SEC Football

1. The $425 million renovation of Kyle Field will begin November 10th – one day after Texas A&M’s final home game this fall.  A&M president R. Bowen Loftin: “This is probably the largest project ever done at Texas A&M.”

2. Will Kyle Field surpass Neyland Stadium as the largest in the SEC?

3. Where will Josh Harvey-Clemons play for Georgia this fall?  Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham could be tipping his hand.

4. Why so many missed tackles in college football? Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson: “A lot of the missed tackling in college football today is because the game has changed. It’s faster, it’s more spread out and there are better-skilled athletes playing than when I started out coaching.”

5. When spring practice starts at Auburn, the Tigers will have just two quarterbacks on scholarship in uniform, Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace.  Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee: ”There’s two guys that are going to get a lot of opportunity in the spring.”

6. Brent Dearmon hired at Auburn, third high school coach hired for an off-the-field role on the Tigers staff. He joins former Auburn cornerback Dell McGee and Chip Lindsay who’ve accepted positions on Gus Malzahn’s staff.

7. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has bought a home for $1.45 million.  According to the Fayette County property valuation administrator:  ”That makes it the third-highest single-family home sale in the past year.”

8. Mississippi State expects to improve its run defense in 2013.

9. Will we see top prospect Robert Nkemdiche lining up on the inside on passing downs this fall at Ole Miss? The Rebels secret to success?

10. Spring practice dates set at South Carolina. 

11. Most season-ticket holders at Missouri will pay the same price this year. No increase at Auburn this year.

12. LSU legend Billy Cannon released from a hospital on Thursday.  Had suffered a stroke earlier in the week.

NFL Scouting Combine

13. Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel is out to prove he’s worthy of the No. 1 overall selection and thinks SEC defenses helped him prepare: “SEC defensive lines are the best in the country.”

14. Could Alabama’s Chance Warmack make draft history?

15. Former Alabama center Barrett Jones is six weeks in to a four-month timetable toward full recovery.  Recovering from foot surgery.

16. Just four months removed from hip surgery, former Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen said there no “red flags” raised by teams on Thursday.

17. Former Tennessee offensive lineman Dallas Thomas is in Indianapolis but recovering from a torn labrum: “I might be injured, but I’m still the same player that I was.”

18. A hamstring injury hampered his senior season but Missouri linebacker Zaviar Gooden thinks he can run a 4.3 second 40-yard dash at the combine.  ”Yeah, it’s possible. I’ve done it before. I’ve just got to do it on the big stage.”

19. NFL combine invitees for all SEC schools over the last three years. LSU has the most – Vanderbilt the least.

NCAA Miami Investigation

20. With the formal charges made, where does Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith go from here?

21. Three former Miami assistants want their case dismissed because of mistakes by the NCAA. Update: NCAA reportedly agrees to hear the request.

22. Possible for Miami to sue the NCAA? “I think Miami would have a case.”

SEC Basketball

23. Do the recent struggles at Ole Miss spell doom for coach Andy Kennedy? Canceled his scheduled press conference Thursday.

24. Auburn-Ole Miss and Missouri-Kentucky are two bubble games to watch this weekend.

25. So who needs a win more Saturday – Missouri or Kentucky? Dick Vitale: “It’s much bigger for Kentucky.” But the Tigers are in need of a quality road win. ESPN’s GameDay will be on hand – a lonely job for the driver of the bus.

26. When it comes to fans - does Kentucky basketball equal Alabama football? “To me, they’re identical programs.”

27. Missouri’s Phil Pressey has his father to thank for making him a point guard: “My dad noticed I wasn’t growing. I wasn’t going to be a shooting guard. He said, ‘Son, you need to start passing the ball.’”

28. When Florida hosts Arkansas Saturday night, Billy Donovan wants to see more production from Patric Young. ”I would just like to see him rebound better.”

29. Nerlens Noel still the favorite to win the SEC’s Freshman of the Year honors.

30. Seth Davis on the NCAA Tournament selection process: “Regardless of what you think about the RPI, the fact is that most fans really have no clue how it is actually used.”

