Quarterback Kyle Allen from Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., announced his commitment to Texas A&M on Monday.

Allen chose the Aggies over Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and UCLA.

Allen, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 5 pocket passer by ESPN RecruitingNation, decided on Texas A&M after spending the weekend considering what was most important to him in a school.

“I ended up with Texas A&M by far,” Allen told ESPN. “It met the criteria of what I wanted. I was really excited about it.”

The commitment by Allen has helped move Texas A&M to No. 1 in the Rivals Team Rankings for the class of 2014. The Aggies’ 12 commitments ranks second in the SEC to Tennessee, which dropped to No. 2 in the national team rankings.

Allen’s commitment to Texas A&M means the Aggies are no longer in the running for quarterback Brandon Harris from Bossier City, La. He released the following statement (in a very classy manner) following the news of Allen’s announcement:

Thank you Texas A&M fans and coachesyou were great!! twitter.com/bharrisqb1/sta…

— B.Harris (@bharrisqb1) June 3, 2013

Harris, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 5 dual-threat quarterback by ESPN and Rivals, is still considering Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Baylor and Ohio State. He plans to announce his decision on July 18.

Someone might to check to see if Gordon Gee’s bowtie is tied too tight.  Ohio State’s president is acting like a man who’s not getting enough oxygen to the old noodle.

According to the Associated Press, OSU held a meeting of its athletics council in December.  Gee — who served as chancellor at Vanderbilt from 2001 through 2007 — fired off a number of jokes about various schools and conferences during the meeting.  He even managed to insult Catholics.

We know this because the notes from that meeting have now gone public.

A few of his inappropriate jokes:

*  On why Notre Dame wasn’t invited to join the Big Ten: “The fathers are holy on Sunday and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week… You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that.”  (Gee is a Mormon.)

*  On what the Big Ten looked for in expansion partners: “… institutions of like-minded academic integrity.  So you won’t see us adding Louisville.”  (He then said the Big Ten wouldn’t be adding the University of Kentucky, either.)

*  When asked how Big Ten fans should respond when SEC fans say people in a 14-team league called the Big Ten can’t count: “You tell the SEC when they learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing.”

Gee also said that the Big Ten made a mistake in not adding Missouri and Kansas when it had the chance, which could possibly be taken as an insult by fans of Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers.

Most of Gee’s remarks sound like the kind of thing a person would say jokingly to his peers behind closed doors.  But in this day and age there are no closed doors.  Gee, a university president, should know that and he should have been more measured in his comments.

As for joking about Catholics, well, that was just pure stupidity for a man in Gee’s position.  If he were hosting a late-night talk show?  Fine.  But a university president can’t say those kinds of things.

Ohio State — sorry, The Ohio State University — has called Gee’s statements inappropriate and said that their president is undergoing a “remediation plan” as a result.  Gee himself put out a statement apologizing:

“The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for.  They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate.”

Some guys just don’t know how to tell a joke.  They go too far, they joke when they shouldn’t, etc.  That seems to be the case with Gee.  After all, this is the same man who once joked during the Jim Tressel scandal that he hoped the coach wouldn’t fire him.

As someone who once lived in Columbus, I can tell you that fans of Ohio State athletics were very glad to see him leave OSU in 1998.  And after he did away with Vandy’s athletic department, Commodore fans were just as happy to see his taillights heading right back up I-65 toward Columbus in 2007.

What could be more appropriate over a long holiday weekend than a barbecue story?  This one involves a Knoxville restaurant chain that’s left a bitter taste at Ohio State.

The ingredients here go back to 2008 and the infamous barbecue hosted by former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl.  One of the people in attendance that fateful day was future Ohio State basketball player Aaron Craft, who was being recruited by the Vols at the time.  A picture of Craft at Pearl’s house later surfaced, the NCAA got involved and Pearl, in essence, wound up getting fired for lying about it.

Fast forward to present day and a radio ad done for Calhoun’s, a Knoxville barbecue chain.  In the commercial, Steven Pearl, son of Bruce, says ”If there’s one thing we Pearls know, it’s how to throw a barbecue,” and later adds, ”absolutely no photography.”  But the trouble comes in the disclaimer, where a separate voice says, “Offer not available to Aaron Craft.”

