SEC Football

1. What stands out on the Tennesse roster?  ”Lack of experience. Only 15 players have started more than 10 games…”

2. Budget for football at Kentucky will increase more than $3 million in the coming year. Big chunk is increased coaching salaries.

3. What’s the word on Ole Miss freshman running back Kailo Moore?  ”Blindingly fast.”

4. What’s the biggest challenge facing first-year Arkansas coach Bret Bielema?  The schedule.

5. Florida quartertback Jeff Driskel surprised to get selected in the MLB draft: “Did not see that coming.”

6. Florida-Georgia on November 2 - “might as well be circled in blood this season.”

7. Kevin Scarbinsky on the Alabama-Auburn rivalry: “In short, for the Tide, the Tigers are a means to an end. For the Tigers, the Tide is the be-all and end-all.”

8. Matt Hayes at The Sporting News says Gus Malzahn one of three coaches who will win immediately in his new job.

9. Looking like the race for quarterback at Auburn is down to four candidates: ”Jason Smith from McGill-Toolen is likely headed to prep school.”

10. Video games mimic real life.  Alabama dominates EA Sports’ NCAA Football 14. One hardcore fan put every rating into a sortable spreadsheet.

11.  Any takers? At just one dollar under a million - a ticket for Alabama/Texas A&M.

SEC Basketball

11. Incoming Florida freshman Chris Walker still has work to do to be eligible for this coming season.

12. That was quick.  Jerome Seagears transferred from Rutgers to Auburn this summer.  Now he’s told coaches he’s leaving to be closer to his family in Maryland.

13. Missouri assistant coach Rick Carter is leaving, reportedly headed to Xavier. Former Missouri coach Quin Snyder joining the staff of the Atlanta Hawks.

14. “The longest-tenured power conference coaches without an NCAA round of 16 appearance are Mississippi’s Andy Kennedy and Arizona State’s Herb Sendek.”

15, Tennessee’s Jeronne Maymon on sitting out last season with a knee injury.  ”You see things differently. Things you don’t see while you’re out there playing, you see.”

16. John Calipari’s advice to young players: “What you should be spending 90 percent of your time on is getting their feel for the ball, bouncing it with their head up…”

College News

17. Goodbye domes prior to college basketball’s Final Four?

18. There are 18 Division I teams banned from postseason.

19. One day after his father said he’d prefer Southern Cal, five-star linebacker Matthew Thomas will end playing at Florida State after all.

20. Former Syracuse basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine reportedly suing ESPN for $11 million.

21. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany signs an extension that will keep him around through June of 2018.

Extras

22. Interested in a college basketball fantasy camp in Las Vegas?  It will set you back $7,500.

23. Marcus Lattimore paid $20,000 to record two ads for the lottery in South Carolina.

24.  If they do this for a victory, what would San Antonio Spurs fan do if they win the series?

25. Major League Baseball opening in Sydney, Australia next year?

Georgia’s 2014 class received a big boost Tuesday night when running back Nick Chubb from Cedartown (Ga.) announced his commitment to the Bulldogs.

Chubb, who’s ranked the No. 1 running back in the state of Georgia by 247Sports, chose Georgia over Auburn and South Carolina.

“(Georgia is) where I feel most comfortable,” Chubb told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’ve been to Georgia more than anywhere. I really like it there.”

Chubb’s commitment is good news for Georgia, which before Tuesday had struggled to land a marquee in-state player. That raised questions about the Bulldogs’ recruiting in their home state after a disappointing haul in 2013 and a slow start to the 2014 class.

But now Georgia can point to Chubb, who joins running back commitment Sony Michel from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the Bulldogs’ class of 2014. That’s a nice haul at running back, writes Kipp Adams of ESPN RecruitingNation.

“The addition of Chubb gives the Bulldogs the top running back prospect from Florida and Georgia this year, an impressive accomplishment for any program and a badge of honor for running backs coach Bryan McClendon.”

Chubb is the eighth prospect to commit to Georgia’s 2014 class.

