With the NFL draft behind us — and 63 more ex-SEC’ers selected to stock professional rosters — we can now take a look back over the past 20 years to see how the league’s current members have risen or fallen in terms of talent.  We’ll keep things nice and simple and show you the draft numbers from the past 10 years as compared to the 10 years prior.  Some of the changes are eye-popping.

Below you’ll find the picks from this past week’s draft on the left side of the table, just for comparison’s sake.  To the right of that, you’ll see the pick totals for each SEC school between 1994 and 2003.  Beside that column, the totals from 2004 through 2013 are listed.

Then, on the far right we’ve listed the change in draft numbers from one decade to the next for each school.  We warn you, some fans will have a hard time wiping away their smiles… others might just spend the day weeping in the office storage closet.

The numbers:

Observations:

*  Let’s start with the fastest riser — LSU.  The Tigers were middle of the pack in terms of NFL production between ’94 and ’03, but once Nick Saban opened all the valves on the Tigers’ Louisiana talent pipeline… forget about it.  LSU has produced 31 more NFL picks in the past decade than it did in the decade prior.  That’s three more pros per year on the Tiger roster.  Given that players are usually on a roster for four years that number is even more impressive.  In terms of a ballpark number, LSU has about 12 more NFL-capable players on its roster in a given year than it did a decade ago.  Even when those players are freshman or reserves, they’re still providing greater overall depth.  And that even raises the level of LSU’s practices.  Kudos to the Tigers.  Plus-31 is darn impressive.

*  If you’re wondering how Steve Spurrier (and Lou Holtz before him) began to raise South Carolina from the bottom of the SEC to the top just check USC’s roster.  The Gamecocks no longer cede the best players in their home state to Clemson and raiding SEC rivals.  They now go into Georgia and nab prospects just as Auburn and Tennessee have, traditionally.  Carolina has had 18 more players picked by NFL teams in the past decade than in the previous decade.  It’s not hard to make the correlation between a more talented roster and more victories.

*  Other schools seeing boosts of 10 or more pro picks?  Arkansas (plus-13), Missouri (plus-12), and Alabama (plus-10).  Hog fans need to credit Bobby Petrino and — though it might make a few of them sick — Houston Nutt for raising the talent level in Fayetteville.  Nutt was driven out of town with torches and pitchforks, but he began the Razorbacks’ talent swell.  A coach on the hot seat this year is Gary Pinkel, but he’s taken Mizzou from the bottom of the ’94-’03 column and increased the school’s draftees by 12 over the past decade.  Whether fans feel he’s worn out his welcome or not, Pinkel deserves many thanks for lifting Tiger football to the point that it no longer lags behind Kentucky and Vanderbilt in terms of talent.  Finally, there’s Alabama.  As he did at LSU, Saban has turned the Tide into one of the nation’s strongest football factories, cranking out pro prospects in bulk.  Anyone think that plus-10 number for Bama won’t grow larger when we run through this exercise again next year?

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Andy Kennedy’s Ole Miss Rebels just can’t seem to get over the hump (or “The Hump,” considering the Rebs’ loss at Mississippi State’s Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday.)  Year after year Kennedy’s squads manage to win 20 games… and still miss out on the NCAA Tournament.  With a terrible strength of schedule number and some gut-punch losses this season (like the one to MSU), it looks like history will repeat itself once more.

But for those UM fans who feel Andy is the worst Kennedy to impact Ole Miss since Jack, a quick look across state should work as a calming tonic, as a soothing balm, and as a warning.

Rick Stansbury had led Mississippi State to 293 wins in 14 seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach.  He’d won 20 games 10 times, including in 2011-12.  A perfect coach?  No.  His last three teams failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.  Also, the turbulence in and around his program during his final two seasons was self-created as the coach chose to sign and coddle controversial team-killer Renardo Sidney.

State fans had had enough.  Stansbury saw the writing on the wall and resigned last spring as MSU’s all-time winningest coach and the SEC’s ninth-winningest coach all-time.

