1. Premature commenting has cost Georgia coach Mark Richt some telephone privileges.

2. If either Georgia or Clemson want to cancel their 2013-14 football series, it’s going to cost millions.

3. Florida sophomore linebacker Graham Stewart will transfer.

4. LSU fan files a lawsuit against an Alabama fan over a BCS championship post-game incident.

5. Ole Miss officials hit the road to rally and unite the fan base.

6. Former Tennessee running back Bryce Brown gets a chance at a fresh start in the NFL.

7. The city of Jacksonville wants to be a player in any expanded college football playoffs.

8, Gary Parrish: “The Kentucky-Indiana series ending is another blow to one of the things that makes college basketball fun in November and December.”

9. Kentucky coach John Calipari gets a raise and a retention bonus

Extras

10. So is new Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby a puppet for conference power brokers? “I would suggest you do your homework,” he said. “I haven’t been good at being a puppet over the years.”

11. If you missed change-your-conference-affiliation-Friday – here’s your update.

12. So exactly how did the horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby get their names?

Business meetings, radio shows, etc, etc… short day.  My apologies.  Here are today’s SEC headlines with an extra touch of bitterness and salt thrown in for spice (’cause I’m already behind due to the start of what looks to be “Expansionpalooza 2012″):

1.  Don’t look now, but the presidents of the Big Ten and the Pac-12 are considering a non-seeded Plus-One postseason plan for college football – just take the two best teams after the bowls, they mean — in order to protect the sanctity of the Rose Bowl.  (Personal take: It’s time for everyone else to tell the Pac-12 and the Big Ten to just go to hell.  The fans of the Midwest and West can watch their beloved Rose Bowl every year.  And everyone else in America can watch a four-team playoff to crown a national champion.  After about two years on the outside looking in — with more and more recruits choosing to go elsewhere — the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl would all come begging for entry.  It’s time to play hardball with these self-important twits.  Like this.)

2.  Florida may use two quarterbacks this fall (which only seems to work when you have two completely different styles of quarterback… one runner, one passer).

3.  Aaron Murray tried to make a funny about Georgia wearing pink helmets this fall.  Twitter blew up.  Websites believed what they saw on Twitter leading to further blow-ups.  Then UGA’s quarterback had to backtrack.  (Gotta love that Twitter.)

4.  This writer says retiring Georgia prez Michael Adams should rename Sanford Stadium after Vince Dooley… who he forced out as AD back in 2004.  (I wouldn’t hold my breath.)

5.  Kentucky and Indiana won’t play basketball this season for the first time since 1969-70 and both parties deserve a kick in the rear for being too dumb to compromise on the locations for future games.  (Not stubborn, dumb.)

6.  John Calipari is spinning the move as being good for his players.  (Nonsense.)

7.  UK won’t be playing North Carolina, either.

8.  Sales of season tickets are up for Vanderbilt football.  (Another positive sign for the Commodores.)

9.  Mississippi State’s offensive line will have to be ready to pass protect with a less mobile Tyler Russell behind center.

10.  Texas A&M’s board of regents has given president R. Bowen Loftin the power to negotiate a buyout with AD Bill Byrne.

11.  Aggie hoopster Kourtney Roberson has been granted a medical hardship waiver and will have three years of basketball left to play.

Georgia’s Mark Richt is the exception to the rule.  Since taking over as Georgia’s head football coach in 2001, Richt has allowed every single player who’s sought a transfer to do so without any restrictions.  Guys can move to other schools inside the SEC.  They can leave for in-state rivals.  They can join teams UGA is scheduled to play.  And they can bolt without whines and cries of tampering.

That is impressive.  And here’s why Richt says he allows such an open-door policy when it comes to exiting his program:

“First of all, I think life is too short.  I want every young man to have a successful time in his four- or five-year window to be able to go to college.  So I don’t want to impede a guy from realizing his goals and his dreams, wherever it is.