SEC Football

1. College football expert Phil Steele picks Alabama to win its third straight BCS championship.

2. Cost of tickets/donations was the biggest reason given for fans attending less college football games.

3. First-year Auburn coach Gus Malzahn knows plenty about the Iron Bowl rivalry with Alabama.

4. Tree-poisoner Harvey Updyke has another case in Louisiana to deal with now that he’s out of jail.

5. LSU has the top stadium in the conference, according to Athlon. See the entire SEC list.

6. Which non-conference game among SEC teams will be the biggest this upcoming season?

7. The Texas A&M-UTSA game probably won’t make this list when they play each other in 2016.

8. Former Georgia Bulldog Joe Tereshinski Sr., whose son and grandson played at UGA, has passed away at 89.

9. Georgia has no plans to lessen its tough punishment for positive drug tests.

10. Running back Jabo Lee should be Tennessee’s only casualty from the class of 2013.

11. Tough to argue: Alabama voted to have the best offensive triple threat in the SEC.

SEC Basketball

12. Missouri has released its non-conference schedule for the 2013-14 season.

Extra

13. Former Ole Miss head coach and Tennessee assistant Ed Orgeron keeps it classy on players attending class.

14. Athlon Sports has picked Oregon to edge out Stanford for the Pac-12 championship.

15: Report: Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will sign with the New England Patriots today.

16. Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops responds to his critics, which includes some former Sooner players.

17. Georgia Tech’s AD believes the college football selection committee should stay on the smaller side.

The refs are out to get ya.  Obviously that’s because the league office is out to get ya, too.

Travel from one coast to the other and listen in on any group of sports fans — pro or college, hoops or football, baseball or hockey — and you’ll quickly come to the realization that darn near everyone feels their favorite team is being cheated by the officials.

Now, we could spend a lot of time detailing why these theories persist — simple answer: no one can just accept losing — but we’ve chosen instead to dig inside the numbers to see if certain teams really do get the benefit of officials’ whistles more often than others.  Specifically, we wanted to see which SEC stadiums provided the biggest boost for their occupants.

Below you’ll find several sets of numbers.  We have gone back over five years of official NCAA data to see just how many many penalties have been called (and accepted) against each SEC school in its own home stadium.  Then, we examined that same period (2008-2012) to see how many penalties road teams have wracked up in those buildings.

Let’s start with the home team data.  Below are the penalty numbers for each SEC football team in its own park between 2008 and 2012, listed from best to worst:

And there you have it!  Proof that Alabama gets all the calls in Tuscaloosa.

Well, that’s how some will take it, of course.  The reality is that if SEC officials were looking out for Alabama then they must also have been in the bag for Kentucky.  And we’re talking football here, not basketball (which is a completely different conspiracy theory).

Interestingly, most of the league’s strongest teams over the past five seasons — Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, Florida — have all had oodles of yellow hankies heaved in their directions while playing at home.

Now let’s take a look at the number of penalties called against visiting teams at each of those SEC stadiums from 2008 through 2012, listed from best to worst:

Looking at those numbers, either Big XII officials like to throw a whole lotta flags or Kyle Field and Faurot Field are darned intimidating.  Once again, at the bottom of the list are three pretty good programs over the past five years — Auburn, South Carolina and Georgia.  Those three — when playing at home — only see about five flags per game thrown at their opponents.

What exactly does that mean?

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Georgia added two commitments to its 2014 class during the weekend.

2. Former Florida State cornerback commitment J.C. Jackson gave his pledge to Florida.

3. Junior college running back Akeem Judd has committed to Ole Miss over Auburn and Tennessee.

4. Denver punter JK Scott has committed to Alabama over Arizona, Colorado and Notre Dame.

5. Defensive end Denzel Ware has committed to Kentucky for a second time.

6. Auburn linebacker commit Tre Williams was the top linebacker at the Rivals camp in Chicago.

7. The state of Georgia is kind of a second “home” for Auburn’s recruiting plan.

8. Here’s a camp update from Arkansas. Several prospects who have received offers or want one are on campus.

9. The state of Louisiana is loaded with talent in the 2014 class. The class of 2016 looks impressive, too.

10. Linebacker Gavin Bryant worked out in Gainesville on Sunday for Florida’s coaches.

1. Weekend haul at Ole Miss with four commitments in the past few days.  Rebels now have 13 commitments in the class of 2014.

2. Georgia gets two commitments from its weekend camp.  Class of 2014 now stands at seven.

3. After decommitting from Florida State, cornerback J.C. Jackson now wants to be a Florida Gator.  ”It’s very solid. I’m going to stick with the Gators.”

4. Texas A&M picks up a commitment Saturday from tight end  Koda Martin. Martin had offers from Alabama, LSU and several other schools. He is the Aggies 13th commitment in the class of 2014.

5. Top quarterback prospect David Cornwell granted fifth year of eligibility.  Visited Alabama’s summer prospect camp last week.

6. Georgia is Auburn’s “second home.” Eight of nine Auburn commitments are from Alabama or Georgia.

7. Auburn reportedly extended an offer to Duncan, South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley on Friday. Bentley just finished his 8th grade year – part of the 2017 recruiting class.