Despite dreams of landing a big-name coach, the best MSU could do was hire Clemson assistant Rick Ray as Stansbury’s replacement.  Ray inherited a mess as most of the Bulldog team pulled up stakes and left as soon as their old coach stepped down.  This season has been one of misery in Starkville — an 8-20 record, a 3-13 mark in the SEC, and a 13-game losing streak that was finally snapped on Saturday.

Ray might turn out to be the best coach in history of college basketball, but it appears the rebuilding job before him will be a difficult one.  Certainly more difficult than what Stansbury would have faced had he not been pressured to resign.

If Ole Miss fans are upset that Ray finally ended his team’s long losing streak against their Rebels, that’s perfectly fair.  But they should compare the two squads’ overall records — 8-20 versus 21-8 — before dialing up a call-in show to demand Kennedy’s scalp.

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SEC Football

1. Twice next season Georgia could face opposing quarterbacks kicked off its team.

2. 28-year old former major league baseball player Jai Miller has enrolled at Alabama and will be eligibile for spring workouts.  He’s listed as a defensive back.

3. Group of nine early enrollees at Alabama includes three quarterbacks.

4. Eight early enrollees at Florida include running back Kelvin Taylor, son of former Gator Fred Taylor.

5. The quarterback situation at Missouri – unusually uncertain.  Will feature plenty of competition this spring.

6. Little QB uncertainty at Florida with Jeff Driskel returning. Former Gator Jacoby Brissett expected to transfer to either West Virginia or North Carolina State.

7. Seven members of Tennessee’s signing class of 2012 are no longer with the program.

8. Know the name Vincent Smith?  That’s the Michigan player on the other end of the legendary Jadeveon Clowney collision. Says the hit looked worse than it was. 

9. Top game of the 2012 season?  How about Texas A&M’s upset win at Alabama.

NFL Draft Prospects

10. South Carolina wide receiver Ace Sanders took to Twitter last night to say he’s going pro. Size raises questions about his chances in early rounds of draft.

11. Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd’s thank you to Gator Nation.

12. A record 74 underclassmen have declared for the NFL draft. That list includes 33 players from the SEC. Mel Kiper’s mock draft has Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel and Damontre Moore as the top two picks.

Coaching News

13. New Mississippi State cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend will be the second-highest paid position coach on staff at $250,000. Salary pool for MSU assistants could rise by as much as 10 percent.

14. A big reason why Geoff Collins was promoted to defensive coordinator at MSU - defensive production dropped in seven of the eight major NCAA statistical categories last season.

15. Check out James Franklin’s business card.

16. Why Auburn coach Gus Malzahn should go to bat for an early signing period in college football.

17. “Malzahn was arguably the winter’s most obvious hire.”

18. Fifteen BCS-conference schools have hired a new head coach this offseason.  Stewart Mandel grades them.

Update: Another head coach needed?  Oregon’s Chip Kelly to the Philadelphia Eagles?

Expansion/Realignment

19. Duke basketball coach Mike  Krzyzewski: “This is an assault on tradition.”

20. See our earlier story with comments from Texas A.D. Deloss Dodds.

SEC Basketball

21. Alabama at Mississippi State. Alabama guard Trevor Releford turned an ankle in practice Monday. The team’s leading scorer called “doubtful” for tonight by coach Anthony Grant. With Mississippi State banged up and shorthanded, staff, assistants, even coach Rick Ray have practiced this season.

22. Auburn at Arkansas. Auburn guard Josh Wallace on playing at Bud Walton Arena: “They have a great home atmosphere, but there’s nothing like crushing up a home crowd.” Razorbacks coach Mike Anderson looks to find some scoring beyond BJ Young and Marshawn Powell.

23. South Carolina at LSU. Gamecocks still trying to learn Frank Martin’s aggressive man-to-man defense. Depth an issue at LSU, especially with Johnny O’Bryant battling a lingering ankle sprain.

24. Georgia at Missouri. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope accounts for 28.4 percent of Georgia’s scoring – only Bulldog to average double-figures. Tigers discovering life isn’t easy without leading scorer Laurence Bowers - need someone to fill the offensive void.

