According to the National Weather Service, reports of a tornado warning in Hoover, Alabama — the site of SEC Media Days — are, ahem, overblown.  It is storming in Central Alabama and the area is under a flash flood advisory, but according to the NWS’ official website, there is no tornado warning at the moment.

However, put 1,000 media members in a room with their cell phones and let one guy start a rumor and you get a Twittersphere full of tornado warning posts.  Makes you worry about the state of news, doesn’t it?

But as of 12:51pm ET, the National Weather Service says there is no tornado warning for Hoover.  Let’s hope it stays that way.

When it comes to SEC Media Days, there’s always some surprise, some scandal that takes over the event.  Today, Media Days will begin under the shadow of tragedy.

Around midnight ET, a gunman entered a Tuscaloosa bar popular among college students and opened fire injuring — reports say — 17 people.  The Birmingham News reports that surveillance video from the Copper Top bar shows the gunman, who is now the target of a massive manhunt.

At least two people are in critical condition following the shooting.

Media Days opens in Hoover, Alabama just about an hour away from Tuscaloosa.  Once again, sadly, the prayers of MrSEC.com have to go out to the people in the University of Alabama family.  All the best to the victims — students and non-students alike.

Arkansas’ new football uniforms for 2012 will be unveiled tomorrow morning.  According to school, the Razorbacks’ new duds will “show respect to the past” while also incorporating “more modern elements.”

Those modern elements include gradated numbers, some silver text and — most likely — a new black or dark charcoal uniform.

UA will release a 15-minute video at 11am ET tomorrow.

Recruits and players will like the “more modern elements.”  Old coots — like myself — and traditionalists will likely ask how the new unis “show respect to the past,” aside from still featuring cardinal and white.

Starting Georgia forward Donte’ Williams was arrested at Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta over the weekend for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.  The 6-9 junior-to-be was booked at 9pm ET last Friday night.

An Atlanta police officer claimed that he smelled “an extremely strong odor of burning marijuana” emanating from Williams’ black Dodge Charger with the personalized tag: “DWILS15.”  How did the officer smell the burning weed?  It seems Williams wheeled in and parked right beside him in the mall’s parking lot.

Well, surely it was an unmarked… what?  It was a “an Atlanta Police patrol car,” you say?  Well, some guys are just asking for it.

Due to UGA’s stiff drug policy, Williams will likely miss at least three games to start next basketball season if the charges stick.  (As in the sticky-icky.)

New linebackers coach Taver Johnson is in charge of the Arkansas football program at least through the end of spring.  Today, he had to suspend one of his own players.

Razorback linebacker Tyler Gilbert was arrested on a charge of aggravated residential burglary and theft of property and was booked shortly after noon ET today.  The school announced that Johnson has suspended Gilbert indefinitely.

Gilbert is the third Arkansas footballer to be arrested this spring. 

On a sidenote, aren’t Hog fans due for a little good news for a change?

1.  Someone accidentally shattered Alabama’s crystal football BCS trophy.  (Here’s guessing they can afford to replace the $30,000 item.)

2.  Bama’s players will be heading to DC to meet the President on Thursday and they’ll have their new championship rings to show to him.

3.  At Auburn, spring progress is giving way to summer expectations.

4.  Tiger players bought into their new coordinators, Scot Loeffler and Brian VanGorder.

5.  This writer says Auburn’s clearly better off without Mike Dyer.

6.  This is behind a paywall, but Arkansas fundraisers say they’ve not lost a single donor since Bobby Petrino’s dismissal.

7.  The Razorbacks will enter Week Two of their coaching search (or interim search) tomorrow.

8.  This writer says the Petrino scandal is just the latest in a long Arkansas football soap opera.

9.  New coach Johnny Jones remembers the glory days of LSU basketball.

10.  Ole Miss would best be served by finding a true leader in its quarterback race this weekend.

11.  Mississippi State’s Malcolm Johnson is not your typical tight end.

12.  Kevin Sumlin says Texas A&M still hasn’t picked a starting quarterback.

13.  Florida’s Billy Donovan will be head coach for the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championships.

