Last week, it was announced that incoming freshman Jay Harris would not be joining Michigan State’s football program as planned.  It was first said that he intended to instead pursue a career in rap music.  And then it was reported that Michigan State  yanked his scholarship after seeing his new rap video — which features explicit lyrics and opened with video of Harris lighting up a joint.

Now the attention is being turned to top prospect Sony Michel from Plantation, Florida.  Ranked as the #2 running back in the nation by Rivals, Michel has already committed to Georgia but he, too, is an aspiring rapper.  So any chance he’ll put rap above football?  Not if what he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is true:

“Football is my first love, and then music is right after it.  I will finish out football before I think about that (a music career)…

Actually, I have a good friend who is a producer.  (My friend) makes beats.  I let him listen to my stuff.  He makes beats for professional artists.  He is actually trying to help me understand the business more before I jump into it.  I’m just learning right now before I get into it.”

Even better news for Bulldog fans?  No controversies over the raps he’s already posted on YouTube.com under the name 2Stackz.

Nick Saban inducted into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Saturday night
More than 3,500 people have signed an online petition supporting suspended Georgia player Kolton Houston…
The offensive lineman has been banned since testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone as a freshman
Vanderbilt coach James Franklin received more than $1.8 million in compensation in 2011
Quarterback Wes Lunt is leaving Oklahoma State but the school won’t let him transfer to Tennessee or Vanderbilt
Early week 1 college footbal spreads are out…Georgia 1-point underdog to Clemson, Alabama 14-point favorite against Virginia Tech
Tennessee basketball player Yemi Makanjuola reportedly transferring to UNC-Wilmington
Vanderbilt forward Sheldon Jeter has decided to transfer
Follow SEC news year-round at MrSEC.com and on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

SEC Football

1. Former Tennessee defensive end and coach Chuck Smith has been working with Auburn linemen in order to help revive the Tigers pass rush.

2. The biggest surprise on Auburn’s post-spring depth chart? Slot receiver.

3. Biggest question at Arkansas this fall?  Backup quarterback.

4. Nick Saban on being inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: “In the future, I’m going to be more committed in order to justify the honor you’ve given to me tonight.”

5. Clemson AD Dan Radakovich on what he learned from Saban at LSU.  ”With all the distractions around him, Nick stays focused on the things that are important for him and his program.”

6. Young LSU fans get to camp out at Tiger Stadium.

7. The SEC and the NFL draft – uptick can be explained by Alabama and LSU. “They have been pipelining athletes to the NFL far beyond what they’ve ever been able to do previously.”

8. South Carolina an 8.5 point favorite in the opener against North Carolina, Mississippi State a 6.5 point underdog vs Oklahoma State. Spreads for Week 1 are out.

SEC/College News

9. In Michael Adams’  16 years as president of the university, athletic department revenues at Georgia have climbed from $25.7 million to $92.1 milion. Barbara Dooley still upset how her husband was treated: “In my opinion, he has never said anything positive about Vince Dooley’s ability as the athletic director…I take personal offense to that.”

10. Mike Bianchi on linebacker Matthew Thomas who wants out of his commitment to Florida State and reportedly transfer to Georgia or Southern Cal.   “What sort of life lesson is Thomas learning if his first exposure to the adult world is the message that it’s OK to break promises and walk out on commitments?”

SEC Basketball

11. Alabama reportedly agreeing to a series with UCLA.

12. When Andrew Wiggins announced he was going to Kansas, fans started melting down on Twitter.  ”In 140 characters or less, they hoped he’d tear ACLs, be consumed by fire or die in a plane crash.”

Extras

13. O.J. Simpson planning a college speaking tour after he gets out of prison.

14. Questions surrounding Seton Hall’s softball coach -”Is this a coach out of control or overly sensitive players and parents?”

Quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s recruitment has stayed the same since he committed to Clemson more than 15 months ago.

He continues to say he’s solid to the Tigers while more and more schools keep recruiting him.

