Exactly three months from today, Alabama and Texas A&M meet on the football field.  In between now and then, expect plenty of Internet chatter, perhaps the occasional verbal shot and maybe even a Twitter dustup or two.  Texas A&M AD Eric Hyman got the ball rolling Thursday night.  Speaking to the Brazos County A&M Club Coach’s Night, Hyman told the crowd:

“What do the moon and Texas A&M have in common? They both control the Tide.”

Of course, Texas A&M defeated Alabama last fall.  Speaking to a crowd of about 800, Hyman also told coach Kevin Sumlin he “wants to be able to say the same thing” next year.  When it was his turn to speak, Sumlin said, “No pressure, Eric. Thank you.”

This being the age of instant media. no verbal shot can be fired without immediate commentary from the Twitterati.  Radio host Paul Finebaum chimed in, saying “Nick (Saban) is going to be mad!” to which A&M president R. Bowen Loftin replied, “Paul, he is already mad.”

Alabama travels to Texas A&M on September 14th.  Until then, expect plenty of verbal repartee in 140 characters or less.  Enjoy your summer.

P.S. Something about the line “the moon and Texas A&M” makes me think of  ”the moon and New York City” from the Christopher Cross song Arthur’s Theme.  Yes, it’s in my head and now it can be in yours all day. You’re welcome.

In the end, there was no need for added security when Alabama coach Nick Saban visited Athens, Tennessee for a speaking engagement last night.  More seats, more water and more Gatorade, on the other hand, would have been handy.

After about a hundred complaints from Volunteer fans, the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce’s benefit dinner was so packed that the line of fans stretched more than a city block a full hour before Saban grabbed the mic under large tent.

Fans from Alabama, Georgia and, of course, Tennessee were in attendance and a smattering of Vol supporters — in the words of The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Evan Woodberry — “mingled comfortably with the hordes in crimson.”  According to Andrew Gribble of The Birmingham News, 900 of the 1,500 tickets sold were snapped up by out-of-state residents with one group traveling all the way from Michigan to hear Saban speak.

Among the coach’s comments on the night:

*  “I don’t really know that much about Butch (Jones), but I have a lot of respect for him.  He’s had success everywhere he’s been.  I’ve got a lot of respect for the University of Tennessee.”

*  “I’m not going to talk a lot about football.  I’m going to talk about how you win.  There’s no way you can be a good leader if you’re not willing to serve other people.”

*  “Mediocre people don’t like high-achievers and high-achievers don’t like mediocre people.  I know I’m old fashioned, but I believe it, it works for me, and that’s why I have success.”

*  “We’ve been up here several times and we do some things for people.  This is not about Tennessee.  This is not about Alabama.  It’s about what we do for people.  We try to support charities and we’re here to support the chamber today.”

*  “This is a lot like the town I grew up in, filled with a lot of people with down-to-earth values.  A lot of great people just like you in that town kept me on the straight and narrow.  And you’re doing that for somebody right now, even if you don’t know it.”

The Chattanooga Times Free Press also filed a report on Saban’s speech.  Fifteen-hundred people, busloads from far off states, and multiple newspapers and television stations covering the event.  That’s a pretty good tent revival by anybody’s definition.

SEC Football

1. Does Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel have a baseball future?  Drafted in the 29th round by the Boston Red Sox.

2. Oddsmakers expect a lot of close Florida games this year. “Of Florida’s 12 games, six of them have a spread of six points or less.”

3. A new border war battle in the SEC - Arkansas vs. Missouri.

4. Former Tennessee defensive back Daniel Gray has made it official – signed his grant-in-aid with Utah State.

5. Kevin Scarbinsky on Mississippi State’s NCAA penalties: “The slight Mississippi State penalties are just another sign that the NCAA’s law-and-order division is a shell of its former self.”

6. Current Denver Bronco and former Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller on Johnny Manziel’s NFL chances: “Him and Russell Wilson are definitely the same height, and you see the type of success Russell Wilson had. I think he’ll definitely have success.”

7. Auction for Nick Saban lake house property delayed three weeks because of  ”a surge of late interest.”

SEC/College News

8. Mark Story:  ”Most Wildcats fans I encounter seem almost giddy over the state of UK athletics.”

9. Chad Jones played football and baseball at LSU.   Drafted by the NFL’s New York Giants in 2010, he was drafted by MLB’s Cincinnati Reds on Friday.

10. Former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro reportedly claiming he used inside information from Miami coaches to bet on football games.

11. Can college athletics be reformed? “The question is whether anyone is brave enough to pursue them.”

12. Academic fraud scandal cost North Carolina more than $500,000 – in public relations bills.

13. Want to buy Terrelle Prior’s 2008 Big Ten title ring?

SEC Basketball

14. Joe Walljasper on a current Memphis Tiger and former Missouri Tiger: “What do you do with a problem like Michael Dixon?”