14.  Georgia’s coordinators break down the Bulldogs’ 2012 spring practice session.

15.  UGA has the toughest drug policy in the SEC and AD Greg McGarity says they’re not going to change it.

16.  The press conference of John Calipari and five Kentucky basketball players has been moved to 7pm ET this evening.

17.  Frank Martin has given sophomore Damontre Harris permission to seek a transfer which means South Carolina with only two returning starters and one of those — Bruce Ellington — won’t join the team until after football season.

18.  A quiet spring was a good thing for the Gamecocks.

19.  Tennessee coaches want their players focused during the final week of spring drills.

20.  Vol kicker Michael Palardy is hoping for a better season in 2012.

21.  Here’s a look back at Missouri’s spring practice.

22.  Alex Oriakhi’s impact with Mizzou could be big.

23.  This year’s Music City Bowl will kickoff at noon ET on New Year’s Eve.

Signing day is just two days away and there was serious shuffling of the commitment Big Board over the weekend.  Now, for the record, the numbers below reflect the latest commitment lists according to Rivals.com as of 2pm ET this afternoon.  Therefore, there are probably some shuffles from this morning that are not reflected in today’s comparison.

That said, here’s a good idea of where each SEC program stands today:

Eight days ago, Dre Kirkpatrick was celebrating a BCS championship with his Alabama teammates.  Five days ago, Kirkpatrick announced that he would leave school early for the NFL.

Way to start that draft push.

Kirkpatrick was arrested and booked around 1am ET this morning for misdemeanor possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.  The arrest took place in Manatee County, Florida.

Kirkpatrick is expected to be a first-round draft choice in April’s NFL draft.

Urban Meyer to Ohio State is indeed dunzo.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, “a source inside the current OSU coaching staff said the assistants were informed this morning there will be a change at head coach.”  Ohio State is expected to announce Meyer’s hiring today at 5:15pm ET.

The debate about who will lead Georgia into the future is getting downright ugly. You have the Mark Richt supporters, who will take up for him until the day he leaves (or is pushed). Then you have the Richt critics, who just believe it’s time for a change.

The supporters feel they have plenty of ammunition. But saying “he’s a nice guy” and “he’s got a lot of integrity” is not carrying much weight as the losses mount. They will, however, maintain that what Richt did in his first five years as head coach should matter now that the program is struggling.

Richt came to Athens and breathed new life into a program that had hit a wall under Jim Donnan. The Bulldogs were stuck in mediocrity with Donnan, and the 8-4 record he had in his last season was probably about as good as it was going to get.

Richt arrived and went 8-4 in his first season, but in year two Georgia went 13-1 and won a SEC title. They won the East again the next season, and despite losing to LSU in the championship game the fans were still thrilled they had done more under Richt in three years than had been done in five seasons under Donnan.

They went 10-2 in 2004 and won the Outback Bowl, and then in 2005 they won the SEC title again – the second in five years.

Those first five years were great. Richt led Georgia to a 52-13 record (.800 winning percentage) from 2001 through 2005. The Bulldogs were 30-10 (.750) against the SEC and were 19-6 (.760) against teams in the SEC East.

But that’s when the critics start to shout a bit. They point out how things changed in 2006. In the last five years, along with the first two games this season, Georgia is 44-23 (.657). They are 23-18 (.561) in the SEC and 13-13 (.500) in the division.

That’s a big drop off from what happened in Richt’s first five seasons, and many will point out that early success was with many of Donnan’s recruits. Now Richt obviously coached them up, as Donnan could not do, but many of Richt’s players were recruited by someone else.

Also, isn’t it fair to say that as Georgia’s record has gotten worse in the last five years, the quality of the division has gone down? The East is no longer the strongest side in the SEC. Tennessee has gone from a national title contender to a team that has changed coaches twice in the last few years. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are still Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Yet Richt is 9-6 against those three programs since 2006.