The latest school is Alabama. The Crimson Tide offered Watson a scholarship last week, joining a list that includes Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State, Ohio State, Oregon and Southern California.

Watson, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 1 quarterback by Rivals.com, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he’s used to all the attention from other schools.

“I can’t tell them to stop coming by here,” he said. “They can still come by and check out another player on my team but still watch me. You know, I can’t ever tell a school not to recruit me because it’s an honor and a privilege for them to throw me a full ride offer and (tell) me to come play at the school and get a free education.”

Watson, who attends Gainesville (Ga.) High School, has entertained the idea of visiting other schools. He told ESPN RecruitingNation last month that he would take all five official visits this fall but has since softened on the idea. Instead, he told the AJC he has a list of “fallback schools” in case the status of his commitment to Clemson changes.

“For me, it would be Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, USC and Oregon,” Watson said.

Georgia is intriguing. The home-state school has shown strong interest in Watson, who’s the only quarterback in the 2014 class to receive a scholarship offer from the Bulldogs.

“They have let it be known that I am their guy for 2014 and the only quarterback they plan to go after,” Watson told ESPN. “Mike Bobo and Mark Richt said they want a local guy to take over their offense and lead them to a national championship.”

Georgia will be looking for a new starting quarterback in 2014 after senior Aaron Murray departs. Alabama will be as well with AJ McCarron entering his senior year in Tuscaloosa.

Auburn has a group of quarterbacks set to return in 2014 but no one has set himself apart from the others. That opportunity for early playing time, which Clemson can also offer as Tajh Boyd enters his final year in college, will be the sales pitch from several schools recruiting Watson.

He can expect to hear more from those schools between now and the day he finally steps on a college campus. As Gainesville coach Bruce Miller told the AJC, “every school” is interested in Watson. And he doesn’t seem bothered by the attention.

“That’s going to keep on happening,” Watson said.

Leslie eligible for LSU

Wide receiver Quantavius Leslie received good news this week when he learned he will be eligible to play at LSU this fall, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re halfway through May and already the offseason nonsense has begun.  When there’s nothing to report, media members — who have to fill space for you in some fashion — ask coaches for comments (or hang out a booster luncheons hoping to overhear comments).  Any comment that could possibly be considered inflammatory goes national.  Then other media members fan out trying to get reactions to that comment from the coaches they cover.  Once other coaches respond, you start to get responses to those responses.

Case in point, Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis calls Alabama coach Nick Saban “the devil himself” to a booster club, it goes national, ESPN’s Mark May blasts Davis, and eventually Saban and Will Muschamp will be forced to comment.

Another example?  Last week Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops said the SEC ain’t all that because it’s 7th-through-14th place teams weren’t as good last year as the Big XII’s 7th-through-10th teams.  Saban responded that the SEC is strong, but he has great respect for the Big XII.  Kansas’ Charlie Weis then backed Stoops.

So… Saban was, of course, asked about Weis’ comment.  Saban’s response was basically the same: “We’ve got a good league, I respect the Big XII, yada yada yada.”  (And no, we didn’t yada yada over the best part.)

Well, yesterday we told you that Florida’s Muschamp had told a Gator fan club that Georgia’s two-game win streak over Georgia would be shortlived.  Oh, no, he didn’t!

Right on cue, fiery Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was asked for a response.  Grantham — like Saban regarding the Big XII chatter — refused to take the bait, however:

“I mean, you know, what do you expect him to say at a Gator function?  Will’s a guy that I know personally.  I think he’s done a great job at Florida.  I think he’s very competitive as we all are as coaches.  He’s a guy that wants to win.  I think he’s just really trying to fire up the people in Jacksonville.”

Gotta love the silly season.  Oh, well.  At least it beats writing about player arrests.  (Knock on wood.)

