1.  Cam Newton is eager to prove that he can live up to the hype surrounding him.

2.  Newton is the heavy favorite at one offshore sportsbook to be the NFL’s next #1 pick.

3.  Nick Saban is becoming the king of all media… for recruiting purposes

4.  By the numbers, the SEC should look pretty good at the NFL Draft this week.

Give Will Muschamp a hand.  The new Florida coach could have allowed star cornerback Janoris Jenkins to stay on his team.  He could have handled matters internally.  He could have allowed fans to make the “it was only marijuana” case for him.

Instead, he’s announced on Twitter today that the Gator star has been dismissed from Florida’s football team after his second pot-related arrest since January.  (Jenkins was arrested three times total while in Gainesville, but only twice on Muschamp’s watch).

The coach tweeted:

After meeting with Janoris Jenkins today, we both felt it was in his best interest to move ahead to the next stage of his career.

We appreciate Janoris’ contributions to the University of Florida during his time here and wish him the best of luck.

While I’m a fan of second chances and third chances — and I guess this would have been a fourth chance for Jenkins — I must applaud a coach who realizes that second and third chances don’t necessarily come on a football team.  Jenkins can now take his talents to the NFL — likely via the supplemental draft — for a second chance.  But he won’t be breaking team rules again in Gainesville.

This is a strong message for Muschamp to send.  His new players can now see that even stars must play by the rules if they’re going to play for Muschamp.  Character counts as much as talent, at least in Jenkins’ case.

Kudos to Muschamp for not allowing a young man to bring down his name as well as Florida’s.  I think we all know that if Urban Meyer were still in Gainesville, Jenkins would likely still be on his football team.

There truly appears to be a new sheriff in town.

Just a week after Chris Bumphis injured his ankle in the Mississippi State weight room, another Bulldog receiver has suffered an off-field injury.  This time, State wideout Chris Smith broke his saw in “an altercation” in Meridian, Mississippi on Saturday, according to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

Smith — a rising junior — caught 24 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown last season. 

As for how Smith broke his jaw, Dan Mullen said, “We’re still investigating all the events around what happened.”  Police in Meridian told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that there are no records of an arrest or citation for Smith.

Smith is scheduled to undergo surgery on his jaw today.  Now MSU will be without two of its most-proven receivers heading into the summer.  Bumphis is still on crutches due to his ankle injury.

1.  LSU hoops signee Johnny O’Bryant has been named to the USA Today Total All-USA basketball team.

2.  Houston Nutt says his quarterback race is “going to be real interesting come the fall.”

3.  Barry Brunetti is the only Ole Miss QB to have taken Division I snaps.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.  And former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann is entitled to his.  Even though we think he’s daffy to publicize it:

“To be honest with you, and I’ve never said this any place else, I don’t think Cam Newton’s a first round pick,” Theismann said to WTEM-AM in Washington, DC.

Huh?  What?  Why?

“You’re talking about a kid that started one year of football,” the former Redskins great said.  “He’s rushed the ball a lot more than he’s thrown it.  He hasn’t thrown the football a lot.  And when he did throw at the combine, he was not impressive. … I think the interview that he did with Jon Gruden (on ESPN) showed another side of him that wasn’t impressive. … I like all these (quarterbacks) as kids, but I’m talking about purely as football players, I think wherever you go, you’re stretching.”

Hmmm.  Well, okay.  He does make some valid points there.  But Newton is most assuredly first-round worthy. 

In hindsight, we might someday include Newton in a list of SEC quarterback busts like JaMarcus Russell, Tim Couch or Heath Shuler, but like all of those players, Newton obviously has the athletic ability to be considered a first-round pick — if not the first pick overall.

It’s Theismann’s opinion and he’s welcome to it.  But it’s hard to look at Newton’s vast upside and believe 32 times would be wise to risk passing on him.

From across the SEC — and especially from Tennessee and Alabama — they pour in… emails telling me that ESPN isn’t going after Jim Tressel and Ohio State with the same gusto with which they pursued UT’s Bruce Pearl and/or Auburn’s Cam Newton.

But just to set the record straight, ESPN’s Pat Forde has now called for Tressel’s head on a plate.

ESPN’s Ivan Maisel has also made it clear that the writing is on the wall.

Meanwhile, former Buckeyes Kirk Herbstreit — video here — and Chris Spielman — video here — are showing some serious backbone, too.  The two ESPN analysts aren’t holding back in their assessment of the situation:
Spielman: “I’m a good friend of Jim Tressel’s and if my son’s ever good enough to play for Ohio State I want him to play for Jim Tressel.  That being said, I do believe his intention was to protect the players first and foremost.  However, he still lost sight of his contract and what he’s obligated to do. … I think he probably, if he had it all to do over again, (would) get up, grab the emails, walk 10 feet down the hall, take a left and hand them over to the compliance office.  Every college football coach is put in this situation on a daily basis and they are trained — according to the college football coaches that I’ve talked to — that anytime they get a phone call or email of player misconduct, they hand it over to compliance.  And that’s where he went wrong.  I think his intent was pure, but his actions justify the punishment that’s coming his way, in my opinion.”

