This morning we linked you to the latest T-Town Menswear photo dump from SportsByBrooks.com.  That site’s photos of Julio Jones — then an Alabama player — signing a jersey (with a stack of other jerseys nearby) has led OutkickTheCoverage.com to release a few more photos, too.

It seems someone took photos of Jones in Tom Al Betar’s office at T-Town Menswear.  One shows Jones with a college-age girl on his lap and Al Betar smiling happily to his left.  (Al Betar’s name has been spelled Albetar, Al-Betar and Al Betar on various sites… we’re going with the latter.)

Is it against NCAA rules for a player to be in the office of a business owner?  No.  But we all know how this looks.  After all, Al Betar was later disassociated from the Crimson Tide program for some reason.  So here was a Tide star sitting in the office of a man who would eventually be barred from UA’s program.

Go ahead and add this to the pile of circumstantial evidence that’s already leading to a Bama conviction in the court of public opinion. 

Meanwhile, we await the next photos to appear in three… two… one…

1.  Florida’s basketball coaches are building chemisty.

2.  Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo says it’s unnerving to lose players during the offseason.

3.  Too bad then that UGA has lost another player.  Redshirt freshman linebacker Brandon Burrows will miss the season after shoulder surgery.

4.  John Calipari will coach his Dominican Republic National Team against a group of ex-Kentucky greats in a Rupp Arena exhibition game.

5.  ESPN’s Lee Corso is a fan of the Louisville-Kentucky football series.

6.  South Carolina players are A-OK with high expectations.

7.  This writer says Tennessee might as well aim high in its AD search because the school’s got nothing to lose.

8.  The major concern for UT’s football team this fall?  The defensive front seven.

9.  Five more reasons why the SEC rules.

Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones — who just transferred to Athens from Southern Cal — might have a harder time gaining eligibility than initially thought.

Last month, a police investigation into what amounts to a slush fund in the office of Columbus, Georgia’s former parks and recreation department director showed that Jones and UGA basketball signee Kentavious Caldwell-Pope likely received improper benefits while playing AAU basketball in high school.

It was believed that Jones had received Atlanta-to-Los Angeles (and back) airline tickets.  However, a report in The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer today states that:


“Further investigation into police records shows (the P&R director/AAU coach) also withdrew $700 in cash from the account and made notes on the transactions that may link them to Jones.“


Georgia AD Greg McGarity said earlier this week that his school is finalizing its report on the Jones/Caldwell-Pope matter and hopes the NCAA will rule quickly on Jones’ status with the Bulldog football team.

Question is — Did UGA know about this new information or are they now having to restart from ground zero on their report?

If true, it’s possible that the NCAA could sit Jones for a few games and require him to donate to charity an amount of money equal to what he received during his AAU days.  Of course, it’s also possible they could bag him entirely.

What doesn’t appear likely at this point is Jones taking the field with his Georgia teammates when they face Boise State in little more than a month.

UPDATE — Our bad, folks.  We missed a rather big point in this story.  It seems Jones was given the money while attending Southern Cal, not during his AAU days.  (Only the plane tickets were provided during his AAU days).  In February of 2010, Tony Adams withdrew $400 from the questionable account and labeled the transaction: “Jarvis laptop.”  Then in March of last year, he withdrew another $300 and labeled that transaction: “Georgia Blazers Jarvis Jones.”  The Georgia Blazers are the AAU team Adams coached and Jones played for.

With Rogers Redding getting a promotion to the NCAA level, Steve Shaw will be stepping into the office of the SEC’s coordinator of officials.  The league’s new top cop is already setting some lofty goals:


“I think my desire is really to take my on-field experiences and the talent within our officiating staff and really make these guys the best they can be.  I’m not interested in us just being good; I was us to be absolutely the best we can be on every play, and that’s our goal.”


And that’s a darn good goal.  But even if he and the league’s officials hit that mark, it won’t matter to the public.