25. Raising some questions about the future of Georgia coach Mark Fox.

26. Florida travels to Texas A&M Thursday. Gators are third-best in the conference in rebound margin.

27. John Calipari on the physical play last night between Kentucky and Tennessee: “This is a man’s game and this is a man’s league we play in.”

28. Tennessee sophomore Jarnell Stokes played just 15 minutes last night against Kentucky – had more fouls than points.

29. Sports Illustrated’s Andy Glockner: “I’d expect Kentucky to scrape through enough SEC games to make it into the eventual Field of 68, but its margin for error isn’t great.”

Extras

30. Katherine Webb will cover the Super Bowl for Inside Edition.

31. Brent Musberger, the man who helped launch Webb’s career, on ESPN’s apology for his comments: ”Individuals say what individuals say. And corporations do what corporations do.”

32. The golden age of Texas quarterbacks.

33. The NCAA will meet and vote on reducing the size of its rulebook.

34. Study: Emergency room visits tied to energy drinks have doubled since 2007.

1. SEC Bowl Observations: VU, LSU, MSU, USC And UGA

2. Missouri A.D Mike Alden On Expansion: “There’s More Coming. It’s Not Over.”

3. Observations On Florida’s Nightmarish Sugar Bowl

4. As Memphis Fights To Keep Schools Out Of Its Backyard, Hogs And Vols Should Sneak In/ D’oh! Memphis-UT Talking About New Hoops Contract

5. A Conference-By-Conference Look At Bowl Success

6. Huskers’ QB Says Big Ten Defenses Better Than SEC’s

Just a few thoughts that ran through this writer’s head while watching the SEC’s first five bowl games this week:

*  Vanderbilt won its ninth game of the season on Monday.  As you know by now, the Commodores’ win in the Music City Bowl secured the program its best season since way back in 1915.  But the win over NC State did something else, too — it produced James Franklin’s first win over a solid FBS opponent.

Going into Monday’s game, Vandy under Franklin had gone 0-10 against FBS teams with winning records, 11-1 against FBS teams with losing records, and 2-0 against FCS foes.  (If 6-6 Ole Miss wins its bowl game against Pittsburgh, VU will have won two contests against FBS teams with winning records.)

Now, heading into Monday’s game, North Carolina State was a 7-5 team that had just gotten its coach fired.  So this was not akin to Vandy knocking off Alabama or Florida.  But just as Dan Mullen had to finally beat a West Division team not named Ole Miss to keep people from repeatedly bringing that criticism up, Franklin has now silenced one of the barbs lobbed at him by rival fans.

*  Not only did Vanderbilt finish 9-4 this season, but the Dores won seven games in a row to end the year.  That’s currently the longest winning streak in the SEC.  Just let that one roll around in your head for a bit.

Matter of fact, after an 0-2 start to the season, Vandy finished 9-2 the rest of the way.  The Commodores also scored 38 or more points in five of their last six games.

Regardless of schedule strength, those are some solid accomplishments.  Fantastic accomplishments for a traditional cellar-dweller like Vanderbilt.

*  With every step forward, there’s always a new challenge.  After a 6-7 first year, many wondered if Franklin could build on his surprising start.  He did.  Now he’ll have to start winning with the guys he’s been recruiting.

Bobby Johnson — as we’ve noted several times before — deserves credit for leaving Franklin a roster stacked with redshirt juniors and seniors.  Now those players have had their run and the recruits Franklin and his staff have brought in will have to take their place.  Franklin has been able to get more out of Johnson’s leftovers than expected, so he should do well with some of the higher-profile recruits he’s wooed to Nashville.  But his team will be a bit younger moving forward.  Winning with a less experienced roster will be his next challenge.

*  Say, did you see our prediction for the Chick-fil-A Bowl?  We had Clemson edging past LSU 24-23.  Turns out they edged past them 25-24.  Currently we’re 5-0 picking SEC bowl games and 3-2 against the spread.  Hey, we’ll take 60% against the spread.  The rest of our SEC bowl picks (minus the BCS title game) can be found right here.  