“I want our guys to stay [at Georgia], and sometimes when they do choose to leave, I still like the kid and I still want the kid to have success.  If he thinks he will have success at a school you compete against, then so be it…

The bottom line is this: When we recruit a guy, we want him to be at Georgia.  We want him to have success.  We want him to enjoy his experience.

If, for whatever reason, it doesn’t work out, wherever the guy goes, I want him to have the same ability to have the same success he was hoping to have when he came to Georgia.  So I don’t want to keep a guy from doing that.”

Every person has his own share of personal failings and faults.  No one is perfect.  But until the day we at MrSEC.com recieve photographic evidence of Richt dressed up as his mother and wielding a butcher knife, this writer will continue to say:

Mark Richt — good coach, even better guy.

During a conversation with Michael Carvell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia hoops coach Mark Fox said all the right things regarding student-athletes who wish to transfer, at least from the perspective of most media and fans.  Ironically, the scribe and the coach still wound up having what the reporter calls a “spirited” Q&A.

Fox is a coach who believes kids should be able to transfer wherever they like so long as there’s been no tampering on the part of another school.  Fair enough, though we’ve written many times that in today’s PR-first world, coaches can’t win points by claiming tampering.  As soon as a coach restricts a player’s transfer options, he’s made himself a target for negative recruiting.  That said, Fox has no problem allowing players to transfer — even within his own conference — which is a rarity among most coaches:

“I think as coaches, as long as there hasn’t been tampering, I don’t see why you should preclude a kid on going somewhere where they can pursue their lifelong goals.  I don’t think, in those situations, that there’s any reason to try to steer them away from any particular school.”

I don’t know about you, but I like that answer.  But Carvell chose to follow up by asking what Fox thought about the recent backlash against coaches who “can move freely at a moment’s notice” yet still choose to restrict their players’ movements.  Again, Fox had already made it clear that he wasn’t one of those coaches.  But when hit with the “can move freely at a moment’s notice” part, Fox apparently bristled:

“That’s not true.  Coaches can’t move around freely.  Coaches are bound by buyout agreements and everything else.  That’s not accurate.  If I wanted to leave Georgia, which I don’t and never want to … there’s a buyout in my contract that discourages that from occurring.  For those who say coaches go wherever they want to go, that’s not true.  I think in 90-percent of the contracts, there’s a buyout provision that if a coach would leave, there would be something given to the school that he’s leaving.  I don’t think that has been portrayed accurately.  I think the big issue was when there has been tampering that leads to a transfer, there ought to be, from athletic director to athletic director, some ability in place for them to restrict kids to go to schools that have tampered with the current situation.”

What appears to be a bit of a tiff between two men who actually both believe players should be allowed to transfer at their will only escalated from there:

Carvell:  ”I realize that transfer restrictions can be a complex issue inside college basketball circles.  But I do think mainstream America sees it as ‘Why should coaches be able to move on and players can’t?’ like you mentioned.  That’s how they are seeing it.”

Fox:  “Why do they feel that way?  Because they read what Seth Davis or Michael Carvell write.  I’m glad you’re doing the story so you can accurately portray it.  Again, we’ve got no issues with any of it because I don’t have any guys leaving right now.  If, when we’ve had some guys leave, we’ll let them go wherever.”

Now that’s a hoot.  Two guys on the same side of an argument going tit-for-tat over a side issue.  Carvell might have been better taking his questions to Bo Ryan, the Wisconsin coach who recently got lit up like a Christmas tree for trying to bar one of his ex-players from playing at half the schools on the North American continent.  Instead he happened to find a coach who’s open to letting kids go… and he still managed to rile him up.

This is no knock on Carvell who we link to often and who’s writings we enjoy.  But in this case, it seems Fox’s first answer should have nixed the line of questions the reporter had prepared.

With Texas A&M wrapping up its spring practice over the weekend, the SEC has officially moved into summertime mode.  (For those Aggies and Tigers who are new to the conference, we call this period “Court Season” as it’s the time we unfortunately have to write more and more about off-field arrests.)  With spring behind us, today we look at which SEC schools are legitimate contenders for the BCS crown, for the SEC title, for division titles or for bowl eligibility in the coming season.