First, officials are human and they’re going to make mistakes just like coaches and players.  In fact, even replay officials might view a shot differently than the way you or I might view the very same video clip.  Mistakes — and if you don’t think they’re made in every sport look up the end of the Pirates/Braves game from Tuesday — give angry fans “proof” that a league’s officials are horrible.  Just check an ACC or Pac-12 messageboard one Sunday and you’ll find that their fans believe they have the worst refs in the world.  It’s a fact of life.

Second, every call made this year in an SEC game will be loved by one team’s fans and hated by the other’s.  Ever sit in the stands and count how many times you hear the home fans scream about the other team’s infractions?  Ever hear those same fans scream that their team should be flagged?  Ever?  Once?

Welcome to the Kobayashi Maru, Mr. Shaw… you’ve stepped into the ultimate no-win scenario.




UPDATE — We’ve been asked to post a bio of Shaw.  We ran more info on the man when he was hired half a year ago, but here’s the requested bio.

Rick Stansbury is bringing in reinforcements via the transfer route.  Kristers Zeidaks — a 6-8 small forward from Latvia — has been academically cleared by the NCAA and will have three years of eligibility with Mississippi State’s basketball team.

It’s expected that Zeidaks will have to sit out the first few games this season due to questions regarding his amateur status.  The 21-year-old played with professional hoopsters in Latvia, but he was not a pro.

“It’s not an overly complicated case,” MSU’s compliance director told The Jackson Clarion-Ledger.”

(Hush.  Listen closely.  You can hear the faint screams of “What about Enes Kanter!” rising from the state of Kentucky.)

Zeidaks fills the roster spot left open when John Riek of Sudan left the Bulldog team earlier this month.  Consider this State’s international exchange program.

Our only question?  Is Zeidaks Latvian Orthodox?

1.  Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower says he’s ready to play ball.

2.  Which true freshman could help at Auburn?

3.  Arkansas was remarkably consistent in 2010.

4.  Les Miles was “loose and relaxed” meeting with LSU fans yesterday.

5.  This writer says that if Joe Alleva were doing a bad job as AD, LSU officials would have let him leave for Tennessee.

6.  ESPN will produce and air a documentary about the Iron Bowl. 

The good folks at OutkickTheCoverage.com and SportsByBrooks.com aren’t letting the T-Town Menswear story drift into the backpages of the internet.  Both have posted new info on the maybe-it-is/maybe-it-isn’t scandal in the past 24 hours.

First… OKTC reports that they have photographic evidence that there were “autographed jerseys from current players at multiple locations.”  And those jerseys were for sale, which suggests either a) the players might have been rewarded in some way for their signatures or b) the players were helping a business promote itself.  Case a) would be a violation of NCAA rules and case b) could be viewed as a violation. 

The site also takes issue with the idea that Bama’s players didn’t know their signatures were being sold:


“… Would any reasonable person with even a smidge of intelligence not notice if they signed a jersey for T-Town Menswear one day and the next day or shortly thereafter it was for sale at a kiosk in the same mall?  Then, if after seeing this you went back and continued to sign autographs, would you lose all ability to play the “I didn’t know,” defense?

I think so.  And I think the NCAA will agree with me.”


The site adds this as well:


“So (Tuesday’s) announcement (from UA) was a bombshell.  A very bad bombshell for the Crimson Tide program.  Prior to now Alabama had been trying to hide the fact that it had been compelled to disassociate (store owner Tom) Albetar.  Now we all know.  And so does the NCAA.

Good luck with that.”


I find it odd that an SEC fan is rejoicing so in the possible downfall of an SEC team.  Clay Travis — the author of the story — is a Tennessee fan.  He makes that clear in this “manifesto” that explains exactly what his site is all about. 

If you’re an SEC fan — you listening Bama and Auburn-backers — the downfall of a rival program only hurts the league.  If a school is out buying players and handing out car keys to recruits, fine, take ‘em down.  But these kinds of shenanigans can be found at major schools all across the country.  If Alabama or Auburn or another SEC program gets taken to the woodshed to the point that its banned from television — unlikely but possible — then CBS and ESPN would likely have the ability to rework their contracts with the SEC.

“Hooray, we brought down Bama!  And cost our favorite school millions in the process.” 

