Defensive end Justin Thornton says he’s going to play for Auburn. Thornton made the announcement just moments ago.  His decision had come down to three SEC schools – Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M. The Alabama lineman, who plays at Vigor High School, is rated a four-star prospect and is considered one of the top 10 defensive ends in the country.  It’s another feather in the cap for Gus Malzahn’s program – which has made a focus of recruiting kids from the Mobile area. He’s Auburn’s sixth commitment in the class of 2014,  which includes Thornton’s teammate -Deshaun Davis.

Kentucky S Ashely Lowery is out of ICU and improving following a weekend car accident
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen says “Eight wins is kind of a baseline for us.”
Reserve Tennessee DB Daniel Gray will transfer from the Volunteer program
South Carolina and North Carolina will open the 2015 football season in Charlotte
Arkansas has agreed to a home-and-home series with TCU in 2016 and 2017
Florida has extended the contracts of four offensive assistants and given offensive coordinator Brent Pease a $100,000 raise
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says he was pleased with the improvement shown by QB Kiehl Frazier this spring
Sources at Tennessee say G Trae Golden is having to transfer because of “repeated plagiarism” in his schoolwork
Golden’s father called reports stating as much “totally inaccurate”
Missouri’s basketball team has been added to the lineup for this year’s Las Vegas Invitational tournament
Keep up with the SEC each day by visiting MrSEC.com and following us at twitter.com/mrsec

Second suspect arrested after fight outside bar in Baton Rouge that involved LSU running back Jeremy Hill
The mother of Alabama basketball player Devonta Pollard charged with kidnapping a six-year old girl
Nick Saban wants nine-game SEC football schedule citing strength of schedule issues
Coming off shoulder surgery in January, Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace has resumed throwing
Tennessee coach Butch Jones says he looks at tardiness and absences on a transcript…
…”Tells me everything I need to know”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn has already started watching game tape on the Tigers first opponent, Washington State
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The Auburn football staff has released a post-spring practice depth chart, but head coach Gus Malzahn doesn’t want anyone to put too much stock into it:

“When I say depth chart, it was probably more important to put them in the right position.  These positions are going to be wide open once fall camp begins.  We’ve got freshman coming in, we’ve got junior college transfers coming in, and they’re going to get their chance.”

In the all-important quarterback battle, Malzahn refused to separate the two men who competed against one another this spring.  His depth chart instead lists “Jonathan Wallace OR Kiehl Frazier” on the quarterback line.

SEC and ESPN officially announce SEC Network…will debut in August of 2014
Planned seating capacity for expanded Kyle Field at Texas A&M to be 102,500 – largest in SEC
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier again calls for paying college football and basketball players
Alabama coach Nick Saban consulted with North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams on how to defend up-tempo offenses
Florida coach Will Muschamp: “We’re an ascendant program”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn calls his quarterback battle a “dead heat”
NCAA ended 2012 with a record surplus of $71 million
Follow SEC news year-round at MrSEC.com and on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrsec

The biggest trend in college football today is the up-tempo, no-huddle, fast-as-lightning approach to offense made popular — in large part — by the success of Chip Kelly at Oregon and Gus Malzahn at Auburn.  By racing to the line of scrimmage between plays, offenses are able to dictate to defenses their personnel.  Forget sub packages, there’s no time to get guys on the field and get them lined up.

Could it be that a solution to this problem might emerge from one of the school’s best known for its up-tempo style?

New Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson is building a defense this spring that he hopes can deal with Malzahn’s hurried offense on the practice field… and with offenses like Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Tennessee this fall.  According to Joel A. Erickson of Al.com, the plan is to put versatile players on the field who can be deployed in different positions based on down and distance.  In other words, there’s no need for substitutions on a play-by-play basis:

“But Johnson’s scheme, which keeps defensive linemen on the same side of the field against all formations, usually places the linebackers inside the formation and uses versatile safeties who can play either the boundary or the field position, matched the offense’s personnel by transforming from base defense to sub-packages while using the same personnel.”

Johnson’s new system also cuts down on the number of assignments for each player, allowing them to fly to the football faster.  Johnson likes what he’s seen so far: “They haven’t gotten a lot of brain lock out there on things that have been a little new that we’re doing or they see something the offense hasn’t done yet, see a new play or a new formation.  I’ve been really pleased with the overall performance of them from an assignment standpoint.”

No doubt, the solution isn’t perfect.  Players can still wear down over the course of a series.  And with fewer assignments, there’s the likelihood for a few more defensive breakdowns when facing an up-tempo option team.

Still, it is is fitting that one of the folks tinkering with a means to de-claw hurry-up offenses is a guy who has to face such an offense each day in practice.

NFL quarterback and former Heisman Trophy-winner Cam Newton stopped by his old stomping grounds yesterday and took in a bit of Gus Malzahn’s practice.  He liked what he saw from his old coach as he spread out to work with the defense.  And he liked what he heard in terms of piped in noise and music:

“It’s always going to be tough for any coach whose heart has been around the offense for so long to have to spread things around.  I use the analogy of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  There’s so much peanut butter on just one side, now you’ve got to spread out to everybody else…

If anything, I wish they were doing things (as Malzahn is now) when I was here.  The music, I love the music.  Third-down situations, it provides an excellent simulation of the game.  It’s going to be very, very intriguing to see this whole process come to fruition.”