Using a student-athlete’s name or likeness is an NCAA no-no and that’s when Ohio State stepped in.   “We have taken the necessary steps with all parties involved to alleviate any potential NCAA issues. Aaron Craft’s eligibility was never in danger. He had no knowledge nor provided consent,” said Ohio State associate athletic director of compliance Doug Archie.

What that likely involved was a “cease-and-desist” letter and presumably the ad will never run again.  But, of course, the amount of free media attention the ad generated has far exceeded whatever budget the campaign had.  Like many things in life, it’s far better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s recruitment has stayed the same since he committed to Clemson more than 15 months ago.

He continues to say he’s solid to the Tigers while more and more schools keep recruiting him.

The latest school is Alabama. The Crimson Tide offered Watson a scholarship last week, joining a list that includes Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State, Ohio State, Oregon and Southern California.

Watson, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 1 quarterback by Rivals.com, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he’s used to all the attention from other schools.

“I can’t tell them to stop coming by here,” he said. “They can still come by and check out another player on my team but still watch me. You know, I can’t ever tell a school not to recruit me because it’s an honor and a privilege for them to throw me a full ride offer and (tell) me to come play at the school and get a free education.”

Watson, who attends Gainesville (Ga.) High School, has entertained the idea of visiting other schools. He told ESPN RecruitingNation last month that he would take all five official visits this fall but has since softened on the idea. Instead, he told the AJC he has a list of “fallback schools” in case the status of his commitment to Clemson changes.

“For me, it would be Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, USC and Oregon,” Watson said.

Georgia is intriguing. The home-state school has shown strong interest in Watson, who’s the only quarterback in the 2014 class to receive a scholarship offer from the Bulldogs.

“They have let it be known that I am their guy for 2014 and the only quarterback they plan to go after,” Watson told ESPN. “Mike Bobo and Mark Richt said they want a local guy to take over their offense and lead them to a national championship.”

Georgia will be looking for a new starting quarterback in 2014 after senior Aaron Murray departs. Alabama will be as well with AJ McCarron entering his senior year in Tuscaloosa.

Auburn has a group of quarterbacks set to return in 2014 but no one has set himself apart from the others. That opportunity for early playing time, which Clemson can also offer as Tajh Boyd enters his final year in college, will be the sales pitch from several schools recruiting Watson.

He can expect to hear more from those schools between now and the day he finally steps on a college campus. As Gainesville coach Bruce Miller told the AJC, “every school” is interested in Watson. And he doesn’t seem bothered by the attention.

“That’s going to keep on happening,” Watson said.

Leslie eligible for LSU

Wide receiver Quantavius Leslie received good news this week when he learned he will be eligible to play at LSU this fall, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

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Four-star 2014 prospect Drew Barker says he’ll play his college football at  Kentucky.  Barker, a quarterback from Hebron, Kentucky, made the announcement just moments ago. Barker’s decision came down to Kentucky or South Carolina, with Tennessee also in the mix (those three hats were on the table) and even some whispers about Ohio State.  Regardless, Barker says he’s headed to Lexington and that’s good news for coach Mark Stoops.

Kentucky had made Barker its No. 1 priority since Stoops was hired as coach.  He’s considered a top contender for Mr. Football in Kentucky next season.

Gene Chizik has apparently had it up to the neck of his favorite leather jacket with allegations of wrongdoing in the Auburn football program during his tenure.  Specifically, it’s clear that now midway through 2013, he’s tired of having to answer questions about what went on way back in 2010:

“It’s really just hard to operate day by day with what I consider to be the most scrutinized, and sometimes villainized, program in the country…

What is somewhat of an enigma to me is how back in 2010 what started out as a Mississippi State program, all of a sudden became an Auburn problem.  It never ended.  It went on for 13 or 14 months and then there seemed to be a trail that kept following a lot of accusations, a lot of allegations but I’m looking for facts.  It’s very difficult for the Auburn people, and it’s not fair.”

Chizik — who spoke with reporters following a radio interview on WJOX-AM/FM in Birmingham yesterday — is of course referring to the recruitment of Heisman Trophy-winner Cam Newton.  In late-2010 it was determined that his father had asked MSU boosters for cash, only to be rebuffed.  The NCAA and SEC tried to avoid a real pickle — with Auburn sitting on top of the national polls late in the season — by ignoring Newton’s father’s actions.  The NCAA has since closed “the Newton loophole” and ruled that in future years if a parent or guardian acts as an agent, the player will be ruled ineligible whether he knows of the pay-for-play scheme or not.