And in case you’re wondering, we’ve got Florida to cover even though we think tonight’s Sugar Bowl will look a lot like last night’s Orange Bowl… with the deeper team pulling away late.

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Alabama 38 – Mississippi State 7

1. In five SEC victories, Alabama has outscored its opponents 209-34.

2. Nick Saban upset when second-team defense loses shutout.  ”I got upset with the backup players because they are better than that.”

3. Kevin Scarbinsky: “Alabama doesn’t just win football games. Alabama puts everyone to sleep.”

4. MSU cornerback Johnthan Banks: “I haven’t played a team like them since I’ve been in college.”

5. Largest margin of defeat for Bulldogs under Dan Mullen.

6. Alabama fans chant in fourth quarter: “L-S-U, L-S-U…”

Vanderbilt 49 – UMass 7

7. Commodores put game away with four touchdowns in just over five minutes in third quarter.

8. Both defense and special teams get a touchdown.

An MRI on Friday revealed why Derek Dooley had been feeling pain for several months — he had a fracture in his hip and needed immediate surgery.  That surgery came yesterday.  And because of it, Dooley’s fracture may be a bad break for a second reason.

Heading into what’s possibly the most important game of his career Saturday night in Starkville, the coach will miss practice today and could miss practice again tomorrow.  He’ll also have to coach Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State from the press box.

For a team desperate for a win, the Vols will now have to deal with not having their head coach on the sideline with them.

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Arkansas at Auburn

1. Both teams badly need a win.

2. “This contest has been referred to a pillow fight.”

3. “Largely unnoticed nationally, Arkansas and Auburn built an entertaining divisional rivalry over the course of the last decade…”

4. One of these things will happen today. Arkansas hasn’t been 1-5 or worse since 1958.  Auburn hasn’t started 1-4 since 1998.

Mississippi State At Kentucky

5. With two freshmen quarterbacks expected to play, how can the Wildcats upset the Bulldogs?

6. Expect to see plenty of no-huddle sets from UK.

7. Watch the first down matchup between the MSU offense and the Kentucky defense – UK giving up 5.5 yards per play on first down.

8. MSU has never won four straight against Kentucky – but that could happen today.

In a day and age when everyone’s dying to find a good scandal, the following will get a whole lot of play in the press and on blogs and on messageboards: Mississippi State apparently figured out some of Auburn quarterback Kiehl Frazier’s playcalls during MSU’s 28-10 win over the Tigers on Saturday.

Egads.

According to The Dispatch newspaper of Columbus, Starkville and The Golden Triangle — long name for a small paper — Bulldog co-defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said, “it makes our job as coaches so much easier when (MSU senior linebacker) Cam Lawrence is signaling over his head every time they were calling a pass.”

Matthew Stevens of The Dispatch writes that Lawrence and sophomore linebacker Matt Wells deciphered Frazier’s calls by the end of the first quarter.  Senior defensive back Corey Broomfield added: “We do a great job of preparing and we knew what the play was before they ever ran them.  That’s not a joke.  We knew what they were doing, where the ball was going and who was getting it before the ball was snapped.”

And Lawrence said after the game on Saturday:

“My teammates and I got into (Frazier’s) head and that’s one thing I’m going to do every game if you’re on offense against me.  He would call out the signals and I’d tell everybody what the play was and he’d get that confused look in his face.”  

Now, that sounds like just a little bit of an exaggeration, but whether it is or isn’t Auburn will need to look into it.  When informed of the barking Dogs’ comments, Gene Chizik simply said: “I’m not aware.  We can rectify that problem.”

So is this cheating?  Did State steal their victory on Saturday?  The answer is yes… if you know absolutely nothing about football.  Or sports for that matter.

Teams have been stealing signals and signs for as long as games have been played.  Football and baseball.  College and pro.  With binoculars, microphones, still cameras and video tapes.  It happens.  A thumbs-up to State for picking up on what Auburn was doing.  A thumbs-down for being dumb enough — what was State’s co-defensive coordinator thinking? — to tell every future opponent that the Dogs like to steal signals.  You can bet teams will now shake up their checks, audibles and hand signals before facing MSU from here on out.

