Tennessee forward Jeronne Maymon likely will miss the start of the season after having a setback in his recovery from offseason knee surgery
An industry source tells MrSEC.com that new SEC TV contracts will be worth an additional $10-$15 million per school per year when completed
The commissioners of the BCS might stick with their original plan of only having six bowls in the new playoff format
Auburn has not named a starting quarterback for Saturday’s game with Texas A&M yet
South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier says QB Connor Shaw will not come out against Tennessee this weekend unless he gets hurt
Mizzou quarterback James Franklin doubtful for Kentucky this weekend but coach Gary Pinkel says he is “almost certain” Franklin will play next week at Florida
LSU AD Joe Alleva says he’ll try again next year to eliminate permanent cross-divisional football opponents from SEC schedule next year
Keep up with news from around the SEC everyday at MrSEC.com and follow us on twitter at twitter.com/mrsec

For those who missed it, Georgia’s Jarvis Jones showed Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson what “old man” football was all about during the Dawgs’ 41-20 win in Columbia on Saturday.  The outside linebacker recorded — get this — two sacks, five quarterback pressures, two forced fumbles, an interception and nine tackles.

It was an amazing performance from one of the SEC’s true standouts.  If ever someone deserved the description “one-man wrecking crew,” it was Jones on Saturday.  And his actions have earned him the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Week award as well as the Walter Camp National Player of the Week honor.

Jones also wowed Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel with his explosive effort:

“He is a great player.  Going in, you try to contain the guy but he was all over the field and he is just a great player…

We saw him like that against everybody (on tape).  You try to adjust calls you make, you try to get yourself into a position to get rid of the football or run the football or do different things.  But give him credit.  He is a great football player.”

Indeed he is.  And he didn’t even have to trash talk about Missouri to the media in order to gain attention.  Perhaps Missouri’s Richardson should take note of that before he decides to pop off again.

Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson gave Georgia some extra bulletin board material this week and his head coach knows it.  In fact, in this day and age when coaches and players twist and turn anything they can into slights and insults and signs of disrespect, you can bet many an SEC coach will tell his team before it faces Mizzou: “They think you play some old man style of football and that nobody can touch them.”

For that reason, Gary Pinkel didn’t allow Richardson to meet with the press yesterday during Missouri’s media session.  According to a team spokesperson, the player “earned himself a vacation.” Better to not let him make matters worse with a follow-up.

His coach’s thoughts on the kerfuffle: “Well, you know we certainly want to say the right things, do the right things.  I think he just got carried away a little bit, but I handled that internally.”

Pinkel admitted that “anybody looks for things” to motivate themselves.  Then he added — and maybe you believe him, maybe you don’t — “(Richardson) felt sorry for saying it, he just got excited.  He’s got great respect for Georgia, as I do.  We’ll learn the lessons and move on.”

Pinkel handled this dustup as well as could be expected and it’s certainly not the first or last time a player will pop off and say something goofy in the press.  But to suggest Richardson has “great respect for Georgia,” uh, well, that seems a bit hard to believe considering his comments on Saturday night.

There are two coaches each year I usually dread hearing from — Dan Mullen and Gene Chizik.  That doesn’t mean they’re bad guys, bad coaches or that I hate their schools/teams/etc.  It does mean they’re sort of bland.  (In Chizik’s case, bland is an understatement.)

Mullen might be the fastest talker in the league (though Will Muschamp and Gary Pinkel certainly have given him a run for his money this week).  Let’s see how he does today…

* Mullen says he’s excited for the season.  Though he doesn’t have a veteran team, he likes the squad’s attitude.

* The coach also talked up his team’s GPA early in his opening remarks.  He also praised MSU’s administration and mentioned the new facilities going up in Starkville.

* Quick opening statement from Mullen… quicker than his usual approach.  He seems a bit more comfortable this year.  Heck, this is his fourth Media Days event.

* Asked about his sometimes shaky relationship with quarterback Tyler Russell, Mullen credited the player and his family for dealing with “outside pressures” from fan and media expectations.  “I expect him to have a huge year,” the coach said.  Mullen said he knows the system and that the staff will give him “the keys” and lot of play-calling responsibility at the line of scrimmage.

* It didn’t take long for the “you’ve only beaten Ole Miss in the West” question to pop up.  In response, Mullen said the first SEC game — against Auburn — is always important because it’s a two-game lead for the winner over the loser.

* Mullen says you have to bring “your A game” every week regardless of division, when asked about the strength of the West Division.