The problem for Auburn at the time was the assumption by many that if Cecil Newton had asked Mississippi State for cash, he most likely had put his hand out when it came to the folks at Auburn, too.  Just ask Danny Sheridan and his bagman.  Or any number of other people who claimed to have tape recordings of the Newtons talking about cash with other schools.  (Of course, we never did learn the bagman’s name and we never heard any of the alleged tapes.)

Fed up with this continuing saga, Chizik also took a few shots yesterday at the journalists who’ve launched investigations into Auburn:

“I’m going to go one step further for all the people that are educated and have common sense.  If you don’t know how the NCAA works, they’re very thorough in their investigations.  Let me make that clear — they’re very thorough in their investigations.  You want me to back that up with fact?  I’ll name ‘em: Miami, Ohio State, North Carolina.  Most recently, Oregon.  USC.  So how could they come into Auburn and leave and find nothing, and that becomes a one-sentence statement after getting drug through the mud for 13 months?  How is that right?  It’s not right…

If everybody in journalism was measured 12 times on a Saturday by what they wrote, what they put out, what was on TV, it would be really interesting to see what their record would be, like coaches.  I’m not going to point the finger at anybody, I’m only going to address what I think were false, unsubstantiated allegations.”

First, Chizik is playing a pretty strong hand right there.  The NCAA will sometimes go beyond its own rules — in the case of Miami, for one — to uncover evidence of wrongdoing at a school.  Yet in three years of digging into accusation after accusation at Auburn, the governing body’s investigators have dug up nothing to date that will stick.

That hasn’t kept fans and some in the media from simply assigning Auburn a bit of guilt anyway.

At MrSEC.com, we call this the John Calipari Syndrome.  There might have been some major issues around that coach’s past programs — at UMass his star player had an agent while in school and at Memphis a player was initially cleared to play by the NCAA only to be ruled ineligible after the fact — but Calipari has never been specifically charged with any wrongdoing.  The NCAA has trailed him for years, but they’ve found nothing.  You can be sure other coaches are watching him and the Kentucky program closely  — like Auburn, UK has an NCAA rap sheet that is hard for people to ignore — to make sure there’s no hanky-panky underway in the Commonwealth.  Yet there’s never been so much as a peep about even little things… like too many phone calls to a recruit or a dreaded “butt dial.”

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According to Jason deBruyn of The Triangle Business Journal — an online site covering business news in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill triangle of North Carolina — UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham is looking for cash.  Lots of cash.  As in 40% more athletic department revenue.

According to deBruyn:

“The Tar Heels operate on just more than $70 million for 28 sports (13 men’s and 15 women’s).  While that’s a nice chuck of change, it’s less than other major universities like Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Ohio State and Texas, all of which, except for Ohio State, offer fewer total sports.

Florida, Ohio State and Texas each count operating expenses north of $100 million, with Texas shelling out $125 million for only 20 total sports, the fewest of all the universities listed above.

Getting UNC-Chapel Hill to $100 million will not be easy, and won’t come from just one magical source, says Cunningham…”

Speaking last Wednesday, Cunningham said reaching the $100 million level will require increased ticket sales, donations, sponsorship deals, and media rights deals.

You think Jim Delany or Mike Slive might point out that conference realignment can serve help to boost athletic department revenues, too?  For that matter, do you think John Swofford’s ears might have perked up when he got wind of those remarks?

Last month, Ohio State president Gordon Gee got the sporting world a’talkin’ when he said “there has been ongoing discussion” within the Big Ten regarding further conference expansion.  Maryland and Rutgers have already accepted invitations to join the soon-to-be 14-school league.  The cost of Maryland’s move will eventually decided in the courts barring a negotiated settlement with the ACC, the school’s current home.

It appears that Gee and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith must have different definitions of the term “ongoing discussions.”  That’s because the employee has seemingly refuted the statement made by his employer just about 30 days ago.

Smith told CBSSports.com:

“I think you’re going to have all types of rumors about us and the Big XII.  We’re not doing anything right now.  We’ll sit and evaluate Rutgers’ and Maryland’s transition.  We don’t want to screw that up.  Right now we’re not aggressively pursuing anyone.”

