SEC Football

1. Linebacker Tre’ Williams says he is headed to Auburn. He made the announcement just moments ago. Along with Auburn, Williams had strongly considered Alabama.  His other finalists were Florida and Ole Miss.  The Mobile, Alabama prospect is considered one of the nation’s top inside linebacker prospects and had taken multiple visits to both Auburn and Alabama.

2. Four-star defensive back  Jamoral Graham has committed to Mississippi State.  Here’s how Newton County (MS) coach Jackie Williamson described it.  “I think he came to the realization that he was comfortable at Mississippi State. He felt really comfortable with (safeties coach) Tony Hughes and felt like he was a guy that he could play for.” Graham is Mississippi State’s second verbal commitment in the class of 2014.

3. Alabama coach Nick Saban thinks so highly of Calera, Alabama prospect Ronnie Clark, he called him from the NFL draft.  Projected to play free safety and quarterback this fall, Clark is expected to choose between Alabama and Auburn but he’s drawing attention from programs and coaches all over the country, including Vanderbilt coach James Franklin.  ”Coach Franklin is a good guy,” Clark said. “Real good guy. I believe they are going to turn the program around at Vanderbilt.”

4. Auburn’s top five defensive line recruiting targets include Da’Shawn Hand.  The Virginia lineman visited Auburn last weekend.

5. Razorbacks expected to get visit from top-1oo prospect  - safety Steven Parker from Oklahoma.

6. Linebacker Sharieff Rhaheed is an LSU commitment.  Arkansas linebackers coach Randy Shannon visited his school on Monday.

7. Broadarius Hamm is a 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive lineman from Georgia and wears a size 18 shoe.  He’s 15 years old and is reportedly drawing interest from the home-state Bulldogs.

SEC Basketball

8. Top prospect Andrew Wiggins could reportedly make his decision soon. Kentucky is one of four schools still in the mix for the Huntington Prep star. Louisville is not one of the four schools Wiggins is weighing, but it’s the one his host mom at Huntington Prep prefers. “If it was my choice, I’d say he should go to Louisville...I love Coach Pitino’s program.”

9. 2014 prospect Trey Lyles. “I have six top schools: UCLA, Butler, Florida, Kentucky, Duke and Louisville and all of those schools are ones that I’m really looking at.”

10. The final scholarship at Ole Miss will go to Jerron Martin.  The Maryland point guard committed after taking an official visit to Ole Miss last weekend. He used the social media network Vine to make the announcement.

11. The New Orleans Times Picayune ranks the top 16 2014 prospects in the state.

Don’t tell Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops that the SEC is special.  When discussing the gap between the Southeastern Conference and his own league, the Big XII, on Monday, the Sooners’ coach had this to say:

“Well, it depends on what gap you’re talking about.  What are the bottom six doing?

… So they’ve had the best team in college football.  They haven’t had the whole conference.  Because, again, half of ‘em haven’t done much at all.  I’m just asking you.  You tell me...

So you’re listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you.  You’re more than smart enough to figure it out.  Again, you can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are.  How well are they all doing?”

This is the new argument for folks outside the SEC.  “Well, it’s really just a few schools that are good.”  Unfortunately, that’s a hollow argument.  Here’s why:

Has everyone in the SEC won a championship during the BCS era?  No, but five teams have… which is more than double the number of title-winning teams any other league has produced in recent years.  That seems like a rather sizable gap.

Obviously, no league can have 14 schools all win in a given year.  League-mates beat up on one another.  But top to bottom — that’s top to bottom – the SEC dominates everyone else come bowl season, sending more teams to bowls and winning almost 60% of those games.

Traditionally speaking, the bottom programs of the SEC have been Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt.  Last season, Vandy beat the ACC’s North Carolina State in a bowl game.  The Commodores have won two bowls and been to three since 2008.

Last season, Ole Miss beat the Big East’s Pittsburgh in a bowl game.  The Rebels also won a pair of Cotton Bowls over Big XII teams Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Last season, Mississippi State fell to Northwestern (Big Ten) in its bowl, but the Bulldogs have won their other two bowls since 2009 beating Michigan (Big Ten) and Wake Forest (ACC).