* MSU’s coach is clearly more comfortable this season.  He’s not rushing as he has in year’s past.  He seems friendly and upbeat.  Big improvement over past year’s performance.

* Asked about tougher academic standards, Mullen says he’s sorry that some players won’t be rewarded.  He says it takes depth away.

* Mullen said there will probably be some billboard plans for the fall.  He claimed he only sees the billboards after they’ve already been designed.  Ole Miss fans are scoffing at that.

* Mullen says Russell compares to Alex Smith in terms of style — more passer than runner.  He says only a portion of MSU’s playbook will be used, which is normal.  But this year the percentage used might differ from what’s been used in past seasons.

* “I try to play nonconference games within our region,” he said when asked about a nonconference game at Troy.  Mullen said he wants players’ families to be able to see them play.  He said taking a bus to a game saves money.  MSU doesn’t have to spend “millions and millions” to jet across the country.  A novel spin.

* Mullen’s really doing a good job this year.  Relaxed.

* The coach says the secondary is the strength of State’s defense, especially with defensive tackle Fletcher Cox now gone.  State will have to adjust to his departure and the secondary will have to pick up some of the slack.

* Asked if the gap between State and Alabama/LSU/Auburn/Arkansas closing, Mullen said his teams has had fourth-quarter chances against those teams.  He said he just needs someone to make a play at crunch time.  Mullen said that shows that his team is close to those West foes “which means we’re not very far from the national title.”;

* “As much as we always try to prevent head injuries, in the game of football that’s always going to happen.”

Our overall grade for Mullen’s “performance” based on comfort, friendliness, openness… we’ll give him a 5 on a scale of 1-5.  Totally different Dan Mullen this year.  As noted above, in his fourth Media Days he seems much, much more relaxed and friendly.  This wasn’t a Rat Pack show at The Sands, but in past years, Mullen’s seemed to have a bit of an edge to him — not unlike Gary Pinkel yesterday.  That was not the case today.

When it comes to Day One’s quote machine, it wasn’t a coach who took home first prize.  Nope, senior Missouri receiver TJ Moe was actually the man whose gums flapped loudest… and most entertainingly.  The clear message?  He’s tired of hearing about how great the SEC is:

“People talk about how good SEC defenses are but don’t take into account how good Big 12 offenses are…

I know they won the last six national titles.  But all 12 teams didn’t win it.  Just one did…

They’ve also got prettier girls, the air’s fresher and the toilet paper’s thicker.”

Sounds like that chip on Gary Pinkel’s shoulder is actually a message that he’s sending throughout the Mizzou program.  Moe — who draws a lot of comparisons to the NFL’s Wes Welker — obviously received his coach’s message loud and clear.

Now let’s see who around the SEC takes note of Moe’s many messages from Media Days.

Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel is at the mic now.  At sixty — and he doesn’t look it — he shouldn’t have the jitters of a young coach.  That said, the media group he’ll face today is larger than what he’s been used to at the Big 12′s media events.

* Pinkel opens by saying that he knows he and Mizzou will have to prove themselves as the new kids on the block.

* “I’d be a little disappointed if we were intimidated,” Pinkel said of joining the league.

* Pinkel’s talking pretty fast.  Not knowing him, that may be the norm.  He’s coming off as a bit defensive, but that might just be a product of following the uber-loose Steve Spurrier.  Quick reaction: He seems to be taking a slightly adversarial role with the media.  But, again, I could be misreading his normal character traits.

* The coach says what defines the SEC is the number of good teams that play big games week-in and week-out.

* Pinkel says he isn’t change the way he runs his program just because the Tigers are joining the SEC.  He did say that recruiting will spread into Louisiana, Florida and Georgia.

* Pinkel joked that Nick Saban is older than him — by a year — and that he wanted to make that very clear.  He also said that Saban helped him early in his career.  The two were once teammates under Don James at Kent State.  “Historically he’ll go down as one of the great coaches in college football… and he should.”

* Pinkel gets a brain/concussion/injury question.  He says the rule changes for safety’s sake are “good, it’s good for college football” because the players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever before.  “We’re doing the right things to help protect kids.”

* He says “The Zoo” is a great place to play college football.  Now the SEC has “The Swamp” and “The Zoo.”  Have to get used to that one.  “To say our fans are excited about being in the SEC is an understatement.  They’ve become fanatical.”  (CORRECTION — That’s actually “The Zou,” not “The Zoo.”)