Last night in Jacksonville, Will Muschamp made a promise to a Florida booster club.  In his first two seasons as the Gators’ coach, his squad has been beaten by his alma mater — Georgia — twice, 24-20 in 2011 and 17-9 in 2012.  He’s now vowed to turn things around when it comes to the Bulldogs:

“Well, it’s not going to be a long winning streak, I can assure you.  We feel very comfortable.  Obviously, last year, when you turn the ball over six times, you’re not going to win many games.  You turn it over six times and give up 17 points, you (still) put yourself in a situation where you can win the game.

We fought through a lot of adversity we created for ourselves in the game.  It just didn’t work out.  We turned the ball over two years ago twice inside our 20-yard line, which resulted in 14 points.  So, that obviously doesn’t help you win games either.

There are some simple solutions.  Take care of the football.  As far as playing the game and winning the game, we understood what was at stake last year.  Very disappointed for our football team and the Gator Nation that we didn’t get the job done.  Looking forward to the game this year.”

The past two games combined, Florida has committed eight turnovers against Georgia.  It should be noted, however, that part of the reason those games were still tight was the fact that the Bulldogs coughed the ball up to the Gators four times.  Both games were sloppy.  Georgia was simply the least sloppy team on the field.

On that note, it seems we picked the right day to post our breakdown of six years worth of SEC turnover data.

SEC Football

1. The Florida-Miami series may not be renewed. Miami A.D. – “There hasn’t been any conversation and there isn’t anything on the schedule for the future.” Georgia and Florida State discuss potential 2016 matchup.

2. Is Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel a top-five SEC quarterback?  MrSEC’s Josh Ward thinks so.

3. Athlon’s preseason rankings have the Gators coming in at No. 13. Florida’s game against Tennessee already sold out.

4. Toughest matchups for LSU this fall? Games at Alabama and Georgia. Suspension at TCU huge break for the Tigers?

5. Best red zone defense last three years?  If you guessed Alabama, you weren’t wrong.

6. Nick Saban gets asked for reaction to Charlie Weis’ comments about the SEC. ”I just think our league is fantastic.”

7. Saban’s daughter, a sorority fight and a lawsuit.

8. Several Auburn freshman, including quarterback Jeremy Johnson,  arrived on campus Tuesday – just ahead of summer classes.

9. Former Georgia linebacker Christian Robinson re-joining program as graduate assistant.

10. At Arkansas, one Mitchell leaves while another emerges (not related to the author nor connected to the Joe Don Baker movie)

11. Do people “love to hate Bret Bielema”?

12. Three reasons why Kentucky shouldn’t drop Louisville in football.

13.  Three of Stewart Mandel’s top five nonconference games for the first month of the 2013 season feature SEC teams.

14. Andy Staples plays the “what-if” game – looks at what could have happened with a four-team playoff in college football the last 10 years.

SEC/College News

15. Jon Solomon: “47 percent of the Division I public universities listed in a recent USA Today Sports revenue database increased coaches and staff pay at a higher rate than their athletic scholarship costs” Breakdown by school.

16. A Florida State recruit now wants to play at Georgia or Miami – but FSU won’t grant a release.

17. Kevin Scarbinsky on troubles at Auburn.  ”It’s been a long, strange year for the Tigers in so many ways.”

18. Kentucky athletes post the highest cumulative GPA during Mitch Barnhart’s time as athletics director.

SEC Basketball

19. Auburn A.D. Jay Jacobs on coach Tony Barbee: “Now he’s got to produce. We’ve got to look for results.”

20. Alabama A.D. Bill Battle on coach Anthony Grant: “I think he’s the right guy for our job.”

21. Andrew Wiggins chooses Kansas - may have not been a fit at Kentucky anyway “The Cats have almost too many good players scheduled to arrive on campus.”

22. Big loss for LSU recruiting.  Assistant coach Robert Kirby reportedly leaving for Memphis. (Before LSU, he was at Georgetown, where he recruited projected top five NBA pick Otto Porter, Jr.)

23. Point guard Kasey Hill compared to John Wall and Rajon Rondo –  expected to make a big impact at Florida.

24. Tennessee players Armani Moore and Josh Richardson headed to the Dominican Republic this summer.

25. Men’s basketball makes the biggest jump  of any program at Georgia according  to the latest NCAA Academic Progress Rate report.

