SEC Football

1. The NCAA has suspended new rules that would have allowed unlimited electronic communication between college coaches and recruits.

2.Is Alabama vs. Georgia the top recruiting rivalry in the country?

3. Alabama has offered 2014 linebacking prospect Nyles Morgan.  The 6-2, 220 pound prospect has 31 other offers.

4. Lousiana running back Leonard Fournette is considered by many to be the top prospect in the country but right now he’s focused on track. “I’m leaving the recruiting stuff up to my parents right now. And I won’t focus on football until track season’s over.”

5. Kyle Allen is rated as the No. 5 quarterback prospect in the country in the class of 2014.  Texas A&M is after the Scottsdale, Arizona product.  ”Right now, the schools recruiting me the hardest that I’m feeling the most are probably UCLA, ASU, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.”

6. The Aggies have offered a trio of prospects from New Orleans -  linebacker Arthur McGinnis, wide receiver Tyron Billy-Johnson and athlete Deshawn Capers-Smith. The teammates are 2015 prospects.

7. Offensive lineman Bill Weber is getting attention from several schools including Arkansas and Missouri.  The Coppell, Texas lineman attended the Razorbacks spring game with teammate and defensive end Solomon Thomas.  He came away impressed with the knowledge exhibited by Arkansas fans.  ”The fans know their stuff.”

8. Nashville wide receiver Thomas Richard became Missouri’s sixth commitment over the weekend. Heres how his high school coach described him. “As far as ball skills go, Missouri’s getting as good as they can get in the 2014 class. I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of really good receivers, and he’s going to be up there with the top of them when his time’s up at Missouri.”

9. ESPN’s Chris Low: “Over the last three years (2010-12), nobody in the SEC has signed more ESPN 150 prospects offensively than Auburn.”

10. Alabama signee Reuben Foster on what opposing fanbases were telling him - “They told me, ‘I hope you tear your ACL,’ “

SEC Basketball

11. LSU’s incoming class rated the 9th best by ESPN, 10th best by Rivals. Here is ESPN’s final 2013 ranking of recruits.

12. Kentucky is one of four schools still chasing top prospect Andrew Wiggins.  Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News says he’s worth the wait. “On the day Wiggins steps on an NBA court, and that’ll happen sooner rather than later, he’ll become one of the greatest athletes ever to play in the league.”

13. 2014 basketball prospect Emmanuel Mudiay on an in-home visit by Kentucky coach John Calipari:  ”He does a good job with his point guards, and that’s a big part that I really look into.”

Georgia’s top returning receiver will miss the rest of spring practice. Malcolm Mitchell was scheduled to have knee surgery this morning.  He suffered an injury during last Saturday’s scrimmage and will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He’s expected to ready in August for preseason camp.

Despite playing cornerback early in the season last year, Mitchell had 40 catches for 572 yards and four touchdowns.  He missed the 2012 opener with a foot injury and three games in 2011 with a hamstring injury. He’s the second Georgia receiver to miss time this spring.  Michael Bennett is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season.  He’s been running on the side in spring practice.

Georgia has unveiled re-branded Nike uniforms for all of its athletic teams, but the colors and main “G” logo will remain
Georgia OT John Theus is moving from left tackle to right tackle this spring
Auburn OT Avery Young is hoping to receive a medical redshirt after missing last season
Tennessee S Brian Randolph says his is about 80% recovered from an ACL injury suffered last season
Florida DE Dominique Easley is moving to DT this spring
Ole Miss DE Kaleb Eulls is moving to DT this spring
Steve Spurrier says South Carolina QB Connor Shaw should be 100% by June following foot surgery
BBVA Compass will cease sponsoring a Birmingham-based, SEC-affiliated bowl after this season
Follow SEC football, basketball, and recruiting in one spot each day… MrSEC.com

Alabama fell 58-57 to Maryland last night in the NIT third round
Of the six SEC teams invited to take part in postseason basketball, only Florida remains alive
Florida will play Florida Gulf Coast Friday in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament
Ole Miss F Murphy Holloway has been named MrSEC.com’s “Most Productive Player of the Year” in the SEC
Arkansas F Marshawn Powell has announced that he will turn pro rather than return for his senior season
Kentucky C Nerlens Noel missed the last part of the season with an ACL injury but he’s still #1 on several NBA mock draft boards
Tennessee basketball coach Cuonzo Martin is expected to pursue a contract extension and renegotation this offseason
Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel has decided to ban himself from Twitter because it had become a “distraction”
Follow SEC basketball, football, and recruiting at MrSEC.com

Damn.

According to a University of Kentucky press release, freshman center Nerlens Noel has been diagnosed with a torn ACL after an ugly knee twist suffered during the Wildcats’ loss at Florida last night.  Rehab will likely be in the six- to eight-month range.  What this injury means for Noel’s NBA draft prospects is anyone’s guess.

Like South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore this past football season, we hate to see any great player — or any player, really — go down to injury.  Best wishes to Noel on his recovery.