Extras

15. Arizona State baseball player Cory Hahn’s career lasted three games – he was paralyzed in 2011.  The Arizona Diamondbacks made him their 34th round selection on Saturday.

16. 19-year old Hank Aaron’s pivotal 1953 season in Jacksonville. Hit .362 but committed 36 errors – as a second baseman.

17. Does Tennessee have the best looking girls in the SEC?

SEC Football

1. What could boost the fortunes of Tennessee football over the next five years?  The retirements of Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier would help.

2. Running back Marlin Lane not officially reinstated at Tennessee but an announcement is expected soon.

3. Last national title for Georgia was 1980.  Is this the year they can finally get over the hump? Vegas has Georgia as the favorite in all 12 regular season games.

4. Similar story at Alabama – Tide favored in every contest.  In SEC action, favored by an average of 20.9 points.

5. Auburn an underdog in every SEC game this year, according to the Golden Nugget.

6. Lines on 10 of the biggest games this fall. Ten not enough? Here’s 250 point spreads  from the Golden Nugget.

7. Departures at Kentucky include sopohomore receivers receivers DeMarcus Sweat and Bookie Cobbins. UK will add four receivers this fall.

8. Why Kentucky needs to be dialed in for the season opener against Western Kentucky.

9. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier on the league’s head coaches: ”You don’t see many former players from the league coming back [to the SEC] to be head coaches anymore.”

10. Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel set to debut in a country music video this afternoon.

11. If professional baseball doesnt’ work out for Kohl Stewart, Kevin Sumlin says he can always play football for the Aggies. See our recruiting notebook from earlier today for more on Stewart.

12. What does Auburn coach Gus Malzahn want to see in his starting quarterback?“Thinking like a coach out on the field, as far as the reads go and everything that goes within a play.”

13. Football tickets, sideline passes and Nick Saban’s lake house – all up for sale to the highest bidder.

14. Saban: “To me, everybody always asks, ‘Why aren’t you happy about this or that?’ (and it’s) because I am thinking about the next thing,”

15. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel likes the potential of his defensive line: ”It’s a league where you’ve got to be good up front.”

16. 96 percent of football players at Missouri in the last five senior classes have earned their degrees.

SEC/College News

17. Who owns the images of college athletes? Former Alabama player Tyrone Prothro wrote a  book and wanted to use a photo from a famous catch in 2005.  Alabama told him he would have to purchase it.

18. Search firms typically cost universities about $75,000 to identify coaching candidates.  Are they worth the money?

19. College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta under construction and selling commemorative bricks.

20. Miami commit on turning down Urban Meyer. “It looked like he was a baby about to cry. It was so funny.”

SEC Basketball

21. Trial for former Auburn basketball player Varez Ward set for July 22.  Pleads not guilty to charges of trying to fix a game in 2012.

22. Kevin Scarbinsky on Ward: “He may be the worst thing to happen to Barbee and Auburn basketball in a string of bad things that have plagued the program.”

23. Byron Samuels is Georgia’s new operations coordinator. Former assistant to Jerry Green at Tennessee.

24. The debate over former Missouri guard Michael Dixon, now with Memphis.  Should he be allowed to play next season?

25. New players will look a lot like the old players at Missouri – at least when it comes to their jersey numbers.

26 .ESPN’s Chad Forde on the odds Nerlens Noel is taken No. 1 overall in the NBA draft: “60-65 percent.”

Extra

27. Brett Favre on his departure from the Green Bay Packers.  ”I was at fault.”

It’s no secret Alabama coach Nick Saban wants a nine-game SEC schedule.  South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has an idea on how he can get there – play Tennessee each year as a non-conference game. Here’s what Spurrier told Matt Hayes of The Sporting News.

“Nick Saban wants nine games, well he can have nine and be happy. Yep, nine games against conference opponents—but one of them won’t count, that’s all.

“Our commissioner seems to think if Alabama-Tennessee is not a conference game, no one will want to watch it. I told him, you think no one wants to watch South Carolina play Clemson? We’ve got North Carolina in the first game of the season; a border rival, our stadium will be full. You think no one will want to watch that?

“If the commissioner doesn’t think that’s a big game, he should come watch it. So there you go, Nick can have his nine (conference) games. I’m all for it.”

Spurrier’s idea could extend beyond Alabama-Tennessee and include other traditional rivalries such as Auburn-Georgia and Ole Miss-Vanderbilt.  He told Hayes he suggested the idea at last month’s meetings in Destin but it gained little traction.