And if the NCAA hammer falls on one SEC school, the reputation of all SEC schools will suffer.  You better believe that one.  Who knows what that would do for the votes of pollsters?  If too many people view the SEC as dirty, it could cost an SEC team a BCS title shot somewhere down the road.  Just something to think about before you email your favorite scandal-driven website photos of Nick Saban or Gene Chizik shaking hands with Muammar Gaddafi.

Now, someone will no doubt claim that we’re saying a true SEC fan would ignore or cover these types of stories up.  Not so.  We at MrSEC.com just don’t understand the pure joy some folks get from ripping down a rival program.


Meanwhile, on the site SportsByBrooks, a photo showing Heisman hopeful Trent Richardson is posted today.  He’s wearing a red jacket while signing a framed print of Alabama football players.  The site’s headline: “Why is Richardson Signing With a Suit Jacket On?”  The clear inference being that Richardson is wearing a coat given to him in exchange for signing merchandise. 

Seems like a bit of a leap to us.  In fact, this just looks like another photo dump.  As was the case with much of the “evidence” against Cam Newton and Auburn, the word “circumstantial” keeps popping into our heads.

Sure these photos and this situation looks bad for Alabama.  For that matter, it looked like Casey Anthony had killed her daughter.  But no one could prove it.  And so far, we’ve seen no proof of any type of payment going from Albetar to Bama players.  Just as we saw no hard evidence of Auburn paying the Newtons a single dime.

What you and I think — and what OutkickTheCoverage and SportsByBrooks post — won’t matter to the NCAA.  They’ll be looking for proof, evidence, and a smoking gun.  If they don’t find it, T-Town Menswear might disappear quicker than Scott Moore’s tapes (which I’m still told via email “are going to come out”).  In Moore’s case, we said “produce the tapes.”  Now we say, produce the proof.

Until that happens, this is just more “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” traffic-generation from a couple of very well-run sites.

The questions raised by their photo dumps need to be answered by someone at this point.  Only it won’t be OutkickTheCoverage, SportsByBrooks, MrSEC.com, ILoveBama.net, or ImABarner.org that Tide officials will be answering to.  It will most likely be NCAA investigators.

With as much pub as this story has gotten in the past week, it’s hard to imagine NCAA officials won’t drop by Tuscaloosa for a quick Q&A at some point.

LSU’s football program was recently placed on probation for major violations committed a couple of years ago.  The NCAA has also visited Baton Rouge in recent weeks to discuss street-agent Willie Lyles.  And now the NCAA is looking into Russell Shepard’s living arrangements.

Not to worry.  At least according to Les Miles.

“There have been communications that would make it appear that it’s not very, very serious.  Oh, he’s fine.  No, he won’t have to sit out.  He’ll come to practice.  We wouldn’t expect there to be any issues there.”

That’s what Miles told the Baton Rouge Rotary Club yesterday afternoon.  If that doesn’t sound like a lot of information, here’s why: “We have a couple of NCAA investigations going on that I can’t talk about and won’t talk about.”

Ah.

The Shepard story broke during SEC Media Days.  Miles scratched the receiver from the speakers’ list saying that he had some personal matters to attend to back in Baton Rouge.

It’s been reported that Shepard moved in with his girlfriend this spring.  She has worked in the Tiger football office since before Shepard arrived on campus.

As Glenn Guilbeau of Gannett Louisiana points out, “It is against the rules (for student-athletes) to pocket the money (they are given for off-campus rent) and have the apartment paid for by a third party.”

So the NCAA continues to dig for dirt in a couple of areas at LSU.  Miles remains confident that there’s been no serious wrongdoing.  For Tiger fans, we hope the LSU compliance office is as buttoned up on Shepard and Lyles as they were on Akiem Hicks and DJ McCarthy.

Houston Nutt knew just what to say to a gathering of Ole Miss fans last night in Jackson.  The Rebel coach looked ‘em in the eye, apologized for a subpar 2010 season… and then took a couple of shots at Mississippi State.

First, Nutt’s apology:


“I was wondering if you really wanted to come tonight after those last few ballgames.  I want to apologize to you.  We didn’t play with that passion and that intensity of the Ole Miss Rebels.”