Kentucky has fallen on hard times in recent years, but the Wildcats have been to five bowls since the 2006 season and won three of them (over Clemson, Florida State and East Carolina).

And speaking of the Wildcats, perhaps Mark Stoops can clue his brother in on the dangers of the SEC when he runs the league’s gauntlet for the first time this fall.  Though Brother Bob should already know all about the SEC.  He’s lost to both LSU and Florida in BCS Championship Games.

The Southeastern Conference is America’s roughest, toughest football league outside the NFL.  Considering just what kind of pipeline the SEC has been for the NFL over the last 20 years, we’ll let you decide just how big the gap is between the two entities.

The conference has climbed to the top of the collegiate football heap by staying true to its traditions — more important to Southerners, it seems, than to anyone else from across the country — and by never backing down from a challenge.

While the Big XII immediately killed off the Oklahoma/Nebraska football rivalry upon formation, the SEC did its best when expanding from 10 to 12 teams and again from 12 to 14 teams to protect its oldest, fiercest rivalries.  That’s the difference between good karma and bad.  The Big XII eventually lost Nebraska to the Big Ten and Oklahoma has had conversations with the Pac-12 and the SEC since 2010 alone.

For those not paying attention, other leagues might occasionally cast an eye toward an SEC school, but the schools in Mike Slive’s league have no interest in taking advantage of the conference’s lack of an exit fee to bolt.  There’s money, tradition, and a good esprit de corps.  Why leave?

In terms of taking on challenges, many have been self-created… and wisely s0.  The belief that the SEC is a war zone filled with America’s top squads has been fostered by conference leaders making things tougher and tougher and tougher on themselves.

When coaches moaned of going from six conference games to seven in a season, the league’s athletic directors ignored them.  When coaches bellyached about going from seven conference games to eight per season, again, the league’s ADs paid them no mind.  And when coaches shrieked in terror at the thought of adding an SEC Championship Game on top of that eight-game league slate, the leaders of the league shrugged and went ahead and booked Legion Field (and eventually the Georgia Dome) for the first weekend in December anyway.

The eight-game schedule and the championship game first came into being in 1992.  In the 21 seasons since, the SEC has won 11 national championships, including in ’92 with an undefeated Alabama team that proved the fraidy cats wrong right off the bat.  In the 21 seasons before going to an eight-game schedule and the championship format, the league had won all of four national titles.  Prior to Bama’s crown in ’92, the last SEC national champ was Georgia way back in 1980.  Things changed when the league expanded, stayed true to its past, and made things more difficult for its teams.

Stated simply: The SEC doesn’t ignore its traditions and history and it consistently sets the bar on mettle-testing.

With that in mind, it’s time for the folks in Baton Rouge and Gainesville to pipe down.  Especially those complainers at LSU.

Today, the SEC’s athletic directors will meet and Tiger AD Joe Alleva will once again claim that LSU faces a disadvantage because his school is forced to play Florida each and every season as its permanent opponent.  That game, of course, has become one of the best on the SEC’s schedule and television execs have paid the league pretty darn well for that schedule over the past five years.

Florida officials aren’t thrilled with the prospect of having to play an East Division schedule and LSU each year, but the volume on Gainesville groaning hasn’t reached LSU proportions yet.  That’s ironic considering Florida has more to complain about.

Let’s look at the records for the Tigers and Gators over the past decade:

Well, whaddya know?  In five of the last 10 seasons, Florida has lost four or more football games.  That’s happened just twice at LSU over the past decade.  While the Gators have gone 98-33 since 2003, the Tigers have gone 107-24.  If anyone’s got room to cry it would appear to be Florida.

When the SEC expanded in 1992 and implemented its eight-game conference schedule, league leaders decided to split things up based on tradition and parity, not geography.  That’s why Vanderbilt is in the East and Auburn in the West despite the fact that Nashville is farther west than the Loveliest Village on the Plains.

