1. What’s the status of Tennessee running back Marlin Lane?  ”That’s up to Coach Jones.” Wide receiver injuries piling up for the Vols.

2. Peyton Manning on why he recruited Butch Jones…to Colorado. Impressed with coach – “I like his slogans and philosophies.”

3. Former coach on running back Braylon Heard, who’s transferring from Nebraska to Kentucky.  “He can change the game at the blink of an eye. He can go 80, 90 yards in a heartbeat.”

4. Kentucky preparing for a crowd as large as 50,000 for this Saturdays’ spring game. They won’t see any kickoffs or kick returns.

5. With Marcus Lattimore gone, a focus on running backs Mike Davis and Brandon Wilds at South Carolina.

6. Texas A&M’s spring game on Saturday will be carried live on ESPN for the first time in school history. Aggies overhauling linebacking corp.  ”“There’s a big hole to fill.”

7. Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin will serve as NFL Network analyst on the opening day of the NFL draft.

8. The first team will scrimmage the second team at Vanderbilt’s spring game on Saturday.

9. With the exception of Zach Mettenberger, LSU defenders had the go-ahead to hit all other LSU quarterbacks in practice the past few days.

10. With recruiting deregulation on hold, job responsibilities of support staff are up in the air at Auburn.  Gus Malzahn: “Right now, we’re just going day by day.”

11. Georgia’s spring practice is over but the competition for starting spots is just beginning. Coach Mark Richt: “If you’re working out this summer thinking you’ve got something nailed down, you better re-check your thinking.”

12. Hey Georgia fans, who do you want on the cover of Athlon’s preseason college football magazine?  You can vote for either Aaron Murray or Todd Gurley here.

13. With his Bulldogs team getting ready for its second spring scrimmage, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen is looking for leaders.

14. With defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson gone to an NFL as a likely first-round pick, Missouri needs someone to step up in the middle of the defensive line.

15. Arkansas defensive coordinator Chris Ash on safety Eric Bennett: “He’s been a great player. He’s been a great student of the game.”

16. With a year under his belt, expect even bigger things from Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper.  ”Everything is easier. “When I first came in, I didn’t know a lot of plays.” Dee Hart may return punts or kicks for Alabama this fall.

17. A profile of Alabama A.D. Bill Battle and his business career.  What if he hadn’t gone to Selma?

SEC Basketball

18. Billy Donovan’s wish for his Gators next year.  ”We have to get more competitive. Nastier.”

19. They may not think it now – but Missouri fans will miss Phil Pressey - “the Jerry Lewis of point guards..”

20.  Garry Parrish on why Kentucky deserves to be ranked No. 1 heading into next season.

Extras

21. When Eli and Peyton Manning need a tune-up, they turn to Duke coach David Cutcliffe.

22. The NBA’s early entry deadline has some issues.  The case of Louisville’s Russ Smith is a perfect example.

23. “Louisville faced the easiest path, seed-wise, of any national champion since UNLV in 1990.”

BCS Title Game

1.  Will the weather play a role in tonight’s Alabama-Notre Dame showdown?

2.  Brent Musberger says “Tide versus Irish” is “the ultimate matchup in college football.”

3.  Tonight’s game could make for record television ratings.  (We bet it will.)

4.  This writer doesn’t believe Notre Dame’s destiny is any match for Bama’s dynasty.

5.  More experts weigh in with their picks.

6.  Bama is the biggest BCS title game favorite in a decade.

7.  Brian Kelly and Nick Saban want their teams to seize the day.

Football

8.  LSU could be losing as many as eight juniors early to the NFL.

9.  Ole Miss has some post-bowl-victory momentum heading into 2013, but quarterback Bo Wallace will have shoulder surgery this week.

10.  Texas A&M assistant Clarence McKinney made a good case for becoming the Aggies’ offensive coordinator with his Cotton Bowl play-calling.

11.  Florida’s depth takes a hit as quarterback Jacoby Brissett decides to transfer.

12.  Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray will return for his senior season in Athens.  (No surprise: Mark Richt is pleased.)

13.  Chris Wilson is leaving Mississippi State’s staff to become UGA’s new defensive line coach.

14.  Record-setting receiver Jordan Matthews will return to Vanderbilt for his senior season.

Basketball

15.  Meet the SEC’s Players of the Week.

16.  Banged up Auburn is getting ready to face healthy LSU in hoops.

17.  Rick Ray says his Mississippi State team is headed in the right direction.

18.  Florida’s Kenny Boynton had a breakout game against Yale yesterday.

19.  Tennessee’s Jeronne Maymon will officially miss the entire 2012-13 season with a medical redshirt.

Extras

20.  Mike Slive wants the value of scholarships reviewed (so the SEC and the other big conferences can start offering full-cost-of-tuition schollys).

21.  A Cleveland sportscaster still believes Saban’s name is running through the mind of the Browns’ new owner.

22.  Get ready for the bowl schedule to change when the new college football playoff launches in 2014.

Tennessee’s athletic department will be keeping $6 million each of the next three years instead of contributing that money annually to the university as it did previously
Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin on his quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Johnny Manziel: “Compare his numbers to anyone who’s played the game – they speak for themselves”
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray will weigh decision to enter NFL draft after the season
Arkansas State’s Gus Malzahn wouldn’t comment on the possibility of landing the head coaching job at Auburn if Gene Chizik is fired
Texas A&M LB Michael Richardson is out of the hospital after having surgery to repair a cervical spine injury sufferend during last weekend’s game
Florida’s Will Muschamp says QB Jeff Driskel will play Saturday against Florida State
Missouri QB James Franklin is questionable for Saturday’s game with Texas A&M
Missouri DT Sheldon Richardson will return from a one-game suspension
Follow the SEC every single day at MrSEC.com and at twitter.com/mrsec

If you’re the quarterback for a major college football team in an age when anonymous dimwits can send you nasty comments in a nanosecond all from under a veil of anonymity, you better be ready to take a whole lotta crap.  Tennessee QB Tyler Bray wasn’t… and he responded to said crap via Twitter on Saturday following the Vols 41-31 loss at Mississippi State:

“It’s hard because you put your heart out there and then go on your Twitter and see the hate mail.  You want to react, but you can’t.  I was just frustrated at the time.  It’s been two weeks in a row that we could have won, and it’s frustrating.”