* Pinkel says he expects quarterback James Franklin to be 100% for the season.  He says Franklin has the talent to become the fourth-straight Mizzou starter to wind up in the NFL.

* He says Franklin will need to be a bit smarter about when to run and when to hit the dirt.

* Pinkel says some people have acted like Missouri has been playing a bunch of high school teams.  He’s quick to say that the SEC is darned good, but he’s not going to put down the Big 12, either.

* Unlike Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin who said reality hit when he walked into his first SEC coaches’ meeting, Pinkel said he was a Big 12 guy and he knew two-thirds of the coaches in the SEC already.  Sumlin was coming from Conference USA.  Sumlin is 47, Pinkel is 60.  It’s not surprising Pinkel had less of a “wow” factor.  That said, it’s also clear that between the two, you’d rather hang out with Sumlin than Pinkel.  Sumlin seemed happy to be in the room and enjoyed his Q&A session.  Pinkel looks like a guy who doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t trust the media.  (Not that I wouldn’t feel the exact same way.)

* He was asked for a restaurant tip for Columbia and said he’d get in trouble if he pitched one or two.  Sort of a silly question, and Pinkel wouldn’t go there.  (From what I hear, Shakespeare’s Pizza is a must.)  He did say Mizzou was looking forward to everyone from the SEC coming to Columbia.  About as close to a smile and chuckle as Pinkel has given.

* The coach says Mizzou’s fans “go crazy” and that folks in Columbia and tied to MU will won’t to “prove they belong” in the SEC when Georgia comes to town on September 8th.

Our overall grade for Pinkel’s “performance” based on comfort, friendliness, openness… we’ll give him a 3 on a 1-5 scale.  Average.  Sort of like an older Dan Mullen (minus the shots at Ole Miss).  Kind of cocky.  Rapid-fire speech pattern.  Not exactly someone you’d pay to listen to or someone you’d picture on the motivational speaker tour.  At the same time, there was nothing “jerkish” about his opening SEC remarks.  Just average.  Next year, no one will be beating down the door to get into Pinkel’s session, let’s put it that way.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive takes his place behind the mics to officially open up his league’s three-day media event in just about 15 minutes.  We’ll provide you with a summary of his big points in a live, running blog — hit refresh from time to time if you need to — and then we’ll swing back around with some direct quotes.

Meanwhile, anything of note that happens in another room or on radio row… we’ll keep you updated on that, too.  More than 1,000 passes were handed out to media (and fans disguised as media) for these events.  Quite honestly, anything can happen.

Over the next few hours we’ll give the live blog treatment to Slive, Kevin Sumlin, Steve Spurrier, Gary Pinkel and James Franklin.  And it all gets underway shortly.

Stay tuned…

Missouri quarterback Corbin Berkstresser is back with the team and cleared to participate in summer workouts now that he’s being charged with a Class A misdemeanor rather than a felony for leaving the scene of a car accident in May.  The decision on formal charges was made last Friday.

Berkstresser took over the quarterbacking duties in Columbia this spring following starter James Franklin’s shoulder surgery.  Gary Pinkel has said that Franklin is right on schedule with his recovery.  He’s expected by most to be ready for the Tigers’ season-opener this fall.

But it doesn’t hurt to have an insurance policy like Berkstresser off suspension and back with the team just in case.

It was a day of backtracking, confusion, and debating in Destin yesterday.  At least Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel showed a bit of his sense of humor.  Discussing the fact that he had to tell his program’s 2012 commitments that they wouldn’t be playing in the Big 12 as initially expected, Pinkel said:

“When would that ever happen to anybody in their career?  In the Big 12, it happens about every other year.”

Here’s guessing the SEC’s new bowl partners won’t find that very amusing.

Good news, Tiger fans, Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel says your top offensive weapon — dual-threat quarterback James Franklin – is recovering nicely from shoulder surgery:

“He was in my office half an hour ago, and the range of motion in that arm for being five weeks out of surgery is remarkable…  We feel like he’s going to be ready.

But the bottom line with any injury is that you have to have your backup ready to play.” 

Mizzou’s backup QB — Corbin Berkstresser — by all accounts had a solid if not spectacular spring in Columbia.  Franklin threw for 2,865 yards, ran for another 981, and tallied 36 touchdowns last season.  He underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder on March 23rd.

When it comes to MU’s SEC opener against Georgia, both fanbases are currently hoping for the best in terms of roster depth.  The Tigers could be without their quarterback, but the Bulldogs will likely be down a number of defensive backs thanks to suspensions.  The situation brings this to mind.  First man up wins.