Schedule-wise, the conference decided that the six traditional SEC powers should be separated — Alabama, Auburn and LSU on one side… Georgia, Florida and Tennessee on the other.  On the schedule front, the same logic was followed when determining permanent partners.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watch the trailer for the new SEC Network at MrSEC.com
Ex-Penn State QB Steven Bench says he is considering Mississippi State as a transfer destination but is open to any school
Kentucky S Ashely Lowery is improving after being critically injured in a weekend car accident in which he was ejected from his vehicle
There is continued debate within the conference as to whether a switch to a 9-game conference schedule makes sense
Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith has filed a court petition to learn if the NCAA improperly or illegally obtained information about cancelled checks in his account
Follow the SEC every day on MrSEC.com and twitter/mrsec.com

Any schools out there looking to nab another quarterback before the 2013 season can turn their eyes to Happy Valley.  And try to get in line in front of Mississippi State, apparently.

Former Penn State quarterback Steven Bench is looking to leave the Nittany Lions program after a season spent mainly on the bench last year.  Bench’s pass attempt total in 2013: eight.  According to the QB — who thanks to PSU’s NCAA penalties can transfer and play immediately — he wants “a shot to compete for playing time where I go to school next.”  Late last week it was reportedly that that next school just might be Mississippi State.

Bench admitted that multiple reports of “mutual interest” between him and Dan Mullen’s program were correct.  ESPN reports that he’s also considering South Florida.  But he’s putting the word out loudly and clearly that he’s open to talking with anyone:

“I’m not against being away from home even though with the reports out there that I’m deciding between schools closer than say, Penn State from where I am in Georgia.  At this point I want everyone to know I’m open to any school and any situation.  That sounds like a cliche but it’s the truth…

If we were to take the academics out of the equation and talk about on the field, I’m going to my new school to play football.  Not watch football being played.”

Bench was rated a three-star dual-threat quarterback prospect by Rivals.com coming out of high school.  At Mississippi State, the starting quarterback is junior Tyler Russell.  His backup is redshirt freshman Dak Prescott, who missed spring practice after having surgery to repair a ligament in his big toe.

SEC Football

1. Georgia coach Mark Richt on defensive coordinator Todd Grantham: ”I think Todd really embraced that we’re more than coaches.”

2. Why Tennessee fans should  “get ready for a busy National Signing Day in 2014. “

3. Alabama freshman running back Derrick Henry updates the status of his rehab from a broken fibula.  ”Progress.”

4. Nick Saban photobombs an Alabama grad.

5. Auburn A.D. Jay Jacobs on the review of the athletic department: “We welcome people looking at what we do…”

6. Spring storylines and must answer questions in August for every SEC team.

7. One take on the SEC and the NFL draft:  ”Vanderbilt by FAR had the worst rated incoming talent during this period, but they still doubled up Auburn in terms of their number of draft picks!”

8. SEC football flashback: In 1962, Kentucky had almost 60 players quit the team over treatment by their coach. Those that remained were known as the “The Thin Thirty.”

SEC Basketball

9. Tennessee had one too many players on scholarship following Jarnell Stokes’ decision not to enter the NBA draft so Travon Landry has been released from his letter of intent.

10. Former Alabama guard Trevor Lacy could be headed to ACC country - reportedly visiting North Carolina State and perhaps North Carolina.

11. Forward Michael Kessens played his freshman year at Longwood University - he’s transferring to Alabama.

12. Coach Frank Martin is busy turning over the roster at South Carolina.  With Friday’s signing of guard Jaylen Shaw, the Gamecocks now have seven members in its 2013 recruiting class.

 Extras

13. Louisville coach Rick Pitino’s horse finished 17th at the Kentucky Derby Saturday.

14. Highest-rated TV markets for the Derby included Knoxville and West Palm Beach.

15. The state of journalism at the four-letter network.  “ESPN is losing our trust.”

Questions and opinions about the new SEC Network will likely be dissected and debated until well after the Network launches in August of 2014.  Sunday papers are full of news and views on the topic.  We’ve assembled a compendium of thought on the topic starting with this quote from Arkansas coach Bret Bielema – who’s knows a thing or two about a conference network – since he came from Big Ten country, where the Big Ten network officially launched in 2007.  Bielema addressed the topic of how the network can impact recruiting.