According to at least one set of futures lines, the usual league suspects litter the BCS Championship field — LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and South Carolina are listed among the 12 best bets to capture next January’s crystal football by most sportsbooks.

Over the weekend, The Kansas City Star – long known for its in-depth knowledge of Southeastern Conference football — even put forth its predictions for the SEC’s final standings board next season.

So it’s time to look ahead.  Below, we’ll do just that.  Here is what we believe your favorite team should be looking forward to in 2012:

Alabama 

Last Year:  12-1 overall, 7-1 in SEC, BCS Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  13

3 Toughest Games:  Michigan (neutral), at Arkansas, at LSU

Should Contend For:  The BCS Championship.  Bama followed up its last national crown with a 9-3 season and in the SEC, that kind of stumble is possible once more.  But Nick Saban has two more recruiting classes under his belt since that last attempt at a repeat. The Tide should be better suited to make another title run this time around.  Make a note, though — the three games that look to be toughest for Bama on paper are all away from Tuscaloosa.

Arkansas

Last Year:  11-2 overall, 6-2 in SEC, Cotton Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  15

3 Toughest Games:  Alabama, at South Carolina, LSU

Should Contend For:  A BCS bowl game.  It’s been a turbulent few weeks in Fayetteville and there’s no telling how the team will rally around new/old interim boss John L. Smith.  But the Hogs would be rolling into the 2012 season just as they did last year — as the dark horses behind Bama and LSU in the West — even if Bobby Petrino had kept his job.  So much of the Razorbacks’ hopes ride on new coordinator Paul Haynes and what he can get out of UA’s defense in his first year.

Auburn

Last Year:  8-5 overall, 4-4 in SEC, Chick-fil-A Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  18

3 Toughest Games:  LSU, Arkansas, Alabama (also Clemson at neutral site, at Georgia)

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  Gene Chizik said last week that he’s still one recruiting class away from getting AU’s foundation stabilized.  This year he’ll be breaking in a new offense and a new defense which undercuts the fact that the Tigers will have so many starters returning.  Maybe we don’t see him, but it doesn’t look like another Cam Newton has walked through the doors at Jordan-Hare just yet.  Eight or nine wins would be a good season considering the Tigers’ meaty schedule.

Florida

Last Year:  7-6 overall, 3-5 in SEC, Gator Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  18

3 Toughest Games:  LSU, South Carolina, Georgia (neutral) (also at Texas A&M for SEC opener and at Florida State)

Should Contend For:  The East Division title.  The Gators have a lot of people back, their depth should be better, and their systems — even with the departure of O-coordinator Charlie Weis — should remain very similar to last year’s.  They also have plenty of 4- and 5-star recruits on the roster, as usual.  Those are the pluses.  But there’s still no real experience at quarterback.  And no one knows which of Urban Meyer’s old players will still be on the roster — or in jail — come fall.

Georgia

Last Year:  10-4 overall, 7-1 in SEC, Outback Bowl Losers

Projected Starters Returning:  15

3 Toughest Games:  at Missouri for SEC opener, at South Carolina, Florida (neutral)

Should Contend For:  The SEC Championship.  On paper, Georgia has the scheduling advantage over South Carolina.  For that reason, we believe they should capture the East and reach Atlanta once again.  But traveling to Missouri for that school’s first-ever SEC game will be a bigger challenge than most seem to think, especially with a suspension-riddled Bulldog secondary.  The key thing for UGA fans to remember — football isn’t played on paper.

