After Georgia’s win in Nashville last season, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had a few postgame words for one another on the field.  It wasn’t the first time Grantham had shown a little too much emotion.  And it wouldn’t be be the last time in 2011 that Franklin would stir up some controversy with an opposing coach or fanbase.

Grantham and Franklin are fiery characters.  UGA head coach Mark Richt on the other hand is as cool as the proverbial cucumber.  Which is why he says his team will be “ready” for this weekend’s rematch with Vandy in Athens, but he claims that he won’t try to use the postgame kerfuffle as a motivator for this squad:

“I think the big thing is to make sure we just concentrate on playing football and not on the extra-curricular. Because those things turn into penalties. … I don’t want anything to take focus  off of executing [or] take  focus off of doing the right things fundamentally and knowing your job and taking care of your responsibility. So that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

I don’t think Richt will have to say Word One to his players regarding the end of last year’s game.  They’ll remember it.  So will Vanderbilt’s players.  Saturday could see a real slobberknocker between the hedges.

For the past few seasons, Alabama’s Nick Saban and a few other coaches have beaten the drum for player safety regarding helmets that fly off during the course of play.  This offseason, the NCAA responded by creating a new rule.  If a player’s helmet comes off during a play, he has to leave the field for the next play.  The goal is to get players back in the habit of properly buckling their chinstraps.

With the new rule in place, the number of helmets flying off has now drawn the attention of fans, as well.  Watch a game and you’re bound to see someone have to leave the field of play after losing his headgear.  And always looking for any advantage they can find,  you can bet that some coaches are instructing their players to help their opponents’ helmets pop off.

Take it from Missouri quarterback James Franklin, who twice lost his helmet during Saturday’s game with Georgia:

“The second time I could feel it, but you could also see on film where (a Georgia player) was pulling on it.  It definitely was frustrating.  You try to make adjustments so they couldn’t just pop it off.  They say if they see a player intentionally pull it off you won’t have to come out.  But I think teams will definitely try to do that more.”

Outspoken Mizzou receiver TJ Moe made his feelings on the new rule known to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“It’s a stupid rule that will be gone after this season.  Stupidest rule ever in college football.  If my quarterback leaves the game one more time because his helmet is ripped off, I’m going to lose it.”

Actually, it’s not a stupid rule.  Players have been losing their buckets more and more often over the past few years and several factors could be involved — looser helmet construction, players refusing to fully snap their straps, etc.  Old-timers will remember the days just 15 years or so ago when players would walk to the sideline, have to put their fingers in their helmets’ ear holes and pull the sides wide just to remove them.  Now notice how many players can easily slip off their helmets simply by lifting up on the facemask.  (Photo at left.)

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1. Behind The Scenes With A&M’s Sumlin At Media Days

2. UF’s Muschamp Says Mizzou, A&M Questions Are Overblown

3. Mizzou WR Moe The Hit Of SEC Media Days

4. Richt Says UGA Not The Only School Where Kids Get In Trouble

5. SEC Releases TV Schedule For First Three Weeks Of Fall

Bonus: Podium Notes For All SEC Coaches

1. Nick Saban

2. John L. Smith

3. Gene Chizik

4. Will Muschamp

5. Mark Richt

6. Joker Phillips

7. Les Miles

8. Dan Mullen

9. Gary Pinkel

10. Hugh Freeze

11. Steve Spurrier

12. Derek Dooley

13. Kevin Sumlin

14. James Franklin

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…

Defensive end Landon Stokes from Lake Highland High School in Orlando, Fla., committed to Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

Stokes gave his commitment to the Commodores during a visit to Vanderbilt’s campus on Tuesday.

“I talked to coach (James) Franklin for a while and had some one on one time,” Stokes told 247Sports. “After that I told him I wanted to commit to Vanderbilt. We were both really excited.”

Stokes chose the Commodores over Clemson, along with offers from such schools as Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina State and West Virginia.