“I have seen it first hand with the Big Ten network. At Wisconsin (where Bielema previously coached), the issue wasn’t recruiting in the state. We were the state university, we had great fans, but for us to be successful, we had to expand out of the Midwest.

“I can’t tell you the number of times I would go into a prospect’s house in Florida and California, and he’d know all about us. He’d say ‘I’ve seen all your games.’ That didn’t mean he had seen them on Saturday. He was watching the replays on Tuesday night. That was huge.”

Here’s what MrSEC said about the recruiting impact on Friday. Here’s how others around the league have reacted to the news.

* Kevin Scarbinsky on what other league commissioners were thinking about during the unveiling of the SEC Network: ”Any vision you might’ve had of unseating the SEC as the most dominant collection of institutions of higher learning in the country just faded to black.”

* Officials at Ole Miss and Mississippi State look forward to the national attention the new network will provide.  MSU coach Dan Mullen: “Everyone around the country is going to learn a lot more about Mississippi State.”

* Ole Miss A.D. Ross Bjork on the financial impact.   “The finances, which have yet to be defined, can be transformational for our program.” MrSEC tackled the financial impact on Friday.

* Missouri A.D. Mike Alden: “Data shows that the two most valuable brands in college sports today… are the SEC, No. 1, and ESPN is No. 2,”

* For Missouri, “there will be long-term benefits for the short-term pain.”

* “Will the SEC Network advocate hard-hitting journalism, pump sunshine, or somewhere in the middle?”

Quarterback Steven Bench played high school football in Georgia and was recruited by Mississippi State.  He chose to go to Penn State last year but now the Bulldogs could be back in the picture.

Penn State announced last week that Bench would be transferring and a report out yesterday indicated he was considering both Mississippi State and South Florida. Because of NCAA sanctions at Penn State, Bench is eligible immediately as long as he transfers by August 1. He’ll have three years of eligibility left.

Tampa Bay Times reporter Greg Auman notes that Bench recently started following Bulldogs assistant coach Geoff Collins on Twitter.  

As a freshman at Penn State, Bench played sparingly, throwing for 12 yards on eight pass attempts.

SEC Football

1. Reports have former Florida State quarterback Clint Trickett visiting Auburn today.

2. Auburn’s post-spring depth chart could be released next week. Tigers looking for a breakout wide receiver.

3. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema likes the underdog role.  ’I don’t think a lot of people have their eyes on Arkansas right now, and I think that’s a position that we really, really like.”

4. Georgia early enrollee J.J. Green will stay on offense as a tailback – had been projected as a cornerback.

5. Florida’s wide receivers will get 12 practice days in the fall - then cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy will be sent their way. Gators two-deep depth chart released.

6. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin on practice music: “We don’t play football in a sterile environment.”

7. With just 11 seniors this fall, Mississippi  State looking to underclassmen to step up their game.

8. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel on how to stop Jadeveon Clowney: “If I had that answer, I’d have everybody’s plan.”

College Football Playoffs

9. Six bowls - Rose, Sugar and Orange. Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A – will host playoff semifinal games four times over 12 years.

10. Dan Wetzel sees the playoffs evolving into an eight-team model with automatic bids for the five major conferences.

11. Some questions and answers about the new playoffs.

12. Dennis Dodd asks who is on the selection committee for college football playoffs?  ”Seventeen months before that first playoff season kicks off in 2014, no one knows.”

13. After revealing four potential logos for the playoffs – officials for new playoff structure say their website was hacked.  

14. Matt Hayes: “Had enough yet? The circus, everyone, has officially come to town.”

SEC/NFL Draft

15. Most players ever taken from one team in one year was Ohio State in 2004.  LSU has 14 projected draft picks.

16. If four Alabama players get taken in the first round of the NFL draft, it will be the third straight year that has happened.  Crimson Tide has a shot at a school record five first-rounders.

17. Defensive back Dee Milliner is one of those Alabama players expected to go early despite having shoulder surgery. “My rehab’s going well and I’m ahead of schedule. I very much will be ready for training camp.”

