A former reporter for Sports Illustrated and The New York Times has accused Auburn of multiple NCAA violations within its football program
Auburn is accused of fixing players’ grades and of paying players money to bypass the NFL and stay in school
Florida coach Will Muschamp — then an Auburn assistant — is accused of paying a player
Several of the writers’ sources — ex-Auburn football players — have said they were misquoted or quoted out of context
Florida LB Gideon Ajagbe has moved to FB this spring
Florida LB Dante Folwer has moved to DE this spring
Georgia QB Aaron Murray and Missouri QB James Franklin have spent time with quarterback “guru” George Whitfield in recent weeks
The SEC will not make as much money as in years past because the league’s share of NCAA Tournament cash has fallen along with the league’s hoops prowess
Follow the SEC at MrSEC.com and at twitter.com/mrsec all day, every day

With less than 48 hours to go until National Signing Day, SEC programs are dominating the national recruiting scene.  As usual.

Rivals.com has five SEC schools ranked among its top 10 recruiting class countdown and nine SEC schools in its top 20.

Still a number of battles for America’s biggest name prospects appear as though they’ll rage on right down to the wire.  Below are 12 top stars to keep an eye on as you prep for college football’s mid-winter holiday:

* Robert Nkemdiche, DE, Loganville GA, #1 player according to Rivals

The #1 player in the nation (according to Rivals) was once expected to be a lock for Hugh Freeze’s on-the-move Ole Miss program.  But after a weekend visit to LSU, Nkemdiche  tweeted: “LSU pushing man!!!! Getting hard now!”  The Rebels have the lead, but the Tigers are closing fast.

* Laquon Treadwell, WR, Crete IL, #5 player according to Rivals

The top receiver in the country is committed to Ole Miss.  His tweet last week — showing several hundred-dollar bills in his possession right after a visit to Oxford — raised a number of eyebrows and left Hugh Freeze defending his program.  Though committed to the Rebels, Treadwell is still getting some pub today because Oklahoma State star running back Thurman Thomas tweeted a pro-Cowboy message to him last month… an incident the school was unaware of until recently.  We only include him on this list because he tends to stay in the headlines.

* Jalen Ramsey, CB, Nashville TN, #10 player according to Rivals

A Southern California commit for quite a while, Ramsey is still being connected to both Florida and Florida State as they work to change his mind.

Read the rest of this entry »

The NFL early entry deadline had come and gone and SEC teams took quite a hit.  Not surprising considering the SEC leads the nation in recruiting rankings every February and in NFL draft picks every April.  With that much talent in SEC programs, there will always be a number of stars leaving prior to their senior seasons.

In all, 33 players from the league submitted their paperwork to the NFL for early entry into the draft.  More could have changed their mind at the last minute, but for now we know of 33.  That number includes former LSU star Tyrann Mathieu who did not play with the Tigers in 2012 due to a suspension.

ALABAMA — 3

DJ Fluker, OT

Eddie Lacy, RB

Dee Milliner, CB

ARKANSAS — 2

Alvin Bailey, OG

Knile Davis, RB

AUBURN — 1

Corey Lemonier, DE

FLORIDA –4

Matt Elam, S

Sharrif Floyd, DT

Jelani Jenkins, LB

Jordan Reed, TE

GEORGIA — 3

Kwame Geathers, DT

Jarvis Jones, LB

Alec Ogletree, LB

KENTUCKY — 0

LSU — 11

Chris Faulk, OT

Michael Ford, RB

Bennie Logan, DT

Tyrann Mathieu, CB (already off team)

Barkevious Mingo, DE

Kevin Minter, LB

Sam Montgomery, DE

Eric Reid, S

Tharold Simon, CB

Spencer Ware, RB

Brad Wing, P

MISS. STATE — 0

MISSOURI — 1

Sheldon Richardson, DT

OLE MISS — 0

S. CAROLINA — 2

Marcus Lattimore, RB

Ace Sanders, WR

TENNESSEE — 4

Tyler Bray, QB

Justin Hunter, WR

Cordarrelle Patterson, WR

Darrington Sentimore, DT

TEXAS A&M — 2

Luke Joeckel, OT

Damontre Moore, DE

VANDERBILT — 0

The Associate Press has handed out its All-America honors for 2012 and the SEC landed 22 players on the three-tiered squad.  Nine SEC players were named 1st Team All-Americans.

Alabama led the way with six All-Americans total, four of whom received 1st Team notice.  Florida and Texas A&M each featured four All-Americans, with the Aggies putting two on the 1st Team and the Gators one.