Kentucky

Last Year:  5-7 overall, 2-6 in SEC, No Bowl

Projected Starters Returning:  13

3 Toughest Games:  South Carolina, at Arkansas, Georgia

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  At best.  The Cats don’t return a lot of starters from a team that was disappointingly bad on offense a year ago.  But if UK can get off to a good start with a win at Louisville and if offensive coordinator Randy Sanders can get the most out of quarterback Maxwell Smith, there’s no reason to think the Wildcats can’t get back to .500 and make a postseason appearance.  Aside from Georgia and South Carolina, there just aren’t many sure things in the SEC East.

LSU

Last Year:  13-1 overall, 8-0 in SEC, SEC Champions, BCS Championship Game Losers

Projected Starters Returning:  14

3 Toughest Games:  South Carolina, Alabama, at Arkansas

Should Contend For:  The BCS Championship.  Les Miles has beaten Alabama during the regular season in each of the last two years.  If Oklahoma State hadn’t been upset by Iowa State last season, there’s a great chance Miles would have avoided a rematch with Bama in January and captured his second crystal football.  Once again the SEC looks to be headed toward an all-the-marbles showdown between the Tigers and the Tide… and this year the game’s back in Baton Rouge.  The key for LSU: Can new quarterback Zach Mettenberger bring more consistency to the Tiger offense?

Miss. State

Last Year:  7-6 overall, 2-6 in SEC, Music City Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  13

3 Toughest Games:  at Alabama, at LSU, Arkansas

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  Two years ago, State surprised.  Last year, State disappointed.  With a small number of starters back and with Tyler Russell taking over as full-time quarterback, will the Bulldogs be closer to the 2010 club or the 2011 club?  Just looking at the strength of the SEC West, we’ll lean toward last year’s club.  But with the easiest, laugher of a nonconference schedule in the SEC — Jackson State, Troy, South Alabama, and MTSU — the Bulldogs should be plenty good enough to bang out six or seven wins and go bowling.

Missouri

Last Year:  8-5 overall, 5-4 in Big 12, Independence Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  13

3 Toughest Games:  Georgia, at South Carolina, Alabama

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  Will quarterback James Franklin be healthy in time for the season?  Will a quarterback who runs so often be able to remain healthy in the rugged SEC?  How quickly will top recruit Dorial Green-Beckham develop into a playmaking receiver?  And how will the Tigers’ defense stack up in a ground-and-pound league, as opposed to the wide-open Big 12?  Despite all the questions, Mizzou should benefit from a so-so East Division in which several teams could all go bowling with either six or seven total victories.

Ole Miss

Last Year:  2-10 overall, 0-8 in SEC, No Bowl

Projected Starters Returning:  17

3 Toughest Games:  at Alabama, at Arkansas, at LSU (also at Georgia)

Should Contend For:  Last place in the SEC.  The Rebels are breaking in a new, young coach with little head coaching experience.  Much of his staff has come from smaller schools as well.  He’ll face Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and LSU all on the road.  And he’s got a nonconference date with Texas in Oxford tossed in for good measure.  Hugh Freeze, you’ve got your work cut out for you… and our best wishes.

S. Carolina

Last Year:  11-2 overall, 6-2 in SEC, Capital One Bowl Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  14

3 Toughest Games:  Georgia, at LSU, Arkansas (also at Florida, at Clemson)

Should Contend For:  The East Division championship.  Ah, the schedule.  That’s the only reason we’re not listing Carolina as competing for the SEC title… their road to Atlanta looks tougher than Georgia’s.  That said, Steve Spurrier has turned USC into a solid football program.  After two good years, he can’t afford to take a step back and lose any of the momentum he’s created.  We don’t think he will so long as Connor Shaw can develop into a better passer and Marcus Lattimore can return to his pre-injury form.

Tennessee

Last Year:  5-7 overall, 1-7 in SEC, No Bowl

Projected Starters Returning:  20

3 Toughest Games:  at Georgia, Alabama, at South Carolina (NC State in opener at neutral site)

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  Two years ago, Derek Dooley inherited a total mess at Tennessee.  In his first season, his squad had no depth.  In his second year, his squad had no veteran leadership.  Now he’s got a roster filled with returning starters and better players.  He hasn’t shown anything to date to make anyone think he’ll be as successful as his daddy once was, but experience means a whole lot in the SEC.  Remember, Petrino’s first Arkansas’ squads were slapped around pretty good.  The last two years — with experience on their side — many of those same players were doling out the slaps.  If UT can win its opener in Atlanta against NC State, seven or eight wins are possible.