SEC Football

1. What could boost the fortunes of Tennessee football over the next five years?  The retirements of Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier would help.

2. Running back Marlin Lane not officially reinstated at Tennessee but an announcement is expected soon.

3. Last national title for Georgia was 1980.  Is this the year they can finally get over the hump? Vegas has Georgia as the favorite in all 12 regular season games.

4. Similar story at Alabama – Tide favored in every contest.  In SEC action, favored by an average of 20.9 points.

5. Auburn an underdog in every SEC game this year, according to the Golden Nugget.

6. Lines on 10 of the biggest games this fall. Ten not enough? Here’s 250 point spreads  from the Golden Nugget.

7. Departures at Kentucky include sopohomore receivers receivers DeMarcus Sweat and Bookie Cobbins. UK will add four receivers this fall.

8. Why Kentucky needs to be dialed in for the season opener against Western Kentucky.

9. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier on the league’s head coaches: ”You don’t see many former players from the league coming back [to the SEC] to be head coaches anymore.”

10. Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel set to debut in a country music video this afternoon.

11. If professional baseball doesnt’ work out for Kohl Stewart, Kevin Sumlin says he can always play football for the Aggies. See our recruiting notebook from earlier today for more on Stewart.

12. What does Auburn coach Gus Malzahn want to see in his starting quarterback?“Thinking like a coach out on the field, as far as the reads go and everything that goes within a play.”

13. Football tickets, sideline passes and Nick Saban’s lake house – all up for sale to the highest bidder.

14. Saban: “To me, everybody always asks, ‘Why aren’t you happy about this or that?’ (and it’s) because I am thinking about the next thing,”

15. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel likes the potential of his defensive line: ”It’s a league where you’ve got to be good up front.”

16. 96 percent of football players at Missouri in the last five senior classes have earned their degrees.

SEC/College News

17. Who owns the images of college athletes? Former Alabama player Tyrone Prothro wrote a  book and wanted to use a photo from a famous catch in 2005.  Alabama told him he would have to purchase it.

18. Search firms typically cost universities about $75,000 to identify coaching candidates.  Are they worth the money?

19. College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta under construction and selling commemorative bricks.

20. Miami commit on turning down Urban Meyer. “It looked like he was a baby about to cry. It was so funny.”

SEC Basketball

21. Trial for former Auburn basketball player Varez Ward set for July 22.  Pleads not guilty to charges of trying to fix a game in 2012.

22. Kevin Scarbinsky on Ward: “He may be the worst thing to happen to Barbee and Auburn basketball in a string of bad things that have plagued the program.”

23. Byron Samuels is Georgia’s new operations coordinator. Former assistant to Jerry Green at Tennessee.

24. The debate over former Missouri guard Michael Dixon, now with Memphis.  Should he be allowed to play next season?

25. New players will look a lot like the old players at Missouri – at least when it comes to their jersey numbers.

26 .ESPN’s Chad Forde on the odds Nerlens Noel is taken No. 1 overall in the NBA draft: “60-65 percent.”

Extra

27. Brett Favre on his departure from the Green Bay Packers.  ”I was at fault.”

The next week will be important for Georgia’s 2014 recruiting class.

It starts this weekend with the Mark Richt Camp. High schoolers will be on campus learning from several of Georgia’s coaches. Some of those high schoolers already have an offer from the Bulldogs while others are trying to earn one.

“I think if a guy is interested in Georgia and hasn’t been offered,” Mark Richt told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “whether he’s in this year’s class or next year’s class, I think it would be important for him to be there.”

Georgia has only five commitments for the 2014 class. It’s worth pointing out the Bulldogs won’t be able to sign a class as large as the 2013 group, which ended up with 33 signees.

Chad Simmons of Scout.com told the AJC that Georgia’s short list of commitments doesn’t necessarily indicate a bad start for the Bulldogs.

“It’s a slow start, but I think they are off to a good start, as far as the quality of players that are committed,” Simmons said. “The numbers aren’t there right now. But I think by the start of the season in September, they will have 10 or so commits.”

One of those commitments could be running back Nick Chubb from Cedartown (Ga.) High School.

Chubb, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 9 running back by Rivals, is scheduled to announce his decision on Tuesday on Fox 5 TV in Atlanta. He’s considering Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina.

Chubb’s decision could help indicate where Georgia stands with the 2014 class. He’s a key in-state prospect who’s shown a strong interest in the Bulldogs.

“I’ve always liked Georgia,” Chubb told Rivals last month. “I was a fan of them growing up, too.”