Extras

26. Schools with the highest-paid NBA alums – LSU, Kentucky and Florida make the list.

27. New sport approved at LSU - sand volleyball for women.

28. Original report – Michigan State recruit giving up football to pursue rap career. Revised report – School pulled scholarship after profanity-laced video showed up on YouTube.

29. Hawaii getting the “Rainbow” back.

30. Memphis puts the punter on the cover of the media guide.

31. ESPN reporter Jeannine Edwards and Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer getting married.

Last fall, plenty of people moaned, whined and complained that Georgia had been given an easy path through the Southeastern Conference.  Apparently those folks won’t be able to voice displeasure with the Dawgs’ upcoming schedules.

According to Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, Mark Richt’s team won’t have to worry about his squad’s strength of schedule in the first year of the new College Football Playoff:

“From our standpoint, the University of Georgia doesn’t have to worry about that in 2014 because our strength of schedule is already off the chart for the next two years.  Who knows what the ’15 schedule will be, but we just know that in ’13 and ’14, the strength of schedule is not an issue here in Athens…

We have an idea of who we’ll play, but we don’t know when we’ll play.  We know it will be a road game because Auburn’s come back here in 2014.  Whoever we play on the West side will be a road game.  It hasn’t been finalized but Destin is when we’re planning to see everything because we’ve all got to move forward with dates, campus dates, homecoming dates and things like that.”

Georgia will host LSU in late-September as its rotating West opponent this year.  Auburn — the Bulldogs’ permanent cross-division rival — will welcome Georgia in mid-November.  UGA will also open the season with a non-conference date at Clemson.

In addition to its SEC slate, Georgia will once again open 2014 season with Clemson, but that game will be at Sanford Stadium.

Florida has hired former BCS championship-winning QB Chris Leak as a quality control coach
Georgia junior OL Kolton Houston is still fighting to be cleared by the NCAA…
During his high school career he was given a steroid to treat a shoulder injury, but Houston says he was unaware of what he was taking…
He and Georgia are appealing a lifetime ban handed down by the NCAA
Alabama coach Nick Saban said last week that he is in favor of the biggest five conferences playing only amongst themselves in football…
Saban’s comment continues to get national coverage as the debate over rich schools versus poorer schools rages
Follow the SEC all year long on MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

It was the kind of decision that typically winds up permanently affixed to a coach’s bio.  Like Tom Osborne’s decision to go for two — and the win — against Miami (FL) in the Orange Bowl in January of ’84.  Like Les Miles’ decision to eschew a field goal, risk the clock running out and throw for the end zone against Auburn in 2007.

Faced with a bang-bang decision and a clock quickly working its way down to double zeroes in last December’s SEC Championship Game, Georgia coaches elected not to spike the football to stop the clock.  Instead Aaron Murray completed a pass short of the goal line on the game’s final play and Alabama secured the SEC title and a berth in the BCS Championship Game by protecting the final five yards of Georgia Dome turf.

Five months later, UGA offensive coordinator Mike Bobo now says the Dawgs were ready with one more call had the final seconds not evaporated.  Interestingly, that play would have come from Urban Meyer’s old playbook and not Georgia’s:

“We had actually gone back to, I don’t know what it was, it was one of the Florida-Alabama games, where Alabama had given up three red zone scores to Florida (2008 SEC Championship Game).  It was a play that Florida had actually ran against Alabama.  It was an empty set, and had two primary frontside, and a double-slant backside.  It was something from ’08 or ’09 that Tebow had completed against them.  Because I remember after that game, (Alabama defensive coordinator) Kirby (Smart) was talking about how, ‘We just couldn’t stop them in the red zone.’  So we just studied that hard…

We had some plans, we just didn’t have a chance to call those plays.”

Bobo, saying his team will have to learn to live with the end of the 2012 SEC title game, admitted that “I don’t think we’re ever gonna get over that game.”

You can find highlights of that game below: