The College Football Hall of Fame snubbed the late great Derrick Thomas once more. The fact that Thomas was snubbed by the HOF once more is just wrong. Best quote from the article – “You think Upshaw comes off the edge with bad intent? He does, but compared to Thomas, Upshaw is the FedEx guy delivering a bouquet from the FTD florist. That’s why Thomas is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and deserves a place in the college hall, too.” [AL.com]

Arkansas head coach John L. Smith is now on Twitter. Let’s take a moment to pause, follow and admire his way of tweeting @JohnL_Smith. His press conferences are entertaiing, and I think we’re all in for a tweet…err treat….here. Smith is under a great deal of pressure for his shortened contract, but I think the Hogs will be better than advertised. [Arkansas Sports 360]

If anyone in the SEC wants to know about Texas A&M, just ask Will Muschamp. The former Head Coach In Waiting at Texas knows a little something about Aggie land. “It will be a very SEC-like atmosphere. It’s one of the few places in the Big 12 that I would say that about. You ever been to College Station?” Muschamp asked. “It’ll be the only time you go.” [Gator Sports]

Missouri safety Tavon Bolden dismissed from the team for disciplinary actions. Bolden was named Mizzou’s most improved player last year leading up to the season, but he was kicked off the team for academic reasons. Now this, and it brings a disappointing ending to his Tiger career. He finished his career with 14 tackles in 13 games played in 2010. [Kansas City Star]

For one, FSU has been making a racket about a possible move to the Big 12, and that would certainly throw a wrench in many things.

Yesterday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was quoted saying that “at some point, the ACC will produce a national champion”.

Dabo Swinney on ACC football: “At some point (the ACC) will produce a national champion”

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyCBS) May 15, 2012

The ‘at some point’ can be taken to mean several things.

At some point, college football will move to a 16-team playoff. That’s about 10 years away at the rate we’re currently going. So, I guess you could assume, at some point, the ACC will win a national championship. At some point, Kentucky was bound to defeat Tennessee, and that happened, too…after 27 years.

The ACC coaches certainly tried to help themselves by speaking out this week about wanting only conference champions to be in the playoff, instead of just the top four teams. The strength of schedule is concerning for them, and they could see themselves on the outside looking in many instances in the future, if the four playoff teams are not conference champions.

Swinney’s comment wasn’t exactly the caliber of Joe Namath’s guarantee about winning Super Bowl III. But the ACC needs to win one sooner rather than later – for the sake of the league and college football sanity, I suppose. The country just can’t keep sane knowing the SEC could dominate for several more years.

The ACC hasn’t had a BCS Champion since FSU back in 1999. The ACC’s record in BCS games isn’t exactly good, either (2-13, .15 percent).

Somewhere, I suppose, West Virginia is laughing about all those TDs they scored against you last year, Clemson and your ACC 2011 Champion.

The ‘at some point’ in Swinney’s quote is very vague. At some point, the ACC probably will win a national championship, but it just might not be in our lifetime.

US Presswire - Former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer

Two former SEC members will be joining the 2012 College Football Hall of Fame. Former LSU running back Charles Alexander and former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer will, in fact, be the two.

Alexander left the SEC as the career rushing leader with 4,035 yards, and he still ranks seventh on SEC’s all-time rushing list.

Fulmer won the 1998 BCS National Championship, and complied a 151-52-1 record while coaching the Vols.

Fulmer and Alexander were among 12 other former SEC greats on the ballot. The SEC players on the ballot who were not selected for the College Football Hall of Fame this season were (in alphabetical order) Alabama C Paul Crane, Tennessee WR Willie Gault, Alabama RB Bobby Humphrey, Tennessee DB Bobby Majors, Tennessee LB Paul Naumoff, Georgia OT Matt Stinchcomb, Alabama LB Derrick Thomas, Ole Miss TE Wesley Walls, Georgia DB Scott Woerner and Florida QB Danny Wuerffel.

This year’s ballot for the HOF included 76 players and eight coaches. The SEC now has 80 players and 27 coaches in the HOF.

Former Texas A&M head coach RC Slocum made it as well. Slocum coached the Aggies from 1989 through 2002.