Herbstreit: “The fact that he was vague or not forthcoming with information initially with the NCAA… I mean when you get into that area, that’s a danger zone when it comes to coaches and their involvement with the NCAA.  And there are countless examples of coaches — that when they’ve decided to do that — they are no longer staying onboard as the head coach. … It’s just a real black eye on the entire university.”
Considering those fellows played at OSU, those are some pretty strong comments.  And then there’s this from Herbstreit:
“The Ohio State fanbase, blindedly, are just supporting Ohio State and Jim Tressel.  I mean, it’s almost gotten to the point (where) he beats Michigan, he wins 10 games, he goes to BCS bowl games… they’ll support him no matter what he does, as far as the fanbase. … It goes to show you — when you win games and you win championships and you beat Michigan then a lot of fans… they’ll find a way and a reason to twist any kind of story to try to be pro-Ohio State.”
Hmmm.  Sounds like some Tennessee fans with Pearl, Auburn fans with Newton, Kentucky fans when it comes to questions regarding John Calipari’s reputation, etc, etc.

We all see things through our own lenses.  That’s why fans of School X never understand why anyone would ever dare question School X.

It’s also why many fans of School X always believe School Y is getting off easier than the ol’ School X did.

But in this case — if Ohio State is School Y — the Buckeyes and Tressel are getting wall-to-wall coverage just like Pearl and Newton, Tennessee and Auburn.  The only difference is Tressel’s case broke just two months ago.  Give it time and you’ll find that the national media won’t let up on OSU any more than it has let up on Auburn or did let up on Tennessee prior to Pearl’s dismissal.

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of ESPN.  As I’ve written previously, I think it’s dangerous for a network that own various leagues, bowls, and games to also act as the largest news source covering those leagues, bowls and games.  But in this instance, any objective viewer can see that the four-letter network is covering Ohio State just as it covered UT and AU… right down to the infamous timeline graphics.

A friend of mine from Cleveland emailed me last week to say how sick she is of ESPN’s non-stop, anti-OSU coverage.  I just smiled.  If she and other OSU fans could only hear how some folks outside of Ohio believe ESPN is actually going easy on their Buckeyes.

It’s all about perspective.

The New York Times and CBS News are reporting this week that some Division I schools “are distorting their athletic participation numbers so they can remain compliant with Title IX.”

The paper examined public records and participation statistics from all 245 D-I schools.  They found that:


* Some schools were padding the rosters of women’s teams with unqualified players

* Some schools were counting athletes who were no longer competing

* Some schools counted male practice players as women

* Some schools “trimmed the rosters of men’s teams.”


Nice. 

The last time I heard about a player of one sex being counted as a player of another sex the story involved Gabe Kaplan, Cadwallader University and a player named Swish. 

(And if you’ve never seen “Fast Break,” (left) you’ve missed a rather entertaining 1970s b’ball flick.)

1.  Here’s more info on Billy Donovan’s hire of hoops assistant Matt McCall from Florida Atlantic.

2.  Pre-preseason publications are all over the board when it comes to Georgia’s finish in the SEC East this fall.

3.  Here’s a look at UGA’s post-spring depth chart for the offensive line… an area in flux after the injury to Trinton Sturdivant.

4.  If Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and DeAndre Liggins stay in the NBA draft, Kentucky’s history suggests they’ll go in the first round.

When it comes to dumb, there’s not much dumber than failing a drug test at the NFL scouting combine.  First, everyone knows they’ll be tested.  Second, this one-week gathering is the most important pre-draft step most players will take as they prepare for the NFL’s annual player selection meeting.

So what was Georgia linebacker/defensive end Justin Houston thinking?

According to FoxSports.com, “multiple sources” have revealed that Houston — along with Iowa defensive lineman Christian Ballard — tested positive for marijuana at the February combine.

At the very least, this has to have sent up some red flags for NFL executives.  Either Houston is so in love with the sticky-icky that he can’t stop smoking it — even in the run-up to the combine — or he’s so dumb he didn’t realize toking weed would show up on his test.

Houston has been viewed by most mock-draft gurus as a late-first or second-round pick in this week’s draft.  We’ll see if the report of the failed drug test changes those predictions.

Last week, Will Muschamp said that he would place no restrictions on ex-Gator receiver Chris Dunkley as he planned his transfer from Gainesville.  We wondered if UF’s coach would change his mind and apply restrictions should Dunkley start flirting with a rival SEC school.

He’s not.

Dunkley — once a top receiver prospect from Pahokee High in South Florida — is now leaning toward South Florida according to his former high school coach.  “I think USF is the top one on his list,” Blaze Thompson said.  “A lot of schools have expressed interest in him, but USF is the only one he has actually visited.  They’re interested in him, and he had asked me to look into them as well.”

For now, it doesn’t appear that Muschamp will need to worry about Dunkley jumping ship to another SEC program.