SEC Football

1. Five players reportedly leaving Kentucky. Down to four scholarship receivers until incoming freshmen arrive. ”When you have a new coach taking over a 2-10 team, some bags are going to be packed.”

2. Tennessee running back Marlin Lane reinstated?

3.South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier 38 wins away from breaking Bear Bryant’s record for most conference victories by an SEC coach and drawing inspiration from the pope.

4. Recalling Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s first SEC Media Days appearance and his assessment of the SEC West:  ”What’s my assessment? It’s a pretty damn hard league.”

5. Alabama an early six point favorite over Texas A&M, first time less than touchdown favorite since 2012 BCS championship game. Crimson Tide 11.5 favorite over LSU.

6. Is Mississippi State a trap game for LSU?

7. Nick Saban is not opposed to a duel-threat quarterback at Alabama: “You would like to always be able to recruit players that fit your system. But sometimes that’s not always possible.”

8. Alabama makes the honor roll for academic success.  Saban:  ”I think that speaks volumes for the commitment that we have to academics…”

9. Saban wants 10 BCS games: “So if everybody played 10 BCS games, we’d certainly play nine in the conference.”  What about a national rival game for every SEC team?

10. A vision of an SEC regular-season kickoff game in Birmingham?

11. A chance to revive the Missouri-Illinois series in St. Louis?

12. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn on Jay Prosch:  ”He has a chance to be one of the better H-backs we’ve ever had.”

13. Former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain on his relationship with Malzahn: “My and Gus’s relationship is generally that of any former athlete and coach, especially ones who have shared times like we have.”

14. Dukes assistant coach Leon Wright joining Les Miles’ staff at LSU as a graduate assistant.

SEC Basketball

15. Former Missouri guard Michael Dixon is officially a Tiger, a Memphis Tiger.

16. Dixon on Missouri coach Frank Haith and assistant Tim Fuller: “They have been tremendously supportive of me. I love them for that and always have and always will.”

17. Florida will play Dixon’s new team in the Jimmie V classic in New York in December.

18. Frank Martin adding Perry Clark as an assistant coach at South Carolina.

Extras

19. Florida State looking for an athletic director.  Randy Spetman has left the position.

20. Oklahoma State Mike Gundy facing a lawsuit that involves an Oklahoma t-shirt.

21. Outgoing North Carolina chancellor says it’s time for A.D.s to handle athletics.

D-Day Anniversary

22. 69 years ago today, Operation Overlord started.  D-Day invasion led to Allies victory in Europe less than a year later. Ceremonies in France today.

23. President Reagan’s speech at the 40th anniversary: “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs.”

One of the few surprises to come out of this week’s SEC meetings in Destin is the discussion of a league-wide drug policy.  No other conference has one.  And while SEC leaders have mulled over the idea in the past, it’s never gained enough traction to be adopted.

According to Nick Saban, the SEC’s coaches don’t want to turn over their individual drug policies to the league office:

“I think it was pretty unanimous that we’d all like to handle our drug and alcohol situations in-house.  We all have policies in place… I’m for continuing to have the same kind of program that we’ve had, and not change it because somebody else wants to make it something that the SEC does — which I don’t even think the SEC wants to do.  I don’t want to speak for them, but I don’t see a lot of support for it.”

Perhaps not.  But the topic is back on the agenda for some reason.

Georgia — which has arguably the toughest drug policy in the conference — has been trying to rally support for a uniform policy all week.  We happen to believe they’re wise to do so.

But this idea has been 86′d by the SEC’s presidents at least twice before.  And Coaches, ADs and many of the same presidents say they’re not interested in doing an about-face on the issue.

So there’s really only one way this thing passes and that’s if Mike Slive puts his full weight behind it.  If he believes its in the best long-term interest of the Southeastern Conference — and if he can convince the league’s presidents of that fact — then the SEC will adopt a standard drug policy.  Too bad then that no one expects Slive to make such a push.  At least not tomorrow.

Scott Pioli made a name for himself in the NFL – first as V.P of player personnel for the New England Patriots and then as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.  While at New England, the Patriots did battle with Nick Saban’s Miami Dolphins.  Now Pioli is defending a former NFL rival and current Alabama coach.

Speaking to Mike Florio, Pioli was asked about his reaction to former Dolphins assistant Tim Davis calling Saban “the devil.”

“I’ve got to be honest, I was terribly disappointed. You know, I know Nick Saban, I’ve worked with Nick Saban for a number of years back in Cleveland.  First of all, I didn’t like it for Nick.  I know Nick is a tremendous coach and he’s a tough worker and he’s a tough boss but I know a lot of people who are tough bosses.

“I’ll say this about Nick, though:  I think he’s tough but he’s fair. He doesn’t ask anything of people that he hasn’t done himself or that he won’t do himself.”