Texas A&M

Last Year:  7-6 overall, 4-5 in Big 12, Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Champions

Projected Starters Returning:  16

3 Toughest Games:  Arkansas, LSU, at Alabama

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  And that’s likely being generous.  The Aggies need to find toughness on defense in a hurry, something they lacked last season in the pass-happy Big 12.  They also need to find a quarterback who can run Kevin Sumlin’s own pass-happy system.  Dropped headfirst into the toughest division in college football, 2012 could be a rough wake-up call for Aggie fans who were begging to “SEC-ede” from their old league.  We suggest they buy heavily into the following word: Patience.  A&M made a smart long-term move in joining the SEC.  But we don’t expect that move to pay dividends overnight (aside from the  school’s bank account, anyway).

Vanderbilt

Last Year:  6-7 overall, 2-6 in SEC, Liberty Bowl Losers

Projected Starters Returning:  18

3 Toughest Games:  South Carolina, at Georgia, Florida

Should Contend For:  A bowl bid.  Once again James Franklin will be coaching a core group of veteran players.  As we mentioned just two schools up, experience often means, oh, so much in the Southeastern Conference.  There’s energy around the VU program.  Now Franklin must capitalize on it.  If Jordan Rodgers is able to become a bit more consistent as a passer, there’s no reason to think the Commodores can’t match last year’s success and possibly go bowling in back-to-back years for the first time in school history.  Yes.  For the first time in school history.

Hines Ward loves his alma mater.  It also sounds as if he loves the idea of coaching at Georgia someday.  But does the recently retired Pittsburgh Steeler really want to invest the kind of time the coaching profession requires?

That’s what the ex-receiver is trying to figure out after shadowing current Bulldog offensive coordinator Mike Bobo this spring:

“I loved everything about it, it’s just the time commitment.  I just left football. That’s something that I’m still deciding.  I’d love to coach here, there’s no question about it.  I don’t know if I’m ready for that commitment just yet because there’s so much time that you have to put in it.  I love Georgia.  If I ever get into coaching, it would definitely be here first…

I don’t want to be one foot in and one foot out.  If I get into coaching I want to be all in…

I always said if I wanted to get back into coaching the University of Georgia would probably be my first place just because I want to give back to my university and I think I have a lot to offer to the state of Georgia and the kids because I’ve been in their shoes before.  I think it wouldn’t be fair to my university (to coach somewhere else).  I’m a Georgia kid… Georgia’s my home.  It’s where I reside at.  For me, it’s only 50 minutes commute where I live at.  The possibility is there.”

Ah, but what possibility?  If Ward were to join the UGA staff — and Mark Richt would have to actually offer him  a gig before he could accept it, of course — someone currently on the staff would have to go to make room for him.  (Yeah, yeah.  We know, Dog fans, Bobo.)  Ward is aware of that fact, too:

“I’m not trying to step on anybody.  To be honest, that would be the worst thing.  I don’t want to take anyone’s food off their plate.  I’m a Georgia guy, played 14 years, I played the wide receiver position.  Coach (Tony) Ball, I’m not trying to step on his toes.  I don’t want him sweating or anything.  I love the guy, respect him.  He coached some great players through here.  I just wanted to see if there was interest and see if I was interested in getting into coaching.”

Well, I’m sure Ball appreciates Ward tossing his position out as the obvious spot for Ward to land… should he decide to coach in Athens and should Richt offer him that opportunity.

With the Georgia staff currently filled, Ward is also considering broadcasting as a future field.  At least in the short-term.  ”We’ll see,” he said.  ”It’s great to have options.”