18. Georgia hasn’t had a defensive player taken in the first round since 2005.  With Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree, that will most likely change tonight.

19. Many mock drafts have Jones going to New Orleans.  Could Ogletree fall to the Falcons late in the first round?

20. Florida’s Sharrif Floyd considered a first-round lock.  Teammate Matt Elam has a shot at joining him in the first round tonight.

21. Four years later, Lane Kiffin’s 2009 recruiting class is barely registering with NFL teams but at least five Vols could get drafted – starting with wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.

22. Mississippi State cornerbacks Johnthan Banks and Darius Slay could both go in the second round. Slay reportedly has a torn meniscus.

23. LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery was once asked what he thought of Bear Bryant.  ”I don’t know, I haven’t seen film of him.”

24.Is Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson the forgotten man of this year’s draft?

25. Does the NFL see former Auburn player Corey Lemonier as a defensive end or a linebacker?

26. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin on offensive tackle Luke Joeckel:  “A really, really good, low-maintenance player. Those are hard to find.”

27. Friday night could be the time former South Carolina players Marcus Lattimore and D.J. Swearinger get called.

28. Lattimore: “Three or four months of training from now I know that I’ll be back to where I was at. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

29. Almost no debate about next year’s projected first overall pick – Jadeveon Clowney.

SEC Basketball

30. Georgia assistant coach  Kwanza Johnson is reportedly close to leaving for a job at TCU.

31. Does Russ Smith’s return mean Louisville will be the preseason No. 1 team or will it be Kentucky?

Extras

32. Considering the salary cap - best values in the NFL draft likely to be in the third or fourth rounds. Biggest draft busts ever.

33. NCAA president Mark Emmert:  “Intercollegiate athletics has never been stronger in America.”

34. A Mountain West – Pac-12 alliance?

35. Banned Nike “Boston Massacre” t-shirt selling for $150,000 on eBay – refers to a baseball series, not marathon.

36. The cover of Boston magazine – shoes from the marathon.

1. Nick Saban isn’t happy with where his team is following spring practice. But he wasn’t with his previous teams at this time, either.

2. Saban is now “as officially beloved in Alabama as Bear Bryant,” according Lars Anderson.

3. Auburn running back Tre Mason is back from injury and welcoming competition at his position.

4. Here’s more coverage of Auburn fans flocking to Toomer’s Corner during the weekend.

5. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema felt good watching Brandon Allen play quarterback with the first team on Saturday.

6. Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell is motivated by a disappointing finish in 2012.

7. Here’s a look at Mississippi State’s offense in the spring game. Video interviews are included.

8. Here’s a progress report for Florida’s linebackers. Antonio Morrison has been the big story at middle linebacker.

9. What would make Florida a contender in the fall? Robbie Andreu has five ideas for the Gators.

10. The AJC takes a look at Georgia versus its upcoming 2013 football schedule.

11. Basketball coach Mark Fox could be losing an assistant for the first time since he arrived at Georgia.

12. What do Tennessee’s quarterbacks need to work on this offseason? Everything, according to coach Butch Jones.

13. The offense clearly has work to do. But Tennessee’s defense looks better.

14. Video: Chris Low of ESPN talks to LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger.

15. More video: Watch Les Miles answer a reporter’s phone during Saturday’s press conference.

16. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel likes the competition at quarterback. Other SEC notes are included in the link.

Extra

17. From USA Today: The “overwhelming sense” is that a major change is on the horizon regarding big football schools and the NCAA.

18. Birmingham-area radio host Paul Finebaum is now free to negotiate with any station he chooses.

19. Former West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith “has to pay a black tax” as he prepares for the NFL draft, writes Jarrett Bell of USA Today.

20. There’s still tension between Arizona and the Pac-12 regarding former head of officials Ed Rush.

21. Todd McShay’s latest NFL mock draft has 14 SEC players being selected in the first round. (ESPN Insider)

22. Peter King of SI.com still believes former Texas A&M left tackle Luke Joeckel will go No. 1 to Kansas City.