For those keeping score at home, Bray tweeted that he hoped “bandwagon fans” of the Vols wouldn’t egg his home as some classless Georgia fans had done to Aaron Murray’s abode following the Bulldogs’ loss to South Carolina a week earlier.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, a few imbecilic Georgia fans decided to egg and roll with toilet paper the house of Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray after the Dawgs lost to South Carolina in Columbia.  Their immature, unintelligent actions gave UGA fans everywhere bad pub that none wanted and most didn’t deserve.

Well, after Saturday night’s 41-31 loss at Mississippi State, Tennessee’s quarterback feared he might get the same treatment as Murray from Volunteer fans.  Unfortunately, Tyler Bray expressed those feelings on Twitter.

Read the rest of this entry »

1.  Interesting summer fluff: Which SEC schools would have the most wins if the wins of their winningest coach were removed from their football wins total?  Follow?

2.  There are plenty of SEC’ers on the Maxwell Award and Bednarik Award watch lists.  (And if I didn’t think there were too many awards and that those awards’ preseason “watch lists” were even less meaningful than the awards themselves… I’d care.)

3. With a playoff on the way, what’ll happen to the USA Today Coaches’ Poll?

4.  This writer says to see the SEC’s brightest stars you’ll need to keep an eye on the trenches.

5.  The preseason hype is high for LSU.  As usual.

6.  In case you missed it, Texas A&M will be getting new uniforms this fall, too.  (Don’t toss too much tradition, please.)

7.  A&M and Missouri are hitting the ground running in the SEC.

8.  Here’s a look at how Steve Spurrier turned around South Carolina.

9.  Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray is among the SEC’s 10 best players.

10.  AthlonSports.com ranks the SEC’s offensive lines from best to worst (or from Bama to Ole Miss, if you prefer).

All-American tight end Orson Charles will bypass his senior year at Georgia for a shot at NFL fame and fortune, according to ESPN.com.  Charles caught 45 balls in 2011 for 574 yards and five touchdowns.

The former high school teammate of Aaron Murray had become a security blanket for the Dawgs’ quarterback and his talents will certainly missed next season.  When it comes to blockers, the UGA run game will lose Charles, fullback Bruce Figgins and O-linemen Ben Jones, Justin Anderson and Cordy Glenn.

1.  Florida wraps up its pre-SEC hoops slate against UAB tonight.

2.  A pair of special teams’ TDs help Florida pull off a Gator Bowl win and now things seem a little bit better in Gainesville.

3.  Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray says his team “could have pulled out a couple more wins,” including yesterday’s Outback Bowl.

4.  Several Bulldogs now need to make decisions about the NFL.

5.  John Calipari believes Kentucky’s Terrence Jones needs to start having more fun on the court.

6.  UK’s coach also wants his team to be more unselfish.

7.  Following a Capital One Bowl victory over Nebraska, safety DJ Swearinger said, “We go down in history as the best team to play at Carolina.”

8.  Receiver Alshon Jeffery was at his best in earning MVP honors yesterday in Orlando.  Oddly, he was also ejected for fighting making him the first ejected MVP I have ever seen.

9.  Derek Dooley said today that the worst is behind Tennessee and now the progress begins.

10.  The Vol basketball team fired up 39 3-pointers in a 76-63 win over Chattanooga last night.

11.  Speaking of shooting threes, John Jenkins scored 26 points to lead Vanderbilt to a 69-62 win over Miami (Ohio).

12.  Kevin Stallings said his team has developed a habit of playing poor second-half defense.

UPDATE – Florida has hired Jeff Dillman as the football program’s new strength coach.

Florida at Auburn

1. Florida needs a win against Auburn to stay alive in the SEC East race.

2. Florida’s offensive and defensive lines haven’t been performing at a high enough level.

3. Florida’s a young football team that’s still looking for leaders to emerge.

4. Auburn’s quarterback play will be a key for the Tigers against Florida’s athletic defense.

5. Both teams have a 4-2 record and mirror each other as they enter today’s game.

Georgia at Vanderbilt

6. Georgia still needs to show it can put teams away at the end of games.

7. Georgia has to replace leading receiver Malcolm Mitchell, who’s out with a hamstring injury.

8. Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray has been good this season, but he sees where he can be better.

9. It should help Vanderbilt to return home, where the Commodores last beat Ole Miss 30-7.

10. Vanderbilt has quarterback issues but also needs to improve its running game.

1.  Here’s an evaluation of Florida’s preseason camp.

2.  The Gators are still unsettled at cornerback.

3.  Safety Matt Elam has some folks calling him UF’s best defender.

4.  Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray bulked up this offseason after taking some wicked hits in SEC play last year.

5.  D-line coach Rodney Garner says of banged-up nose tackle John Jenkins: “You can’t make the club in the tub.”

6.  They’re still looking for the next Uga down in Athens.