Stokes, who’s Vanderbilt’s 14th commitment for the class of 2013, said he believes the Commodores will continue to recruit at a high level.

“They told me I was a really big piece,” Stokes said. “This class is really starting to turn some heads. People are really starting to see what Vandy has to offer.”

Franklin offered his appreciation to Stokes via twitter after he committed to Vanderbilt on Tuesday afternoon. Franklin made it clear that finding defensive linemen is a priority in Nashville.

Huge believer that the game is played up front, especially on the DL, guys that can attack the decision maker change the game!! #AnchorDown

— James Franklin (@jamesfranklinvu) June 26, 2012

Defensive tackle Jashon Robertson needed little time to make a decision when he received a scholarship offer from Vanderbilt coach James Franklin on Tuesday.

“He told me that they were going to offer me and everything,” Robertson told VandySports.com, “so I stepped outside and called my mom and came back in and told them I was going to Vandy. They went wild.”

Robertson, a 2014 prospect from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn., received the offer after attending Vanderbilt’s camp last weekend. He’s the first commitment for the Commodores’ 2014 class.

Robertson’s pledge comes on the heels of Vanderbilt picking up four 2012 commitments in four days. That group includes Macon, Ga., linebacker Nigel Bowden, who originally committed to the Commodores before briefly switching to Georgia Tech.

Bowden ultimately decided his relationship with Vanderbilt’s coaches and recruits was too strong.

“We’re all ready to come together as a team,” Bowden told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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.

Linebacker Nigel Bowden from Macon (Ga.) Central High School switched his commitment from Vanderbilt to Georgia Tech during a visit to the school’s campus on Friday.

“I’ve been thinking about Georgia Tech for a while,” Bowden told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was always between those two, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. I switched because I always wanted to play for my home state school. Plus, my mother always wanted me to go to Georgia Tech. My family can go to all of the games.”

Vanderbilt’s coaching staff can continue to recruit Bowden but it’s not likely to do the Commodores any good. Bowden, who told the AJC at the time of the interview that he hadn’t been able to reach Vanderbilt’s coaches, expects coach James Franklin to be unhappy with Bowden’s decision.

“They are probably going to come after me to get me to commit to them again,” Bowden said. “Overall, Vanderbilt is a great school, but Georgia Tech is where I want to be.”

Of course, many SEC fans will wonder if Bowden is among the “men of honor” Franklin is recruiting to Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin made an interesting comment about his hiring practices yesterday while speaking with folks from Nashville’s WGFX-FM yesterday:

“I’ve been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant until I see his wife.  If she looks the part and she’s a D1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired.  That’s part of the deal.  There’s a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a women, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being articulate and confident, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him.” 

I can see his point.  But I also know that beauty is often in the eye of the beholder.  In addition, I know that what the coach said could be taken as rather sexist by some female Vandy fans out there.

Here’s hoping Franklin was either a) joking or b) a little tipsy from one too many cabana drinks.  Stating that he wants to check out a guy’s wife and grade her before offering said assistant a job might not be the wisest thing he’s ever said.  (Funny or not.)

And, yes, that’s Franklin’s missus at left.

1.  With new schools and teams entering the SEC, the league has had to add additional officials, too.

2.  Auburn defensive coordinator Brain VanGorder wants his defensive backs to get stronger.

3.  Suspended Arkansas receiver Kane Whitehurst has been given a release to transfer.

4.  Three Hog footballers arrested over the weekend have only themselves to blame.

5.  It was a down year this year, but Florida could have as many as nine players drafted into the NFL next spring.

6.  Georgia AD Greg McGarity expects success from his coaches… or else.

7.  The Dawgs offensive line will be the team’s biggest question mark entering the fall.

8.  James Franklin is offering a lot of scholarships to Vanderbilt and he’s doing so early (and successfully).

9.  Missouri and Kansas are doing battle over license plates.

10.  There’s been a lot of change in the SEC, but you can expect the run of success to continue.