South Carolina has gotten stronger, with Steve Spurrier as head coach. They are now the defending division champs and are hope to repeat this season. But they really didn’t get great until last year, and Richt is 3-3 against Spurrier and the Gamecocks since 2006.

Florida won a national title in 2006 and in 2008, but they are now not as strong as they once were. Georgia (and Richt) failed to take advantage of Spurrier leaving more than a decade ago, and they couldn’t do much when Ron Zook was in charge. Urban Meyer had his way with Georgia with the exception of one season.

So as Georgia struggled more in the division, the division itself was getting weaker. It’s not like in the late-1990s, when Donnan struggled as Philip Fulmer led Tennessee to a national title (1998) and Spurrier led Florida to a championship (1996).

It’s obvious the entire conference has been strong since 2006, as a SEC team has won the national title every year since. But as Georgia fans have seen Florida win two titles, LSU win in 2007, Alabama win in 2009 and Auburn win last season, they’ve got to cringe.

Isn’t it a logical question for Georgia fans to ask, “If those teams can win a national title, why can’t we?”

Well, considering the immense high school talent in the state of Georgia, along with the tremendous resources available at the University of Georgia, it is a logical question.

Remember, this program was rated as having the second most profit in college football after Texas. So with that money comes expectations.

And then you take into account the number of tremendous recruiting classes pulled in by Richt in the last five years. Here is how Scout.com ranked Georgia’s recruiting classes since 2006:

2006: 4

2007: 17

2008: 5

2009: 4

2010: 21

2011: 6

Those are four recruiting classes in the top six in the country in the last six years, but yet the results have not matched up.

Has UGA been correct in the evaluation on high school talent, but yet the players simply have not been coached up? Or has the evaluation itself of the talent been off? Remember, those are not how UGA graded itself against the rest of the schools in the country, but instead how Scout.com ranked UGA.

I started having doubts about Richt when they lost to Alabama in the black out game in 2008. It was an embarrassing performance, and as Georgia trailed 17-0 I saw Richt just pacing the sidelines. Where was the anger? Where was the team meeting to stop the bleeding? Instead, it got worse, as Alabama went on to lead 31-0 at halftime and beat the Bulldogs badly in Athens.

By the way, since that game, Georgia is 20-17.

And now Georgia is 0-2. They were better last week against South Carolina, but they still lost. And being better than they were against Boise State is not saying much, since they were horrible against the Broncos.

I got an interesting tweet Monday from a UGA fan: Bill, as a season ticket holder, I do not pay over $5000 a year for someone to say.. “Well we lost, but we played better” Lame.

That tells you that many do not want to hear Richt say that even though Georgia lost to South Carolina, they still played better. People want to win, and as they see Richt now at .500 against teams in his own division since 2006, the patience is running out.

Georgia is now at mediocrity. That 13-13 record against division opponents since 2006 is unacceptable. If you can’t beat teams in your own division, you need to go.

And now, UGA can’t beat ranked teams. They are 2-10 in the last 12 games against ranked opponents. Not good.

Fans like Richt. Who doesn’t? He’s a great guy. He’s done a lot of great things. But that is getting more irrelevant every single day. It is all about winning football games, and since 2006, as other teams in the SEC have been winning championships, Richt is making this program insignificant.

Raiders owner Al Davis gave us one thing in his life that we can all appreciate – the slogan “Just Win Baby.” That’s what it needs to be all about at Georgia. It’s not about being a nice guy or helping people in Honduras. It’s about all about winning, and with Richt not doing it enough, someone else will get the chance in 2012.

Bill Shanks hosts The Bill Shanks Show on WPLA Fox Sports 1670 AM in Macon, GA and WCOH Fox Sports 1400 in Newnan, GA. You can listen weekdays from 3-6 pm ET on www.foxsports1670.com. Shanks is also a columnist for the Macon Telegraph. You can read his columns Wednesdays and Sundays at www.macon.com.