Mea culpas never hurt.  And firing barbs at MSU — a school that’s been throwing all the verbal punches in recent months — always helps.

Nutt said that this year’s Egg Bowl game with the Bulldogs is “personal.”  According to Ross Dellenger of The Jackson Clarion Ledger, Nutt then “took a not-so-subtle shot at an MSU video called ‘Golden Days: A Day in the Life of the Egg Bowl Trophy.’”

UM’s coach said that after whipping State 45-0 in 2008, “Nobody had to carry around the trophy to show everybody.”

He then said — as he did at SEC Media Days last week — that Ole Miss’ recruiting class in 2010 was “the best in the state… the best.”  (He was channeling his inner-Kenny Bania, apparently.)

Sounds like Nutt has grown a bit tired of answering questions about those “Welcome To Our State” billboards MSU put up around the Magnolia State. 

Nutt also chose to tell the story of linebacker CJ Johnson’s recruitment.  The in-state prospect had been committed to Dan Mullen’s program for more than a year heading into the home stretch.  According to Nutt, Johnson told Lance Pogue — a Mississippi high school coach who was coaching Johnson at the US Army All-American Game — that he might like to open up his recruiting again.  Pogue gave Johnson Nutt’s phone number.  Naturally, that story has spread quickly on the internet today and upset more than a couple of Bulldog fans in the process.

Brandon Marcello of The Clarion-Ledger tracked down Pogue today for comment:


“I’m a Mississippi guy.  I’m not Ole Miss, I’m not State.  I’m for this state.  I graduated from Delta State and Holmes Community College. 

We’re out at San Antonio, Texas, and there’s a kid from Mississippi who I’m kind of partial to because he’s from my state.  We’re at the all-star game, the coach who’s recruiting him from Mississippi State (Manny Diaz) leaves (for Texas) and he says, ‘I’m kind of unsure.’  I said, ‘If you’re unsure, check them all out,’ and he wanted to talk to Coach Nutt.  Here’s the thing: I’ve got Dan Mullen’s phone number, he’s got mine and I’d do the same if it would have been the other way.”


The coach went on to point out that his own top player from the past two seasons is now at State.  You have to wonder, though, if he appreciates Nutt bringing up his name in the first place.

Either way, for the first time in a long time, Nutt set the day’s sportstalk agenda in the state of Mississippi.  Mullen has been winning games and marketing his program with his mouth for the better part of two years.  Perhaps yesterday’s comments show that Nutt is ready to do a little talkin’ too.

Les Miles current contract features a buyout of $3.75 million per year times the number of years left on the deal.  Yesterday, The Baton Rouge Advocate wrote that Miles’ contract ran through 2012.   Actually, it runs through 2014 and an extension to the deal — as of yet unsigned — is expected to take the pact through 2017.

But that jackpot buyout might not be part of the picture moving forward.

Glenn Guilbeau of Gannett Louisiana writes that because of the NCAA’s recent findings against Miles’ program — the Tigers will spend a year on probation due to major violations involving Akiem Hicks and DJ McCarthy — the school could fire Miles without giving him a big buyout.

His current deal states:


“University may terminate this agreement for cause.  Cause for this purpose shall mean a finding or determination by the NCAA of one or more major, significant or repetitive violations by Coach.  All compensation, including salary benefits and other renumeration set forth in this contract incidental to Coach’s employment cease upon termination, other than the compensation owed Coach for services performed by Coach prior to termination.”


When asked about the buyout, LSU chancellor Michael Martin said, “NCAA violations would negate the buyout.”

The Miles’ situation — if Guilbeau’s interpretation is correct… and we assume it is — would be unique.  In most cases, when a school fires a coach over major violations it does so immediately.  In Miles’ case, Guilbeau suggests that the buyout has already been rendered moot by the violations.  So even if LSU keeps its coach now and decides to fire him three years down the road for win/loss issues, school officials will still be able to point to the NCAA findings of 2011 as a reason not to fork over that $3.75 million buyout.

Gotta wonder if Miles’ attorney agrees with that interpretation.