ALABAMA — 6 players, 4 1st Team

Chance Warmack, OG, Sr, 1st Team

Barrett Jones, C, Sr, 1st Team

CJ Mosley, LB, Jr, 1st Team

Dee Milliner, CB, Jr, 1st Team

DJ Fluker, OT, Jr, 2nd Team

AJ McCarron, QB, Jr, 3rd Team

ARKANSAS — 1 player, 0 1st Team

Cobi Hamilton, WR, Sr, 3rd Team

FLORIDA — 4 players, 1 1st Team

Matt Elam, S, Jr, 1st Team

Caleb Sturgis, K, Sr, 3rd Team

Shariff Floyd, DT, Jr, 3rd Team

Kyle Christy, P, So, 3rd Team

GEORGIA — 1 player, 1 1st Team

Jarvis Jones, LB, Jr, 1st Team

KENTUCKY — 1 player, 0 1st Team

Larry Warford, OG, Sr, 3rd Team

LSU — 3 players, 0 1st Team

Kevin Minter, LB, Jr, 2nd Team

Eric Reid, S, Jr, 2nd Team

Sam Montgomery, DE, Jr, 3rd Team

MISS. STATE — 1 player, 0 1st Team

Johnthan Banks, CB, Sr, 2nd Team

S. CAROLINA — 1 player, 1 1st Team

Jadeveon Clowney, DE, So, 1st Team (2012 Season Highlights)

TEXAS A&M — 4 players, 2 1st Team

Johnny Manziel, QB, Fr, 1st Team (2012 Season Highlights)

Luke Joeckel, OT, Jr, 1st Team

Damontre Moore, DE, Jr, 2nd Team

Jake Matthews, OT, Jr, 3rd Team

Content provided by Garnet And Black Attack.

This is the final post in a series on how technology has changed the way we experience our college football fandom. Today’s topic is how online video makes it easier than ever to study the game. With online video, it’s now incredibly simple to watch game film that’s been put on some site or another, making it possible for us to become Manning-like students of the game from the comfort of our easy chairs. For football geeks like those of us who spend our free time roaming around on sports blogs, that’s a pretty sweet boon.

To demonstrate, let’s take a look at Youtube to get an idea of what we can learn from watching video. We’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing Stephen Garcia‘s problems making good reads out of the zone read offense, so let’s take a look at some footage of Garcia and Marcus Lattimore doing work to get a better idea of what’s going on here. The following video shows every Lattimore carry against Georgia, a game where we relied heavily on the zone read.

Please note that the music playing during this video is NSFW. I normally wouldn’t post this, but it gives us about the best look at our zone-read offense that you’ll find on the net. I’d just recommend turning the sound off.

There are a few plays here that a worth taking a look at. First of all, look at the play at around 30 second in. This is an example of the zone read run quite well. On a typical zone-read play, the offensive line will leave one DE unblocked and will focus on opening holes in the gut of the defense for the RB. The key on one of these plays is what that DE does. The QB has to watch the DE and decide whether or not to hand off to the RB or to keep it; the general idea is that the QB should keep the ball and run to the outside if the DE dashes for the RB and should hand off if the DE plays to contain the edge. On this play, as you can see, the DE gets caught wondering whether he should contain Garcia or crash Lattimore. If Garcia keeps it here, he might be able to get by the DE, but probably not. Instead, he hands off to Lattimore, who dashes into a big hole for a few yards and then gets a few more after breaking some tackles and falling forward into the pile. A job well done here by Garcia, Lattimore, and the offensive line.

On other plays, though, Garcia doesn’t make the right decision. Take a look at the play at about 2 minutes 37 seconds. This play is slightly different because we’re running out of a different formation with a WR running in motion behind the line before the snap. (I believe the player is Tori Gurley, but it’s hard to tell from the image.) This play sets up very well for Garcia to hold onto the ball for several reasons. First of all, the unblocked DE doesn’t even stop to think about Garcia running the ball, probably because by this point in the game Lattimore has run up a sizeable amount of yardage. He crashes immediately during the hand-off and makes the tackle on Lattimore. Check out how things are set up for Garcia on the right side of the field, though. Not only would he not have the DE to worry about; the entire side of the field is actually free because Georgia’s CB is worried about covering Alshon Jeffery. Moreover, Garcia has the motion man as a lead blocker here. Garcia would have gone for at least 10 yards on this play if he had kept it, and considering the he would have Gurley and Jeffery blocking for him, he may have gone for much more.

You’ll see a few more plays like this if you watch the rest of this video, and you’ll see more of them in other games, too. Garcia is perhaps worst about keeping the ball when we’re on the goal line. That’s never really come back to haunt us because Lattimore is so good at getting at least a couple of yards, but there have been a handful of zone read plays inside the five where Garcia could have walked in untouched if he hadn’t handed it off to Lattimore. I’ll never quite understand why Garcia seems reluctant to hold onto the ball in these situations. I’ve seen him run the play correctly enough times to make me believe he knows, at least to some degree, what he’s doing. Perhaps Spurrier is telling him not to keep it, or perhaps he’s grown accustomed to leaning on Lattimore. Whatever the case may be, I think this is an area in Garcia’s game that needs to be addressed during the off-season. Don’t let the success of our running game against Georgia fool you–if Garcia keeps it on the right plays, we get even more rushing yardage. This is perhaps the key to running this offense well, at least in addition to having the right personnel, of course. If you have a talented RB, a good line, and a QB who knows how to make his reads, you can run up a lot of rushing yardage with this approach.

