in Indianapolis later this week for the NFL combine, a series of pre-draft workouts for prospects.

The key question for the NLRB is whether college football players qualify as employees; if they do, under U.S. law they would have the right to unionize. The Colter-led bid, which is supported by the United Steelworkers, is seen as a test case that could transform the landscape of college athletics. The NCAA and Big Ten Conference, which includes Northwestern, both maintain that college students are not employees whatever their participation in athletics.

Colter's attorney, John Adam, told the NLRB panel that players are employees and scholarships amount to pay.

"Being a football player at Northwestern is hard work. And make no mistake — it is work," Adam said. And, he added, the Wildcats' players earn "their compensation with blood, sweat and tears."

An attorney representing the university, Alex Barbour, challenged the notion the players are employees. He said academics are at the core of a football player's experience at the school.

"Academics always trumps athletics at Northwestern," he said. "Northwestern is not a football factory."

Colter said most of the team's 85 scholarship players support forming a union — though he has been the only one to step forward publicly with the support of the Steelworkers, the newly formed College Athletes Players Association and its leader, former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma.

Supporters say a union would provide athletes a vehicle to lobby for financial security and improved safety, noting that players are left out of the billions generated through college athletics. They contend scholarships sometimes don't even cover livings expenses for a full year.

A decision by the NLRB could come soon after the testimony concludes. For now, the push is to unionize athletes at private schools, like Northwestern. Public universities, which are subject to different regulations, could follow later.

Contributors: Ken Bradley, The Associated Press