The experts are all over the board when it comes to former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.  Some see him as the next great quarterback in the NFL.  Others see him as a prima donna.  Some see him as anew type of signal-caller for the pro game.  Others see him as nothing more than a high-risk project.

We at MrSEC.com see him as being too athletically gifted for a team to pass on him.

Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News — one of our favorite SEC writers, by the way — does a fine job of showing you the wide range of opinions on Newton in his latest column.  While pundits, talking heads, ex-coaches and off-the-record personnel men are all over the board, we feel Newton will be the top pick in the draft for one reason — the Carolina Panthers can’t afford to pass on him.

In April of 2006, the Houston Texans passed on hometown hero Vince Young and Heisman-winner Reggie Bush to select NC State defensive end Mario Williams.  That decision was ridiculed.  Texans GM Charley Casserly was roasted.  The local fans wanted Young.  Many in the media thought Bush would be the next Gayle Sayers. 

Williams?  Well, he was a good defensive end but how could Houston pass on Young and Bush?

Casserly was headed out the door at the time of the draft.  That kind of knowledge can be quite freeing.  Casserly knew he wouldn’t be around to deal with the fallout of not picking the two favorites… so he could focus on making the best pick.  Even though that pick would be met with catcalls.  As it’s turned out, Casserly did make the right pick in Williams.  At least to this point in the three players’ careers.

But Carolina GM Marty Hurney isn’t stepping aside at year’s end.  And while he’s had some success overall, he doesn’t have the track record of a Bill Belichick or Bill Polian to buttress a risky decision.

Last year he selected quarterback Jimmy Clausen who the Panthers and their fanbase have apparently already lost faith in.  And there’s a reason Carolina is picking first this year — they were the worst team in football a year ago.

For that reason, Hurney is under more pressure now than Casserly was five years ago when he chose to buck conventional wisdom.  Hurney needs a home run.  Newton looks like he could be that home run.

Newton didn’t throw many passes or start many games in college, but he did excel in the toughest league in America and led his team to the national crown.  The upside — to use a word popular among NFL personnel types — is through the roof when it comes to the former Auburn star.

If Carolina feels that Newton’s head is screwed on straight, we don’t see how they can risk passing on him.  That doesn’t mean we view Newton as a sure thing.  We don’t.  But we do know that any GM who lets Cecil’s boy slide past him, is taking a pretty big risk.

No one wants to be the guy who takes Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.  And that includes Carolina’s general manager.

When first pick is called out tonight, we believe Newton will be the man walking to the podium.  The Panthers can’t afford to pass on Newton’s upside.  They can’t afford to risk him starring for someone else for a decade to come.

1.  Here’s a by-the-numbers look at the SEC in the NFL draft.

2.  Alabama and Auburn will be producing many of the headliners of tonight’s NFL draft.

3.  Will Cam Newton be a Carolina Panther this time tomorrow?

4.  This writer thinks Newton is deserving of the top choice.

5.  NFL folks have a lot of different opinions about ex-Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett.

6.  Mallett isn’t the only ex-Hog looking to get drafted this week.

The massive mile-wide tornado that smacked Tuscaloosa yesterday afternoon came incredibly close to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

In this 8-minute clip from WVUA-TV in Tuscaloosa, you can see the tornado approach the stadium:




And, if you don’t mind some natural sound filled with obscenities, you can check out this video of the tornado moving by the stadium, shot from a nearby apartment.




According to the site SportsByBrooks.com, a University of Alabama staffer reported that the tornado came within 250 yards of Bama’s home field.

Discussing SEC sports should be a pleasant pastime.  Football, basketball, great plays, bad calls… all fun.  Unfortunately, sometimes a few of us let our passions run a little too far into the red and we start spending way too much time attacking rival fans and rival schools verbally and on the web.

The devastating real life events of last night show just how silly such actions are (not to mention the people who take part in such mean-spirited nonsense).