Extra

31. Tennessee lawmakers consider legislation that would require schools to adopt concussion p0licies.

32. New Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly hires a former Navy SEAL to be the team’s “Sports Science Coordinator.”

During a conversation with Michael Carvell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia hoops coach Mark Fox said all the right things regarding student-athletes who wish to transfer, at least from the perspective of most media and fans.  Ironically, the scribe and the coach still wound up having what the reporter calls a “spirited” Q&A.

Fox is a coach who believes kids should be able to transfer wherever they like so long as there’s been no tampering on the part of another school.  Fair enough, though we’ve written many times that in today’s PR-first world, coaches can’t win points by claiming tampering.  As soon as a coach restricts a player’s transfer options, he’s made himself a target for negative recruiting.  That said, Fox has no problem allowing players to transfer — even within his own conference — which is a rarity among most coaches:

“I think as coaches, as long as there hasn’t been tampering, I don’t see why you should preclude a kid on going somewhere where they can pursue their lifelong goals.  I don’t think, in those situations, that there’s any reason to try to steer them away from any particular school.”

I don’t know about you, but I like that answer.  But Carvell chose to follow up by asking what Fox thought about the recent backlash against coaches who “can move freely at a moment’s notice” yet still choose to restrict their players’ movements.  Again, Fox had already made it clear that he wasn’t one of those coaches.  But when hit with the “can move freely at a moment’s notice” part, Fox apparently bristled:

“That’s not true.  Coaches can’t move around freely.  Coaches are bound by buyout agreements and everything else.  That’s not accurate.  If I wanted to leave Georgia, which I don’t and never want to … there’s a buyout in my contract that discourages that from occurring.  For those who say coaches go wherever they want to go, that’s not true.  I think in 90-percent of the contracts, there’s a buyout provision that if a coach would leave, there would be something given to the school that he’s leaving.  I don’t think that has been portrayed accurately.  I think the big issue was when there has been tampering that leads to a transfer, there ought to be, from athletic director to athletic director, some ability in place for them to restrict kids to go to schools that have tampered with the current situation.”

What appears to be a bit of a tiff between two men who actually both believe players should be allowed to transfer at their will only escalated from there:

Carvell:  ”I realize that transfer restrictions can be a complex issue inside college basketball circles.  But I do think mainstream America sees it as ‘Why should coaches be able to move on and players can’t?’ like you mentioned.  That’s how they are seeing it.”

Fox:  “Why do they feel that way?  Because they read what Seth Davis or Michael Carvell write.  I’m glad you’re doing the story so you can accurately portray it.  Again, we’ve got no issues with any of it because I don’t have any guys leaving right now.  If, when we’ve had some guys leave, we’ll let them go wherever.”

Now that’s a hoot.  Two guys on the same side of an argument going tit-for-tat over a side issue.  Carvell might have been better taking his questions to Bo Ryan, the Wisconsin coach who recently got lit up like a Christmas tree for trying to bar one of his ex-players from playing at half the schools on the North American continent.  Instead he happened to find a coach who’s open to letting kids go… and he still managed to rile him up.

This is no knock on Carvell who we link to often and who’s writings we enjoy.  But in this case, it seems Fox’s first answer should have nixed the line of questions the reporter had prepared.

The folks at CBSSports.com believe — not surprisingly — that Bruce Pearl is going to be hit hard when the NCAA doles out penalties to Tennessee in June.

“We could argue for days that buying a player is way worse than lying to the NCAA about a cookout at your house, but it doesn’t matter because the NCAA doesn’t view it that way,” Gary Parrish said.  “Lying is the one thing that can absolutely get you buried, and I think Bruce is going to be lucky to survive this and honestly I’m not sure he’s going to.”

Parrish is joined in a video discussion by Seth Davis, Jim O’Connell and Jeff Goodman.

If you feel you still need a breakdown of what Pearl and Tennessee are facing, this video is an excellent breaker-downer.  (Probably just a pure “downer” for Vol fans.)