The other chosen players for the HOF are as follows:

• Purdue HB Otis Armstrong (1970-72)
• California QB Steve Bartkowski (1972-74)
• Southern Cal wide receiver Hal Bedsole (1961-63)
• Notre Dame TE Dave Casper (1971-73)
• BYU QB Ty Detmer (1988-91)
• Rice QB Tommy Kramer (1973-76)
• Syracuse WR Art Monk (1976-79)
• Colorado State DB Greg Myers (1992-95)
• UCLA OT Jonathan Ogden (1992-95)
• Texas Tech DT Gabe Rivera (1979-82)
• Kansas State LB Mark Simoneau (1996-99)
• Air Force S Scott Thomas (1982-85)
• Colorado G John Wooten (1956-58)

The other chosen coach for the HOF was former Miami and Oklahoma State coach Jimmy Johnson (1970-83).

Gene Chizik says his young football team is growing up. He points to the pounding they put on Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl last year 43-24. The Tigers were without then RB Michael Dyer, and Onterio McCalebb stepped up to the plate. The Tigers return 16 starters, and there is a lot of reason for optimism in Auburn for 2012. “Our standard is not eight wins. That is not OK,” Chizik said. “You’ve got to go through those growing pains. We’re going through them. But those guys are going to be one year older.” [AL.com]

Florida received their 16th commitment for the 2013 class on Monday night. WR Marqui Hawkins from Columbus, Georgia, pulled the trigger for Coach Muschamp. Florida is doing a much better job recruiting in 2013, particularly at WR than last year. You think it has something to do with Charlie Weis being gone? [Gator Sports]

Missouri QB Corbin Berstresser was arrested yesterday. CB was driving a vehicle that allegedly hit another vehicle parked on the curb and fled the scene. Police were dispatched at 1:00 AM and saw CB fleeing the scene. He is the projected starter if current QB James Franklin cannot recover from his shoulder sugery in time for the first game. [Columbia Missourian]

Tennessee-NC State will kickoff at 7:30 PM in the Georgia Dome in the first game of the Chick-fil-A double header on August 31st. This game is quite worrisome for some Vol fans. NC State is not all that great, but I don’t think anyone knows how good – or bad – Tennessee will be this year. I’m holding my breath for this one. [Go Vols Xtra]

US PRESSWIRE

Junior Seau’s May 2 suicide prompted another round of media hand-wringing over the future of football. Less than a week after Seau’s death, journalists Malcolm Gladwell and Buzz Bissinger—the latter author of the famous “Friday Night Lights” book that spawned a feature film and television series—took to microphones in New York to argue for an outright ban on college football. Other columnists wouldn’t go that far while simultaneously worrying their own fandom was at risk as they confronted the reality of football’s long-term impact on player health.

That reality is now quantifiable. More than 70 lawsuits encompassing over 1,800 former players are now pending before various courts. The gist of these suits is that the NFL committed negligence. One lawsuit, headlined by former Utah and Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson, claims the NFL failed to perform its duty as “purveyors of safety rules” by “failing to adequately study, warn and/or implement reasonable rules and regulations to minimize traumatic brain injuries to its players.”

These lawsuits won’t simply go away. But they’re not an immediate threat to the existence of the NFL or college football. Litigation won’t bankrupt the sport. It will just make it more risky and expensive for NFL owners and colleges. So how will these stakeholders respond?

We’ve already seen the short-term response. The NFL, under Roger Goodell’s control, employs scapegoating as the first line of defense: increased fines against defensive players, a “bounty” scandal against the New Orleans Saints, and above all, further consolidation of Goodell’s power to impose discipline. But this isn’t a long-term strategy to address the threat posed by concussion litigation.

Traditionally, when an entrenched industry faces a serious threat to its continuing dominance, its first reaction is to seek protection from the government. The NFL already does this when it comes to stadiums. It’s logical to assume the league—and by necessary extension, college football—will at some point seek similar protections from concussion-related liability. And the government’s response to such pleas will likely be to place the entire sport under federal control.

There is political precedent. Sen. John McCain has pushed for years to federalize the sport of boxing. He’s proposed a United States Boxing Commission that would license boxers and set mandatory safety standards. It’s not much of a leap for McCain or some other member of Congress to suggest a similar scheme for football.

Superficially, a United States Football Commission might strongly appeal to the sport’s current stakeholders. The NFL and colleges would receive legal immunity from future negligence lawsuits in exchange for letting the USFC regulate safety standards. Pro players could gain an independent authority over Goodell with respect to fines and suspensions, while college players obtain relief from the NCAA’s “amateurism” restrictions. The media would get some relief from its uneasiness over football’s violence—after all, government regulation is a universal cure for all that ails you. And of course, the government would gain a new bureaucracy.

Remember, the government is already heavily integrated into football’s DNA. The NCAA owes its existence to former president Teddy Roosevelt’s threats to ban college football if the colleges didn’t impose new safety rules. Today, the NFL steals billions in local tax revenues to subsidize its incompetent ownership. Obviously the major college football powers—the exclusive source of new NFL talent—are government-controlled institutions. Add to that the NFL’s special antitrust privileges and intellectual property rights, and football is already well on the road to outright government control.

If we follow Sen. McCain’s proposed boxing model, a USFC would assume all rule-making functions from the NFL and NCAA. The USFC would also approve all equipment and even license individual players for the “right” to play the game. The USFC might also displace the NFL Players Association’s role in setting player contract terms through collective bargaining.

Again, this no doubt sounds appealing to many folks. Nobody likes the NCAA, and even NFL apologists would acknowledge the league’s conflicting rules as both promoter and regulator of the sport. The government seems like a logical savior.

But as experience teaches us, government regulation is the first step towards stagnation and decline. The additional costs, most of which are hidden, would make it harder for players to develop and flourish. Consider how the government regulates other “licensed” professions like law and medicine. The tendency is to impose high entry barriers, usually an unnecessarily long formal education requirement followed by licensing exams, which have little to do with a person’s abilities. Given that football players naturally have short careers, such barriers would only reduce their ultimate earning power while eroding the overall quality of the sport.

And as anyone who has paid a lawyer or doctor’s bill knows, government regulation means higher prices for the consumer. Football would become a more expensive product featuring less talented, less trained players operating under rules designed by federal bureaucrats to minimize any safety risk. If anything kills football in the United States, that would do it.

And quite frankly, there is no better tool for recruiting than DirectSnap.  You can keep up with everything going on in the recruiting game via Twitter, and it brings a whole new (and free!) way to get your information for recruiting in real-time.

Many SEC schools recruit the same caliber of talent and many of the same prospects because coaches evaluate prospects and decide if they can play in the SEC.  The South is full of prime talent – always has been and always will be.

Here are the early numbers for the SEC for 2013, and the rankings are based on 247Sports’ expert opinion, overall team ranking and SEC ranking:

Alabama Crimson Tide – 11 Commitments
Rank: No. 4 SEC, No. 6 Overall
Top Commitment: LB Reuben Foster (6-1, 246)
Still On The Board: DE Robert Nkemdiche (6-4, 275)
Alabama will go head-to-head with Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU and Clemson for the consensus No. 1 prospect in the country.  The Tide have been the long-time favorite, but look out for several dark horses.

Arkansas Razorbacks – 2 Commitments
Rank: No. 12 SEC, No. 55 Overall
Top Commitment: RB Kaleb Blanchard (6-1, 200)
Still On The Board: QB Austin Allen (6-2, 205)
Allen is one of the top-ranked QBs in the state of Arkansas, and he really likes the Hogs, along with Oklahoma State.  This will be a battle to the end, but the coaching situation is of obvious concern.

Auburn Tigers – 8 Commitments
Rank: No. 10 SEC, No. 16 Overall
Top Commitment: DT Dee Liner (6-3, 277)
Still On The Board: LB Reuben Foster (6-1, 246 committed to Alabama)
Foster transferred high schools, and he now goes to Auburn High with Auburn assistant coach Trooper Taylor’s son.  Do you think pressure from the Auburn fans will be there? I think so.  This one could come down to the end.

Florida Gators – 16 Commitments
Rank: No. 1 SEC, No. 4 Overall
Top Commitment: RB Kelvin Taylor (5-10, 216)
Still On The Board: OT Laremy Tunsil (6-6, 295)
Tunsil’s commitment will come down to Florida and Georgia for his services.  He loves both schools, and Florida is closer.  However, Georgia has immediate need on the OL.  This could come down to National Signing Day.

Georgia Bulldogs – 15 Commitments
Rank: No. 2 SEC, No. 3 Overall
Top Commitment: RB/ATH Derrick Henry (6-3, 240)
Still On The Board: DE Robert Nkemdiche (6-4, 275)
Georgia is trying to keep the most wanted man in recruiting for 2013 in state, and it will likely come down to Georgia and Alabama for his commitment, with LSU and Ole Miss being on the outside looking in.

Kentucky Wildcats – 1 Commitment
Rank: No. 14 SEC, No. 68 Overall
Top Commitment: OG Jacob Hyde (6-3, 315)
Still On The Board: OT Joey Bloomfield (6-6, 300)
Bloomfield is still on the board, but the Cats better woo him fast, because he could be cooling.  It’s hard for Kentucky to pull recruits in Louisville’s backyard.