Wave after wave of massive tornado-spawning storms sliced across the Southeast region last night, taking 194 lives by this morning’s count.  While Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee all suffered fatalaties, Alabama was the hardest hit state in the region, losing at least 128 residents to the storms.

Hundreds of thousands of people are without power across the South this morning.  Governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia have all declared states of emergency. 

“This could be one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the nation’s history by the time it’s over,” CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said.

An SEC city was one of the towns hardest hit by last night’s violent weather.  A mile-wide tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa killing at least 32 persons and leaving more than 600 injured. 

“We have large swaths of the city that have been pummeled, and we have to go house to house to make sure there aren’t people who need help,” mayor Walk Maddox said this morning.  “It literally obliterated blocks and blocks of the city.”  Maddox told CNN.com that the devastation in Tuscaloosa was “unparalleled… the city’s infrastructure has been absolutely decimated.”

A photo tour of the damage in Alabama is both stunning and heartwrenching.

We at MrSEC.com urge you to contact the American Red Cross — as we have done this morning — to make a donation to the ongoing relief efforts across the South. 

It’s time now for SEC fans to show their passion by helping their neighbors in need.  And we know that’s exactly what many of you will do.

Patrick Miller appears to be the next player in a long line of standout prospects from Dwyer High School in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The offensive lineman told the Gainesville Sun he currently favors Auburn, Florida and LSU. He also has offers from such schools as Florida State, Miami and Notre Dame.

“I want to play in the SEC,” Miller told the Gainesville Sun.

The Sun’s Jeff Barlis has a video interview with Miller, which you can see here.

The pursuit from Florida should be worth watching. The Gators have signed several players from Dwyer in recent years, including Matt Elam, Gerald Christian, Robert Clark and Jacoby Brissett, who joined Florida’s most recent class in February.

“Obviously they all try to promote Florida, which is great,” Miller said. “It’s a good resource to have. … It seems like Dwyer kids do really well at Florida.”

Miller said he doesn’t have a leader and that his top three schools are even.

The Florida basketball team appears to be set with its two signees for the 2011 class.

The Gators have signed guard Bradley Beal and big man Walter Pitchford, and that could be it for Florida this year.

Florida had shown interest in post player Joseph Uchebo, but he doesn’t appear to be considering Florida.

That could mean that Florida is content on saving its scholarships and trying to make a big run with the 2012 class. For more, click the link above. Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun has plenty of information.

Tennessee basketball signee Chris Jones from Memphis (Tenn.) Melrose High School will play at Northwest Florida State College next year.

Jones will play for former UT assistant coach Steve Forbes, who is now the head coach at Northwest Florida. Forbes was a key recruiter in the recruitment of Jones to UT.

The decision to attend junior college was confirmed when the Memphis Commercial Appeal spoke to Melrose head coach Jermaine Johnson.

“He can concentrate on getting better mentally and physically,” Johnson said of Jones.

UT coach Cuonzo Martin signed point guard Wes Washpun during the spring signing period partly because of concerns regarding Jones’ ability to qualify this fall.

With the NFL draft kicking off tomorrow night in New York, a number of websites and publications are examining the total number of draft picks produced by schools and conferences over the past few years.  Rivals.com is one such site.

This week, Rivals put together a list showing the total number of draft picks — as well as first-round picks — selected from each school and conference in the FBS between 2000 and 2010.  You can find the total figures for that 11-season span right here.

But we wanted to take things a step further and see which SEC programs were getting the most bang for their NFL buck.  Below you’ll find a breakdown of each school’s total number of draft picks, total number of first-round draft picks, total number of SEC wins (including league championship games), total number of SEC titles, total number of BCS titles and BCS bowl bids from 1999 through 2009 — when those picks were on SEC campuses.  We have ranked the schools 1 through 12 by total players drafted.


SEC Draft Picks 2000-2010, SEC Accomplishments 1999-2009

Observations:

* So who got the most bang for their buck?  Florida, of course.  The Gators rode their 59 draft picks — including 12 first-rounders — to 71 conference wins, three SEC titles, two BCS titles and five BCS bowl bids.  That’s making the most of your talent.