Davis not only worked with Saban at Miami but also took a job under Saban at Alabama and that really got Pioli fired up.

“[Davis] spends a year out of football, can’t get a job, Nick creates a position at the University of Alabama to help a guy who’s been unemployed he shows his loyalty to the guy, brings him in, creates a position, pays him. This guy made the choice to come work for Nick and now a couple years later, he’s bashing a guy who really helped him… I just don’t understand the mentality of people who are given opportunities, they seize the opportunity, they get paid, and then some time in the future they start to air dirty laundry or their hard feelings toward someone. I just don’t understand why people can’t keep their mouths shut and move on.  So, to me, it’s one of these trends in sports that I see, that I just, truly disappoint me.”

And round and round we go.  We’ll see if this latest salvo sets off any more reactions or draws a comment or apology from Davis, who is now Florida’s offensive line coach.  Saban last week called the comments “terribly disappointing.”

SEC Football

1. Former Tennessee defensive end and coach Chuck Smith has been working with Auburn linemen in order to help revive the Tigers pass rush.

2. The biggest surprise on Auburn’s post-spring depth chart? Slot receiver.

3. Biggest question at Arkansas this fall?  Backup quarterback.

4. Nick Saban on being inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: “In the future, I’m going to be more committed in order to justify the honor you’ve given to me tonight.”

5. Clemson AD Dan Radakovich on what he learned from Saban at LSU.  ”With all the distractions around him, Nick stays focused on the things that are important for him and his program.”

6. Young LSU fans get to camp out at Tiger Stadium.

7. The SEC and the NFL draft – uptick can be explained by Alabama and LSU. “They have been pipelining athletes to the NFL far beyond what they’ve ever been able to do previously.”

8. South Carolina an 8.5 point favorite in the opener against North Carolina, Mississippi State a 6.5 point underdog vs Oklahoma State. Spreads for Week 1 are out.

SEC/College News

9. In Michael Adams’  16 years as president of the university, athletic department revenues at Georgia have climbed from $25.7 million to $92.1 milion. Barbara Dooley still upset how her husband was treated: “In my opinion, he has never said anything positive about Vince Dooley’s ability as the athletic director…I take personal offense to that.”

10. Mike Bianchi on linebacker Matthew Thomas who wants out of his commitment to Florida State and reportedly transfer to Georgia or Southern Cal.   “What sort of life lesson is Thomas learning if his first exposure to the adult world is the message that it’s OK to break promises and walk out on commitments?”

SEC Basketball

11. Alabama reportedly agreeing to a series with UCLA.

12. When Andrew Wiggins announced he was going to Kansas, fans started melting down on Twitter.  ”In 140 characters or less, they hoped he’d tear ACLs, be consumed by fire or die in a plane crash.”

Extras

13. O.J. Simpson planning a college speaking tour after he gets out of prison.

14. Questions surrounding Seton Hall’s softball coach -”Is this a coach out of control or overly sensitive players and parents?”

SEC Football

1. More than 3,500 people have signed an online petition supporting suspended Georgia player Kolton Houston.  The offensive lineman has been banned since testing positive for the steroid Nandrolone as a freshman.

2.Vanderbilt coach James Franklin received more than $1.8 million in compensation in 2011.

3. Tennessee coach Butch Jones: “I think the thing that separates our fan base from a lot of other fan bases is we’re very knowledgeable.”

4. Quarterback Wes Lunt is leaving Oklahoma State but the school won’t let him go to Tennessee or Vanderbilt.

5. Alabama coach Nick Saban part of the 2013 class inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Saban’s donated items include binders and handwritten notes – “6 seconds of hell.”

6. Mike Bianchi:  Everybody knows Nick Saban is not really the devil. Urban Meyer is.

7. Will Leitch: “Do not call Nick Saban ‘Satan.’ He will be very disappointed. He also might eat your soul.”

8. Auburn awaits the arrival of newcomers at the safety position.  Until they arrive – “the picture at both safety spots is a little bit murky.”

SEC/College News

9. Paid $1.2 million in his role as athletic director in 2011, Vanderbilt’s David Williams among the top five highest-paid ADs.

10. Former Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe received nearly $4.9 million in compensation and severance in 2011.

11. Andy Staples: In the past five years, the ACC has had more players drafted into the NFL (160) than any conference except the SEC (229).

SEC Basketball

12. Tennessee center Yemi Makanjuola reportedly transferring to UNC-Wilmington,

13. Vanderbilt forward Sheldon Jeter has decided to transfer. Beaver Falls, Pa. native wants to play closer to home. Averaged 5.5 points and 3.4 rebounds as a freshman.

Extras

14. Can Orb be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978?

15. Cam Newton’s fluctuating Q Score.