The bigger issue is that Chizik, Frazier and new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler don’t need to be giving their fans any more reasons for doubt.  And having a system in place that the other team supposedly decodes in 15 minutes probably doesn’t inspire confidence in AU supporters.

Byron De’Vinner just keeps saying more and more and more.

The Tennessee-based former 7-on-7 coach of current Mississippi State freshman Will Redmond is on the stump.  He’s talking more than Obama and Romney combined.  And everyone he speaks to seems to get a little more information out of him.

For backstory: The NCAA is looking closely at Memphis.  The NCAA is also looking closely at Mississippi State’s recruitment of Redmond, a Memphis native.  MSU receivers coach Angelo Mirando resigned abruptly just before the season.  NCAA investigators spoke with Redmond’s coaches at Memphis’ East High School who apparently pointed a finger at De’Vinner.  De’Vinner attempted to clear his name by calling into a syndicated Magnolia State radio show on Tuesday and saying that he witnessed a booster give Redmond what amounted to a $200 handshake.  Then De’Vinner opened up further to Yahoo! Sports.

Now, there’s more.  De’Vinner told Nashville radio station WGFX-FM yesterday that “there’s more to this than a $100 or $200 handshake.” 

Then last night, ESPN reported that De’Vinner told the network that now-disassociated State booster Robert Denton Herring provided illegal benefits to “five or six” Bulldog athletes.  ESPN’s Joe Schad — Dan Mullen’s gotta love that — was told that juco defensive lineman Denico Autry was one of those who received improper gifts.  “Robert Denton Herring loves State,” De’Vinner told Schad.  “And he was going to do whatever he could to help State.”  In addtion, De’Vinner said Herring wanted him to help steer other recruits of Georgia, LSU and Alabama in MSU’s direction.  De’Vinner claims he would not.

Want more?  Okay.  De’Vinner also spoke with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal yesterday and he told that paper that Redmond was offered $6,000 by Herring to “shut down” his recruitment and commit to the Bulldogs.  He did say that Redmond “never took it… that’s my understanding, he didn’t.”  But he then added: “I can’t say if he did or didn’t, because I didn’t see it.”

And apparently State wasn’t the only school willing to pay cash for Redmond.  According to De’Vinner, another BCS school offered $60,000 for his services.

While others might have been interested in his player, De’Vinner only interviewed for a job at Mississippi State (so far as he’s admitted).  He told The Jackson Clarion-Ledger that “the interview was supposed to be a formality to pretty much get Will (to sign).”  There’s more:

“But after I interviewed it shocked them, because of the way I sold myself, and it went from being a formality to they wanted to hire me.  Compliance wasn’t sure because I didn’t have any experience in the position, and so did the athletic director (Scott Stricklin).”

Meanwhile, when asked about the situation yesterday, Mullen said, “The NCAA is doing their work on that and we’re not commenting on any of that stuff at this time.”

Naturally, the more De’Vinner speaks, the more mud is being slung back in his direction.  From year-old quotes from a Tennessee high school coach — “He attaches himself like a leech, then starts sucking your blood.” — to his own issues trying to land a coaching job at Tennessee high school past season — “… he had some licensing issues…” — The Tennessean reports that De’Vinner is seen by some as a saint, by others as a sinner.

One person mixed up in one of De’Vinner’s claims to Yahoo! Sports has already emailed The Clarion-Ledger to say that the 7-on-7 coach’s story regarding him is bogus:

“I have spoken with MSU compliance and the NCAA.  They have asked that I remain silent until all the details are sorted out.  The story is inaccurate.” 

That story concerned Herring arranging for De’Vinner to receive free lodging and food while accompanying Redmond to Starkville on a recruiting visit.

Oh, almost forgot this one.  De’Vinner also told The Clarion-Ledger that he recently spoke to Herring and that the ex-MSU booster wanted him “to keep quiet.”  Ya think?

So what do we know?

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