Ward also shared with the press his thoughts on the Bulldogs’ program and in-state recruiting.  (As you might have noticed, he’s not real shy about talking… something he’d have to change if he were to enter the super-secret, uber-stealthy world of collegiate coaching.)

“It irks me that talent goes to the University of Florida and Alabama and stuff like that. We need to keep our top recruits here in the state of Georgia.  Because Georgia’s always been close.  We’re on the cusp of doing big things.  It’s just one game or one play here or there, who knows, maybe the player that we lost out of the state of Georgia, that player can probably make a difference and maybe we can win a national title.

“The recruiting process (if Ward became a coach), I think would be easy.  The parents can recognize me, a lot of them grew up with me.  A lot of them watched me on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’  A lot of the fathers saw me play 14 years at a high level in Pittsburgh.  So I think I have a lot to give back to the university.”

From a recruiting standpoint, the name “Hines Ward” would definitely open some additional doors for UGA.  This is also the kind of potential move that heats up talk radio shows and messageboards.  ”Why it’s a no-brainer,” most Dawg fans will bellow.

But not all great players make great coaches.  In fact, the list of star players who’ve turned into star coaches is much, much shorter than the list of stars who’ve turned into total busts as coaches.  But Ward is clearly interested in coaching at his old school and Richt and Georgia should weigh the possibilities accordingly.

That doesn’t mean the school should toss a full-time gig to someone who’s never coached before and who has — it seems — rather loose lips when it comes to discussing other coaches’ jobs, the ease of recruiting, and the fact that Richt’s program is “just one game or one play” away from winning a national title.

Look, we get it.  At first blush, it seems that Ward plus Georgia would equal a perfect marriage.  But perfect marriages rarely result from first-date elopements.

Georgia safety commit Tray Matthews from Newnan (Ga.) High School announced via twitter on Sunday he plans to enroll in college in January.

Its official. i will be enrolling early to college for football.Hate to do my class like that.But I gotta step on the field my freshman year

— Tray Matthews (@Trigga_Tray28) April 29, 2012

Matthews isn’t the only Georgia commit in the 2013 class who already plans to enroll early. Running back Derrick Henry, quarterback Brice Ramsey, linebacker Ryne Rankin and wide receiver Tramel Terry have all indicated they plan to arrive at Georgia in January.

A large group of early enrollees should allow Georgia to bring in more than 30 players in the 2013 class.

“I know we can sign as much room as we can sign backwards and forwards, so it can be a pretty healthy class,” coach Mark Richt said on April 7.

Georgia has 15 commitments for the class of 2013.

1. Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox is confident in his recruiting despite criticism.

2. One prospect who did sign with Georgia is Houston Kessler, who Fox called a “skilled forward.”

3. How important is it for Florida to land basketball prospect Anthony Bennett?

4. Shooting guard Andre Applewhite should complete the spring class for Mississippi State.

5. Why has Vanderbilt’s spring recruiting efforts been a problem for coach Kevin Stallings?

6. Arkansas’ assistants were a key factor in the Razorbacks landing their first commitment for 2013.

7. Could Urban Meyer be starting to make an impact on recruiting in Florida?

8. Michael Carvell of the AJC looks at the top quarterback prospects in the state of Georgia.

9. Point guard Willie Moore took an official visit to South Carolina.

10. Video: Craig Haubert analyzes the linebackers in the initial ESPNU 150 list for the 2013 class.

Alabama commit Reuben Foster is the highest-rated linebacker on the 150 list. Here’s why.

So which SEC schools crank out the most NFL draft picks?  How have those numbers changed over the last 20 years?  Who’s on a talent upswing?  Who’s not?

Below we’ve gone back over the past 20 years worth of NFL drafts.  We’ve tallied up the number of selections for each SEC school — including newbies Missouri and Texas A&M — and listed them for you in five-year intervals.  In the far right column, you’ll also see the number of total players selected from 1992 through 2011 (as well as the average number of players picked from each school each year).