* LSU deserves quite a bit of recognition for racking up three SEC championships, two national titles and four BCS bowl bids off of their 55 draft picks.  You could argue that the Tigers did a better job than Florida considering they had fewer players selected, but UF’s 12 additional conference victories served as the difference in our mind.

* Alabama and Georgia both recorded two league titles and three BCS bids from ’99 to ’09, but the Crimson Tide also collected a BCS championship in that span.  While Georgia nabbed seven more league wins than Bama, the Tide had 19 fewer draft picks.  Advantage: Alabama.  But looking at the overall production, it’s hard to say that Georgia “underperformed.”  Their decade was about as good as possible… minus a national crown.

* Before the Auburn fans start emailing, look at the dates we included in this study.  The draft picks are from 2000 to 2010 and the wins are from 1999 to 2009.  After this weekend’s draft, we’ll update the list to include the 2011 draft class and the 2010 season results… including Auburn’s BCS title.

* If there was a program that did underperform over the past decade, it was Tennessee.  The Volunteers posted 60 draft picks and 12 first-rounders, but they were able to convert those players into just one BCS bowl bid and no SEC or BCS titles.  In fact, UT is the only SEC program to record fewer victories than draft picks over the past decade.

NFL writer Don Banks of SI.com — one of the best in the business, by the way — has posted his latest mock draft for tomorrow’s this week’s NFL selection party.  Among the first eight picks, he expects six ex-SEC names to be called.

His SEC first-round picks:


1.  Carolina Panthers — Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2.  Denver Broncos — Marcell Dareus, DE-DT, Alabama

4.  Cincinnati Bengals — AJ Green, WR, Georgia

6.  Cleveland Browns — Julio Jones, WR, Alabama

7.  San Francisco 49ers — Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU

8.  Tennessee Titans — Nick Fairley, DT, Auburn

15.  Miami Dolphins — Mike Pouncey, G-C, Florida

28.  New England Patriots — Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama

29.  Chicago Bears — Derek Sherrod, OT, Mississippi State


Nine SEC players in a 32-pick first-round?  Sounds about right.  The Southeastern Conference usually accounts for about one-third of the first round selections.

With storms and power outages rolling across the South today — and probably coming soon to MrSEC.com Headquarters — we’re going to run through as many quicky headlines as possible for you.

Here goes…

1.  Alabama could have three juniors taken in the first round of tomorrow’s NFL draft.

2.  The Iron Bowl rivalry even extends to said Draft.

3.  Cam Newton’s lack of leadership skills will haunt him in the NFL…

4.  Or not.

5.  A pair of Arkansas O-linemen want to keep UA’s run of good fortune in the draft rolling.

6.  Hog QB candidates Tyler Wilson and Brandon Mitchell sound off about their leadership skills.

7.  Due to a lack of size — he’s 6-1, 305 — former LSU D-tackle Drake Nevis is expected to be a third-round pick at best.

8.  Derek Sherrod could be MSU’s first first-round draft pick in 14 years.

9.  Receiver Chris Smith’s jaw surgery went well.

10.  Quarterback Barry Brunetti’s clearance by the NCAA is another win for Ole Miss.

11.  Here’s more on Will Muschamp’s decision to boot Janoris Jenkins from Florida’s team.

12.  Did Justin Houston fail a drug test while at Georgia?

13.  Peter King of SI.com says the Atlanta Falcons are trying to trade up for AJ Green.

14.  Joker Phillips has confidence that Kentucky will soon be competing for an SEC title.

15.  NC State point guard Ryan Harrow might have visited UK’s campus yesterday.  And maybe he didn’t.

16.  Ex-South Carolina O-lineman Jarriel King could go in the first round of tomorrow’s NFL draft.

17.  Former Tennessee offensive lineman Jarrod Shaw is just hoping to get drafted.

18.  SI.com’s Seth Davis says UT’s hire of Cuonzo Martin was the smartest basketball hire this offseason.