Vanderbilt coach James Franklin apologized to Alabama coach Nick Saban after calling him “Nicky Satan” during a speaking engagement
SEC Basketball on Wednesday: Georgia 57, Auburn 49… Florida 75, South Carolina 36… LSU 73, #17 Missouri 70… Texas A&M 55, Mississippi State 49 (OT)
Ole Miss backup F Aaron Jones will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury
Former Arkansas football assistants say a number of players quit on them during the Razorbacks’ 4-8 2012 campaign
USA Today has learned that Ole Miss G Marshall Henderson spent time in jail last spring when he violated probation by testing positive for alcohol, marijuana and cocaine
The SEC says it is open to discussing a scheduling alliance with the Big XII
You can keep up with all the news from across the SEC at MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

Aaron Jones damaged his knee Tuesday night against Kentucky.  Yesterday the Rebels learned their 6-9 reserve forward is actually done for the year with an ACL tear.

Jones has averaged 3.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game off the Ole Miss bench this season.  He’s second on the team with 32 blocked shots.

Fellow backup Nick Williams hurt his foot against Wildcats and remains questionable moving forward.

Get ready to hear plenty of moans and complaints, folks.  When the words “Nick Saban” and “grayshirt” are mentioned in the same sentence, messageboards explode with angry accusations and just-as-angry defenses.

According to TideSports.com, Alabama’s coach has asked injured offensive line commitment Bradley Bozeman of Roanoke, Alabama to take a grayshirt and join the Tide football team next year.  That’s a January of 2014 enrollment rather than a 2013 enrollment.  The 4-star prospect committed to Alabama in June, but he’s currently rehabbing from an ACL injury.

So is Saban exploiting a teenager’s injury in order to skirt the SEC’s 25-man “soft” signing cap?  Not according to Bozeman:

“Coach Saban switched my scholarship to a grayshirt.  I have known about it for about two months.  We have been keeping it on the down low.  We didn’t know for sure if that was going to be the option.  It was due to the ACL injury.  It will give me more time to get stronger…

Honestly, I think it’s the best decision for me.  I trust in the coaches.  They are going to make the right decision.  They won three out of the four national championships.  I am going to honor my commitment.  I am staying with them…

We are six to eight weeks ahead of schedule (in his recovery).  I squatted 400 pounds recently.  We are trying to be smart about it though.  The doctors told me I will be back to 100% by April.  They said I have probably been one of the best recoveries they have seen.”

You might remember that Saban and Alabama were mixed up in two ugly grayshirt stories that made national news last year.  Bama asked a Georgia running back named Justin Taylor to take a grayshirt just weeks before signing day.  He wound up signing with Kentucky instead.  Then an Alabama defensive line prospect named Darius Philon was asked to grayshirt a week before signing day (according to a teammate).  Though he put on an Alabama ball cap at his school’s signing day event, Philon wound up inking with Arkansas instead.

Taylor had been an Alabama commitment for a year.  Philon had been committed to the Crimson Tide for more than five months.

In Bozeman’s case, Saban at least gave the player a heads-up to the situation well in advance of signing day, though Bama coaches didn’t give him the final word until his visit to Tuscaloosa this weekend.

For those unfamiliar with the process, a grayshirted player signs his letter of intent in February only to delay his enrollment until the following year.  He does not report in the fall with other February signees.  The eligibility for a grayshirted player does not begin until he enrolls as a full-time student the following year.

Now that he’s the latest Alabama grayshirt to make news, all eyes will be on Bozeman to see if he does ink with Alabama… if he changes his mind as Taylor and Philon did… and if he indeed winds up a member of Saban’s football team this time next year.

Rumors and unofficial reports became reality this afternoon – South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore will leave school and enter the 2013 NFL draft.  Lattimore made the announcement at a news conference just moments ago, calling it “the best decision for me.”

The South Carolina running back suffered a brutal knee injury against Tennessee in October.  He leaves Columbia with 2,677 career rushing yards and 38 rushing touchdowns.

USC team doctor Jeff Guy also spoke at the news conference, saying Lattimore injured three of four ligaments. But  only one ligament was completely reconstructed – his ACL.  His other ligaments were reattached or supplemented and reattached.

Lattimore has started walking and is “perfectly on-course” to where he should be right now.  There are no plans for additional surgery.

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said yesterday that Lattimore has “first-round ability” but he’s a “wild card” because of the knee injury.  “He is the only elite running back, when he’s healthy, in this draft. Everybody else is a third-, fourth-round pick or back”

Steve Spurrier said Lattimore’s “influence and fingerprints are all over our team,” calling the running back the team’s best recruiter.

When an athlete suffers the brutal kind of injury that took down Marcus Lattimore a couple of weeks ago, you look for positives.  You’re glad when you get any positive sign.

And the South Carolina athletic department revealed a positive sign yesterday – Lattimore will not require more than one surgery.  This backs up what Gamecock coaches said earlier in the week.  And, yes, it’s a positive.  Lattimore’s leg appeared to have been so mangled that my first concern upon seeing the injury was not ACL or MCL.  It was circulation.  Lattimore’s leg looked like it been snapped in half at the knee.

We still do not know whether or not the great player will play again, but according to school officials:

1.  He had his surgery in Birmingham last week

2.  Multiple ligaments were repaired

3.  He was returned to and release from a Columbia hospital on Monday

4.  He is not expected to need another surgery on the knee

5.  He has already begun rehabbing the knee in preparation to play again someday

Those are all good signs.  And we continue to wish Lattimore and his family the best as he works to return to the gridiron at some point.

Unfortunately, Lattimore won’t be attending this weekend’s Carolina-Arkansas game at which a new sign will be unveiled marking the back’s new career rushing touchdown record.  Doctors told him it was better to stay away than to attend the game.