Support staff at SEC football programs rarely make big headlines.  Those are left to the men on the actual coaching staffs. 

Except in the case of ex-Tennessee employee Steve Rubio.  The school announced yesterday that he is no longer employed by the university and no longer holds the title of director of player personnel.

Rubio was a Lane Kiffin hire in Knoxville.  He came to Tennessee from Central Florida where he had served as the Golden Knight’s director of player personnel.  After his arrival at Tennessee, UCF got spanked by the NCAA and coach George O’Leary — along with the NCAA — laid plenty of the blame at Rubio’s doorstep.

In October of 2009, Rubio — serving as a recruiting intern for the Vols — visited his old Florida high school along with Kiffin while UT’s head coach made a recruiting visit there.  That’s a no-no.  The NCAA investigated the matter.

Still, Rubio was eventually promoted to the position of director of player personnel and stayed on Tennessee’s staff after Derek Dooley’s arrival.  Now gone, the school won’t say if he left on his own or was asked to depart.

A House subcommittee nixed a South Carolina lawmakers attempt to force South Carolina and Clemson to meet on the football field each season.  While the rivalry — which has been played 103 consecutive years — looks safe now, conference expansion and realignment have interrupted other long-standing rivalries (Kansas-Missouri, Texas-Texas A&M, etc).

“This is important to the state,” argued Representative Nathan Ballentine, who sponsored the bill.  “It is something the Palmetto State could be proud of, should be proud of.”

But in the end, his bill was crushed by a touchdown, 7-0.  “These matters should be handled by the universities and trustees,” Representative Lester Branham said.

If Carolina or Clemson ever attempt to end their football rivalry, expect a number of Palmetto State lawmakers to rush to get involved.

1.  The Orlando Sentinel says Florida was “completely outclassed” by Kentucky last night.

2.  Brian Cox Jr. signed with the Gators because his papa — the ex-NFL’er — and Gator D-coordinator Dan Quinn worked together with the New York Jets.

3.  Off-field issues have whittled down Georgia’s secondary depth.

4.  This columnist says Anthony Davis’ defense is just the tip of Kentucky’s spear. 

5.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist continues to come up big in the Wildcats’ biggest games.

6.  South Carolina is 1-7 in the SEC and 0-4 on the road heading to Tennessee tonight.

7.  The Vols’ Jeronne Maymon will try to remain consistent, efficient and tough versus the Gamecocks.

8.  Vanderbilt will try to snap a two-game losing streak when LSU visits Nashville tonight.

9.  No surprise — SEC coaches aren’t thrilled with the NCAA’s new multi-year scholarship option.

Say goodbye to the last assistant coach with Tommy Tuberville ties at Auburn.  The school announced yesterday that secondary coach Phillip Lolley would be moving into an administrative role with the program, creating the third coach search Gene Chizik has had to undertake since the end of the regular season.

“We appreciate Coach Lolley and the contribution he has made to the Auburn football program in his various roles over the years,” Chizik said in a press release.  “We look forward to him continuing to help with the program’s success in his new capacity.”

Already being mentioned as a potential replacement is one Willie Martinez.  Martinez served as secondary coach under new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder at Georgia before succeeding him in that role in 2005.  After being dismissed in Athens, he moved on to Oklahoma for two seasons before being replaced there by Bob Stoops’ brother Mike this offseason.

In addition to Lolley’s successor and VanGorder’s replacement of Ted Roof, Chizik has also hired Scot Loeffler to replace offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

After seeing Kentucky up close and personal in a 78-58 loss last night, Florida’s Billy Donovan has high praise for John Calipari’s team:


“The one thing I like about their team is I love their disposition on the floor.  There’s a certain disposition you have to have and I’m not talking about an arrogance or a cockiness, but there’s like a focus level in terms of what really goes into winning at that level.  There’s a mentality there.”


Donovan — whose Gators lost to #2 Syracuse earlier this season — also said #1 Kentucky has a bit more talent than the Orange in that they have six future NBA first-round picks on their roster.  Still, “it would be a heck of a game,” he said.

The University of Arkansas is spending $40 million on a brand new football complex in Fayetteville.  The school is also planning to expand Razorback Stadium. 

People in Little Rock are paying attention.

Afraid they might lose the two games played annually by the Razorbacks at War Memorial Stadium, there’s now discussion to upgrade and expand the 63-year-old venue.  The school and the War Memorial Stadium Commission currently have a deal that runs through 2016.

Arkansas is the only school at the FBS level that plays multiple “home” games away from its campus each season.  As Bobby Petrino has improved the Razorback program, ticket demands have gone up.  And Razorback Stadium can seat about 22,000 more Hog fans than War Memorial Stadium.  For that reason, there’s already speculation that the season finale between Arkansas and LSU could be moved to Fayetteville this fall.

Obviously the folks in Little Rock can see the writing on the wall.

Hugh Freeze is hoping to avoid the cold-shoulder from the Ole Miss football team.  The new Rebel coach tells The Jackson Clarion-Ledger that he knows he won’t win over everybody, but he hopes to reach the vast majority of players:


“At the end of the day, you hope 80% of your team has chosen to buy in.  that’s the buy-in principle.  And your 20%, you hope they’re not negative influences.  If you can ever get a team that’s about 90% or so to buy in, I think you got a special group.  But that’s always a challenge.”