When looking at the numbers, keep in mind that the NFL had 12 rounds of picks in 1992 and eight in 1993.  Since 1994, the draft has lasted but seven rounds.  In other words, the numbers from the first five-year period will be a bit inflated.  Still, for a pure school-by-school comparison, those numbers are worth including.

We’ll list the schools in alphabetical order just for the sake of easy reading.  Here goes:

Observations:

* What’s now being called “The Nick Saban Effect” is absolutely massive.  Look at LSU pre-2002 (Saban arrived in 2000) and post-2002.  Toss in the numbers from what are expected to be big drafts for LSU and Alabama this year and his legendary production of NFL-caliber athletes will only grow further.  The guy is simply the best at luring in pro prospects and helping them reach their potential.  He turned LSU from an also-ran into a recruiting dynamo and he’s re-established Bama as a signing day juggernaut.  (Kudos as well to Les Miles who’s kept the production line on the Bayou running quite smoothly since Saban’s departure, by the way.)

* Mark Richt has made a pretty big difference at Georgia.  Even with some longer drafts in the early-90s, pre-Richt Georgia didn’t produce nearly the amount of talent that Richt has.  He may not have a national title, but there’s a reason he’s won two SEC crowns and just played for another.

* Woe is Tennessee.  The Vols still rank tops in the SEC in draft picks over the last 20 years, but the drop-off from the end of the Phillip Fulmer era to now is quite evident.  Blowing up the roster with two coaching changes in three years will do that for you.  But, boy, did Johnny Majors and Fulmer have things rolling in the 90s?

* Florida has been the SEC’s model of consistency.  Until now.  The Gators could conceivably have just one player drafted this week, proving that — as has been the case at Tennessee — attrition follows coaching changes.

* For Dan Mullen to actually cash in on some of the momentum/excitement he built early in his tenure at Mississippi State, he’s going to need to start signing and producing more NFL-caliber players.  Depending on how the Bulldogs do in this year’s draft, we might actually see a step in that direction.

* Steve Spurrier gets a world of credit for improving South Carolina’s roster — and deservedly so — but Lou Holtz should be remembered for starting the ball rolling in terms of talent-production in Columbia.  He didn’t get a lot of wins with ‘em, but Holtz improved the type of athletes Carolina signed.  Spurrier has raised the bar even higher since taking over for his friend.

* Texas A&M could produce a number of picks in this week’s draft, but the overall decline of talent in College Station is scary.  Mike Sherman helped replenish the roster and Kevin Sumlin may well  reap the rewards, but it’s hard to believe that the #2 legacy program in the talent-rich state of Texas has only produced 23 draft picks over the last 10 NFL drafts.  Talk about underachieving.

* Missouri has had fewer players drafted into the NFL than Kentucky since 1992.  Think about that for a second.  But now look at the upswing that’s been created during the Gary Pinkel era.  Clearly, he’s improved the Tigers’ roster.  Heck, Mizzou was ranked #1 in the nation late in 2007… so there’s some more proof for the MU skeptics.  But if Pinkel is to compete for SEC championships, he’ll need more pro prospects coming to the Show-Me State.

Good news, Tiger fans, Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel says your top offensive weapon — dual-threat quarterback James Franklin – is recovering nicely from shoulder surgery:

“He was in my office half an hour ago, and the range of motion in that arm for being five weeks out of surgery is remarkable…  We feel like he’s going to be ready.

But the bottom line with any injury is that you have to have your backup ready to play.” 

Mizzou’s backup QB — Corbin Berkstresser — by all accounts had a solid if not spectacular spring in Columbia.  Franklin threw for 2,865 yards, ran for another 981, and tallied 36 touchdowns last season.  He underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder on March 23rd.

When it comes to MU’s SEC opener against Georgia, both fanbases are currently hoping for the best in terms of roster depth.  The Tigers could be without their quarterback, but the Bulldogs will likely be down a number of defensive backs thanks to suspensions.  The situation brings this to mind.  First man up wins.