Fans are paying attention to Georgia’s recruitment of in-state prospects. Four of Rivals’ top 10 players in the state of Georgia have given their commitmentsfor 2014. And they’ve all picked Clemson.

One of those prospects is wide receiver Demarre Kitt, who originally committed to Georgia before reopening his recruitment. He chose Clemson last week.

Another Clemson commitment, quarterback Deshaun Watson from Gainesville High School, continues to receive strong interest from Georgia. He’s indicated he could look around – he visited Auburn last week – but he hasn’t budged from his pledge to Clemson.

That adds more importance to the recruitment of other top Georgia prospects like Chubb, defensive end Lorenzo Carter and defensive backs Cortez McDowell and Malkom Parrish.

And this weekend’s camp could create new options for Georgia’s staff. A new offer or two could go out, which could add to the commitment list before the weekend ends.

Georgia fans will certainly be watching.

Texas A&M quarterback signee headed to baseball

The commitment of 2014 quarterback Kyle Allen to Texas A&M became even more important Thursday night.

Read the rest of this entry »

An indictment unsealed this week claims former Auburn point guard Varez Ward offered to pay teammates to participate in a point-shaving scheme
Alabama basketball player Devonta Pollard was arrested Tuesday…he’s facing a charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has one year left on his contract…hasn’t decided if he wants to continue in role
Ole Miss/Texas game will be carried on Longhorn Network on September 14
Seats near 50-yard line at Texas A&M’s renovated Kyle Field will cost about $4,000 annually
Stay in touch with SEC news year-round at MrSEC.com and on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

SEC Football

1. Georgia coach Mark Richt on the one-game suspension for Josh Harvey-Clemons: “Even if Josh was starting for us, he’s a pretty inexperienced player right now.”

2. Richt on the season opener against Clemson: “I know both teams will be highly ranked, highly motivated.”

3. Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell on the transition facing freshman players: “It’s going to be a tough transition for a lot of people.”

4. South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward compares Jadeveon Clowney to former Alabama player Derrick Thomas:  ”They’re both freakish athletes, but I’ve seen Jadeveon do some things that I didn’t even see Derrick Thomas do.”

5. Auburn had two backup linebackers transfer but coach Gus Malzahn says he isn’t worried about depth.

6. Malzahn on his five quarterbacks competing for a starting job:   “Once we decide who our starting quarterback is in the fall…We’ll build around his strengths.” Football first for Jeremy Johnson.

7. The Ole Miss – Texas game on September 14 will be carried on the Longhorn Network. Ole Miss working with ESPN to get the game shown on secondary channels as well.

8. Record-attendance at Ole Miss camp.

9. Is Bowling Green a trap game for Mississippi State in October?

10. Is Kentucky a trap game for Missouri this fall? Tigers a candidate for a rebound in offense?

11. Seats near the 50-yard line will cost about $4,000 at the renovated Kyle Field.

12. Updated look at opening week kickoff times.

13. David Climer on SEC scheduling: “Do what you must, SEC, but keep the traditional rivalries intact.”

14. Phil Steele’s preseason All-American teams feature plenty of SEC names.

15. Panel discussion on the integration of football programs at Alabama and Auburn will be moderated by Paul Finebaum.

16. Why the NFL doesn’t need as much contact in practice as college?  ”When players get to the NFL, they actually know what they’re doing,”

17. It appears offensive coordinators have the edge over their defensive counterparts when it comes to getting a head coaching job.l

SEC Basketball

18. Not so fast.  Former Missouri guard Michael Dixon hasn’t committed to Memphis just yet.  Not getting any support from Mizzou.  ”[Missouri A.D. Mike Alden] shredded him to my AD — just absolutely shredded him.”

19. Once Memphis transfer Antonio Barton completes three online courses - he’s free to enroll at Tennessee.

20. Mark Wiedmar on the troubles facing Alabama basketball player Devonta Pollard and former Auburn player Varez Ward:  ”They’re basketball players rather than football players, which means most of the league’s fan bases will never know it happened.”

21. Kevin Scarbinsky: “At Alabama, baseball and men’s basketball have fallen behind in the chase for championships.”

Goodbye Gordon Gee

22. Ohio State president to retire July 1. 

23. Gordon’s greatest gaffes.

24. Matt Hayes:  ”Ohio State has become bellwether in college sports; the powerful, prosperous program you follow to just watch it trip up—and then revel in its misery.”

25. Andy Staples: “When we in sports media see a major public figure bashing Notre Dame AND the SEC at the same time, it’s like hitting the Web traffic lottery. Gee never stood a chance.”

Extra

26. Former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin on the hot seat at Southern Cal?