Most believe that the Big Ten and Virginia (and possibly Georgia Tech and North Carolina and others) are biding their time until Maryland’s exit fee is finalized.  At that point, additional Big Ten moves will come.

Regardless of his intent, Smith’s statement certainly doesn’t quash those theories.

As for the Big Ten “not aggressively pursuing anyone,” well…

When Urban Meyer arrived at Ohio State a little more than a year ago, he brought with him an SEC-style tenacity (or ruthlessness) for recruiting.  The fact that Meyer recruited players who had already committed to other Big Ten schools ruffled the feathers of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema… who’s since taken the Arkansas job, moved to the SEC, and started flipping other schools’ commits his own self.

All’s fair in love, war, and recruiting.  Which is why Meyer shouldn’t be too upset to learn that Nick Saban’s Alabama staff is still pursuing Marcelys Jones, a 4-star offensive lineman who’s committed to Ohio State.

Jones told Scout.com:

“I’m supposed to speak to Nick Saban later today.  They said they liked my film and said I would fit in with the players they recruit. They said I could help them a lot if I would go down there to play. I told them I’m still committed to Ohio State, but they said they didn’t really care about that at all. They said they go after who they want and don’t pay attention to who’s committed.”

There’s nothing illegal or under-handed about trying to change the minds of committed players.  It’s part of the game.  And no one plays the game better at the moment than Saban and his crew.

1. Did you know?  Cam Cameron – the man thought to be LSU’s next offensive coordinator - was a groomsman at Les Miles’ wedding back in 1993.

2. Are Nick Saban and Urban Meyer on a collision course? “10 of Ohio State’s 24 signees came from SEC states. Meyer knows how and where to go after players that can win national titles.”

3. Only four returning receivers caught passes last season at Kentucky.  That leaves plenty of room for the incoming crop to make its mark early.

4. Behind the scenes with Tennessee coach Butch Jones and his statewide tour this week.

5. John Adams on the challenges Jones faces: “In a conference famous for defensive speed, Tennessee once was a frontrunner. It now has one of the slowest defenses in the SEC.”

6. Other big challenge at UT - donations to the athletic department fell by more than 25 percent in 2012.

7. Brice Ramsey joins a very crowded quarterback group at Georgia.  Starter Aaron Murray returns along with three backups who don’t have redshirts to burn.

8. The most talented group of new players at Auburn is along the defensive line.

9. When Auburn begins spring practice, a position to watch will be linebackers.

10. One of the Ole Miss signeees expected to see playing time fall?  Defensive tackle Herbert Moore, who proved to be one of the Rebels best recruiters in the Memphis area.

11. New receivers coach Pat Washington brings plenty of SEC experience to the Missouri coaching staff.

SEC Basketball

12. Tennessee has faced the five leading scores in the SEC its last five games.  Each of them met or exceeded their scoring average.

13. Should others in addition to Reginald Buckner been ejected from the Ole Miss-Missouri game? Has Missouri’s Alex Oriakhi replaced Marshall Henderson as the new instigator in the SEC?

14. What’s next for Ole Miss?

15. The good news for Missouri – they’re 6-0 in the SEC at home.  Bad news for the Tigers – four of the next five are on the road.  The one home game is against Florida.

16. Recovering from a high ankle sprain, Florida forward Casey Prather came off the bench Saturday to give the Gators 12 points and five rebounds. Florida at home against Kentucky Tuesday night.

17. First place in the SEC will be on the line when the Gators and Cats meet in Gainesville.

18. “There seems to be a perception that this Alabama team is underachieving…The truth is, this team is overachieving.”

19. John Calipari on Tony Barbee:  ”Tony is not a good coach, he’s a great coach.”

20. Georgia’s five-game winning streak in SEC play is the first time that’s happened to the Bulldogs since 2001.

21. Mark Bradley: “The Bulldogs won a game here Saturday in which they managed 12 baskets in 40 minutes. (That’s one hoop every 200 seconds.)”

Extras

22. Saturday’s craziest game – Notre Dame beats Louisville in five overtimes.

23. Paterno family responds to Freeh Report on Penn State – call it “total failure.”