Now, if only Garcia and Steve Spurrier were reading Garnet and Black Attack right now.

Content provided by Swamp Things – Gators Blog.

Florida’s recruiting class took a bit of a hit when Asheville (N.C.) defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan tore his medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament. Pagan, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound DE, will miss the Dec. 18 Shrine Bowl and the Jan. 8 U.S. Army All-American game.

Pagan hurt his knee while playing fullback, filling in for a teammate who had torn his ACL.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times story:

“Pagan is scheduled to have surgery in the next two weeks once the swelling goes down in his knee.

“It just breaks my heart,” (coach Danny) Wilkins said. “There’s a kid who had a lot of stuff in front of him, it just made me sick to see him go down.”

According to the story, Wilkins said Florida coach Urban Meyer gave him a written promise that the Gators would honor the commitment if Pagan got hurt.

Pagan, rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and Scout.com, was the second of Florida’s 18 verbal commitments in the class of 2011.

Content provided by Garnet And Black Attack.

Today’s Daily Feed features not only links about football and recruiting, but also the women’s soccer team’s post-season preparations and honors, and news of former Gamecocks trying to work their way to the NBA.

FOOTBALL

I think this senior class has said the right things all season.  There are rumors and anecdotal evidence that some of our prior seniors lost focus towards the end of the season.  If you believe that was a factor in previous late season slides, you have to feel much better about how this year’s seniors seem to be focused on all the goals in front of them.

Video Review of Season to Date | Justin King Media (HT: LOHD)

A very well made ten minute recap of the season to date.  Best of all, there is none of the over-the-top hip hop music drowning out any play-by-play and crowd noise that plagues most highlight videos.

Gamecocks by the Numbers | NCAA.com

South Carolina is among the national leaders in rushing defense, pass efficiency, and sacks.  We also lead the SEC in each of those stats. 

Several Gamecocks are also among the national individual leaders.  Stephen Garcia is fifth in passing efficiency, Alshon Jeffery fifth in receiving yards, Marcus Lattimore eighteenth in rushing yards, and Devin Taylor twentieth in sacks.

WR Joe Adams Returns to Practice | The Slophouse

With top receiver Greg Childs out for this weekend and beyond, the Hogs were happy to have #2 receiver back at practice Tuesday afternoon.  He is about 80%, but hopes to be full strength by Saturday. 

Keeping up the Joneses | The Slophouse

Starting DT DeQuinta Jones returned to practice.  He sat out the Vanderbilt game for a drug arrest.  It should come as a surprise to no one that Bobby Petrino is from the Urban Meyer school of (non-)discipline.  Starting NT Byran Jones continues to sit out from an ankle injury suffered against Vanderbilt.

(I shouldn’t be surprised that the Slophouse used the same name for this tidbit that I had already chosen.  It was just too easy.)

SEC Weekend Picks | CollegeFootballNews.com

CFN was burned by picking South Carolina to win the East a few years ago, and they have remained Gamecock skeptics ever since.

RECRUITING

Greenwood’s Kelcy Quarles Looks Forward to Playing at Carolina | TheBigSpur.com

Quarles is a DT considered the #1 prep schooler in the nation by some services.  We don’t provide original recruiting coverage at GBA, but USC has some of the best recruiting coverage out there.  South Carolina is poised to put together a 2011 class much like the 2009 group headlined by Alshon Jeffery and Stephon Gilmore.  That group was rated in the 10 to 15 range nationally, but has performed like a top five class.  Multiple national recruiting analysts have called in-state DE and rumored Gamecock lean Jadeveon Clowney the best high school player they have ever seen.  We may get to see the #1 HS player and the #1 prep school player side by side on the 2011 defensive line.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Kayla Grimsley Named SEC Player of the Year | GamecocksOnline

Junior forward Kayla Grimsley becomes the first Gamecock to take Offensive Player of the Year.  She was joined on the All-SEC teams by three other Lady Gamecocks.

Lady Gamecocks Looking for Revenge in SEC Tourney | The Daily Gamecock

The team looks to put a disappointing loss to Florida for the regular season crown behind them, beginning with a first round match with #7 seed Kentucky.

BASKETBALL

Three Gamecocks Selected in NBDL Draft | Spurs Up

Dominique Archie will begin his return from a Gamecock-career ending injury with the Austin Toros, while Brandon Wallace and Antoine Tisby are coming to the NBDL after spending last season playing basketball overseas.