Freeze was a head coach for one season at Arkansas State.  He’ll be asking his team to buy-in on faith, not on a long, distinguished resume.  His players, therefore, will likely want to see some early positive results before they buy-in completely.

1.  After a flurry of technical fouls, Alabama knocked out Auburn.

2.  Anthony Grant probably won’t be happy with some of his players for calling out Auburn fans and players on Twitter after the win. 

3.  Tony Barbee says his Tiger team got “out-toughed.”

4.  Undefeated at home, Arkansas heads to Georgia looking for its first win away from Bud Walton Arena in 348 days.

5.  LSU goes on the road to Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym tonight.

6.  MSU fans have chosen their program’s Team of the Century (from State’s first 100 years of basketball… it’d still be a bit soon to for the team of the 2000s.)

7.  Ole Miss needs to keep hitting the boards when the Rebels travel to Starkville on Thursday.

8.  Terrance Henry says he’s got the back of UM’s Nick Williams, the Reb’s top trash-talker.”

Yesterday we told you that in SEC hoops, teams have but a 24% chance of winning on the road.  Well after last night, that number has skyrocketed to a 25% chance.

SEC home teams are still 38-13 in league play, but one of last night’s two contests was indeed captured by the visitor.  In spite of the turmoil surrounding that squad.


Alabama 68, Auburn 50

One day after the indefinite suspension of Tony Mitchell, the Crimson Tide traveled into the home of its arch-rival and made off with an easier than expected win.  The Tigers had been 3-1 at home and Bama would be looking to replace Mitchell’s 13 point- and 7 rebound-average.

JaMychal Green and Trevor Releford combined for 34 points to fill the scoring void.  And UA managed to outrebound AU 30-26 on the night, even without Mitchell’s usual contribution.

The win boosts Bama to 16-7 overall and 5-4 in the SEC.  They’ve now rebounded from a four-game losing streak with a three-game win streak.  The NCAA Tournament is still in sight for Bama.  For Auburn?  The SEC cellar remains in view as the Tigers tumbled to 3-7 in league play, ahead of only Georgia and South Carolina.


Kentucky 79, Florida 58

The thinking went as follows: If anyone is going to knock off the Wildcats in Lexington, it will be the Gators.  But in reality, Billy Donovan’s team was just another speed bump en route to an SEC crown and a probable #1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

When we pointed out yesterday that UK’s average home win was by a score of 83-60, we didn’t anticipate last night’s score being so similar.

For the Cats, overconfidence might be the only concern moving forward.  Example: “We have this little swagger.  We just want to go out there and play hard and win.  We’re capable of winning a national championship if we keep playing how we’re playing.”  That’s from Anthony Davis after last night’s whipping of Florida.  Davis, of course, is a freshman who happens to have no idea of what it takes to win six games in a row in the NCAA Tournament.

There’s a reason John Calipari changed his talking point from “being physical” to “avoiding overconfidence” this week.  The latter seems to be the only thing that can slow down his Wildcats… especially in the regular season.

Using Rivals.com’s rankings of the Top 20 players from each SEC state, we are today examining who won the recruiting battles inside each state.   Below you’ll see the number of schools that signed players out of Kentucky’s Top 20.

All juco-bound or currently unsigned players are lumped together into a single category.

One thing to remember when looking at these state-by-state battles — not all states have deep talent pools.  In some states, the major programs might not offer as many scholarships to residents as some smaller programs.

Top 20 Signees from Kentucky

If Joker Phillips is to succeed at Kentucky, he’s going to do a better job of closing down the state’s borders.  It’s one thing to lose players to Louisville, but he can’t afford to let talent good enough to play at Auburn, Michigan, Purdue and Cincinnati escape his grasp.

Using Rivals.com’s rankings of the Top 20 players from each SEC state, we are today examining who won the recruiting battles inside each state.   Below you’ll see the number of schools that signed players out of Florida’s Top 20.

All juco-bound or currently unsigned players are lumped together into a single category.

One thing to remember when looking at these state-by-state battles — not all states have deep talent pools.  In some states, the major programs might not offer as many scholarships to residents as some smaller programs.

Top 20 Signees from Florida

In contrast to Arkansas, look at all the BCS schools racing into Florida to snap up the state’s top talent.  Will Muschamp and his Gators had a consensus Top 5 class this time around, but Al Golden and Miami nabbed the state’s top player and equaled the Gators in high-end, in-state signees.

Using Rivals.com’s rankings of the Top 20 players from each SEC state, we are today examining who won the recruiting battles inside each state.   Below you’ll see the number of schools that signed players out of Arkansas’ Top 20.

All juco-bound or currently unsigned players are lumped together into a single category.

One thing to remember when looking at these state-by-state battles — not all states have deep talent pools.  In some states, the major programs might not offer as many scholarships to residents as some smaller programs.

Top 20 Signees from Arkansas

It’s easy to see that Arkansas just doesn’t produce a great deal of high-end football talent.  Twelve of the state’s Top 20 players signed with non-AQ programs.  It’s no wonder Bobby Petrino works so hard recruiting Texas.