Malzahn, of course, was Auburn’s offensive coordinator under Gene Chizik when Newton won the Heisman and led Auburn to the 2010 national championship.

Auburn Allegations

1. Asked about allegations surrounding the program, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn defers to the school’s administration.  Phone records obtained Friday showed he made more than 90 calls to Dakota Mosley’s father.  Malzahn told ESPN he met with Mosley regarding depression.

2. Kevin Scarbinsky on Auburn’s rapid response efforts: “Make no mistake. Auburn is on trial here…”

3. Matt Hayes on Auburn’s troubles: “The guy charged with fixing it all, new coach Gus Malzahn, was knee-deep in the process little more than a year ago.”

4. Florida coach Will Muschamp has nothing to add to a previous denial he paid an Auburn player when he was defensive coordinator:  ”There’s nothing to dignify any other response other than exactly what you’ve read.”

SEC Football

5. Rehab on the shoulder of Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace going well, could start throwing in June.  But the Rebels have missed him this spring.

6. Both Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace threw more than 20 passes in Auburn’s Saturday scrimmage.  Malzahn:  ”It is really hard to look good in a scrimmage until you start settling in with specific personnel.” Undisclosed injury for running back Tre Mason. Tigers cancel Monday’s practice. 

7. Not much separation in the quarterback battle at Tennessee between Justin Worley and Nathan Peterman. Coach Butch Jones “not pleased at all” with the offense.  “An offense seemingly bereft of playmakers struggled.”

8. In the quarterback battle at Arkansas, coach Bret Bielema says Brandon Allen took a step ahead of Brandon Mitchell.

9. Razorbacks running back Jonathan Williams the star of the scrimmage.

10. In a three-way quarterback battle at Missouri, is redshirt freshman Matty Mauk emerging from the pack?

10. Encouraging signs for Mizzou running back Henry Josey, coming back from a brutal knee injury.  Coach Gary Pinkel: “People have no idea what this guy had to do,”

11. Running back Mike Davis impressive at South Carolina’s scrimmage on Saturday.

12. With the spring game done and just a few practices left, time to ask some unresolved questions and throw out some possible answers surrounding the Georgia Bulldogs.

13. Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo: “We are nowhere where we need to be offensively.”

14. Florida freshman running back Kelvin Taylor one of the stars of the Gators spring game.  Will Muschamp:  “Kelvin’s got a really strong lower body. He runs through contact extremely well.”

15. One of the stars of Alabama’s first spring scrimmage – wide receiver DeAndrew White.  He’s one of three Bama receivers coming off injuries in 2012.  Nick Saban: “DeAndrew White is doing really well – did a really good job, made some big plays today, actually.”

16. Mississippi State defensive coordinator Geoff Collins on the Bulldogs first scrimmage: “I went through every call that we have on defense. The one defense executed every call.”

17. Kentucky’s offense dominates in Saturday’s scrimmage.  Coach Mark Stoops: ”It wasn’t even close today.”

Extras

18. Phil Steele projects the AP Top 26 – six of the top 12 in the SEC.

19. Former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning giving $500,000 to the Pat Summitt Foundation.

20. The New York Times on former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice: “Interviews and documents reveal a culture in which the university was far more concerned with protecting itself from legal action than with protecting its students from an abusive coach.”

21. Louisville basketball has to stop selling a t-shirt – “use of logo” issue.

22. Former NBA coach Phil Jackson was live-tweeting the Final Four.

24. Eddie Einhorn paid the NCAA $6,000 to broadcast the 1961 championship game between Ohio State and Cincinnati.  Couldn’t find a station outside of Ohio or Kentucky willing to broadcast it.

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn didn’t speak to the media today regarding alleged NCAA violations surrounding the program  but two of his assistants did respond to questions.

Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee was a grad assistant back in 2010, the time in question.  When asked about published reports regarding recruiting violations and failed drug tests, Lashlee said this:

“You know, our administration’s handling that. My job is to coach football. That’s all I’m really worried about. We had practice this morning, we’ve got a big-time coaches clinic going on – I’m getting ready for that – that’s all I can deal with.”

Added defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson: “I don’t know nothing about it. I really have no knowledge about it. People above my pay grade are handling that.”

Malzahn was not available to the media as previously scheduled.  He’s scheduled to address the media following Saturday’s practice.

One of the players mentioned in the report this week was former Auburn safety Mike McNeil.  At a hearing today, a judge cleared the way for his trial to begin next week on robbery charges.

Starting Kentucky DE Donte Rumph may be out for a while after suffering “a fairly significant injury” in spring practice
Mississippi State practiced in pads for the first time yesterday
Unlike Gene Chizik, new Auburn coach Gus Malzahn isn’t slowing things down in practice so his defense can catch its breath
Arkansas FB Kiero Small is back to full strength after missing 11 games with a broken foot last season
31 NFL franchises sent scouts to South Carolina’s Pro Day where RB Marcus Lattimore returned from a gruesome knee injury
The cities of Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and San Diego are vying to join New Orleans, Miami, and Pasadena in the new college football playoff rotation
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