LSU Tigers – 9 Commitments
Rank: No. 7 SEC, No. 12 Overall
Top Commitment: ATH Jeryl Brazil (5-10, 180)
Still On The Board: DT Robert Nkemdiche (6-4, 275)
The No. 1 overall prospect is a wanted man, and while most have penciled him as an Alabama man, LSU did make quite the impression on him.  Nkemdiche decided to push back his commitment to a later date until after his football season.

Mississippi State Bulldogs – 2 Commitments
Rank: No. 13 SEC, No. 59 Overall
Top Commitment: WR Brandon Wells (6-2, 175)
Still On The Board: RB Kailo Moore (5-10, 190)
The No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Mississippi will come down to an in-state battle between Ole Miss and State.  Which one will reel Moore in on NSD?

Ole Miss Rebels – 9 Commitments
Rank: No. 8 SEC, No. 14 Overall
Top Commitment: DT Marquel Combs (6-3, 305)
Still On The Board: DT Robert Nkemdiche (6-4, 275)
Nkemdiche’s brother currently plays football for the Rebels, and some think that his younger brother might join in Rebel Nation.  Ole Miss is certainly a dark horse candidate to land his services.

Missouri Tigers – 11 Commitments
Rank: No. 6 SEC, No. 11 Overall
Top Commitment: LB Nick Ramirez (6-2, 225)
Still On The Board: DE Elijah Daniel (6-4, 250)
Missouri needs big DL players immediately, and Daniel is just that.  He likes several schools, and Mizzou can sell him playing time.

South Carolina Gamecocks – 12 Commitments
Rank: No. 5 SEC, No. 9 Overall
Top Commitment: QB Connor Mitch (6-3, 220)
Still On The Board: DT Kelsey Griffin (6-2, 290)
Griffin is from Georgia, and the Bulldogs will try and keep this young man in state. However, the Gamecocks are right up there with the in-state Dawgs.  This will be close.

Tennessee Volunteers – 6 Commitments
Rank: No. 11 SEC, No. 31 Overall
Top Commitment: WR Camion Patrick (6-2, 198)
Still On The Board: CB Kendall Fuller (6-0, 175)
Fuller is a dynamic athlete, and Tennessee is right up there for his services, along with Virginia Tech, Clemson and Michigan.  Will this Maryland product pick the Vols, or stay out of the SEC?

Texas A&M Aggies – 15 Commitments
Rank: No. 3 SEC, No. 5 Overall
Top Commitment: WR Derrick Griffin (6-7, 210)
Still On The Board: DE Torrodney Prevot (6-4, 205)
The Aggies need a rush end, and he is the best available remaining on the board.  Griffin hails from the Houston area, and if the Aggies can pull get a commitment from him, it would help solidify that Houston-metro area.

Vanderbilt Commodores – 9 Commitments
Rank: No. 9 SEC, No. 15 Overall
Top Commitment: LB Nigel Bowden (6-1, 230)
Still On The Board: ATH Jalen Ramsey (6-0, 185)
Ramsey is one of the top prospects in the state of Tennessee right there in Nashville, and the Dores are going to do their best to keep this young man at home.  He’s a dynamic athlete who would have a tremendous impact on that program.

You see, beef melt is rotting cow pancreas and it stinks. It stinks so bad, it actually leaves a taste in your mouth. The odor is so unpleasant, it burns into your nostrils and you smell it for days on end, regardless of how much you shower. It lingers, it remains and it is hard to ever forget.

What does this have to do with LSU football? January 9, 2012 is beef melt. The BCS Championship game stunk. It left a terrible, bad taste in the mouths of LSU fans and it isn’t going to simply fade with time. This loss is going to linger and the only way to make it palatable is for two things to happen;

• Beat Alabama on 11/3
• Win a Championship

US Presswire

Last year, many in the LSU program felt that 2012 was going to be the year for the Tigers. The 2011 team was supposed to be young and good, just not great. The talent on the team matured quicker than expected and went on a tremendous run. Anything less than beating Bama and winning the BCS will make 2012 a failure. I realize that is harsh coming off a 13-1 season, but when a loss that bad overshadows an SEC championship? Well you get the picture of what it feels like to be a Tiger fan right now.

It’s not as if there isn’t plenty to be optimistic about. 2012 will be a banner year and should see the Tigers in position to reach another championship game. Vegas books have the Tigers at 5-1 odds to win it all next year while many way-to-early polls have the Tigers at No. 1 or No. 2. Still, the loss to Alabama is tempering some of the enthusiasm for next fall.

Yet, there are very legitimate reasons to believe this is the year for LSU. John Chavis returns a defense that will see as many as six players drafted in the first three rounds of next year’s NFL draft. Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery are both predicted to be taken in the top 10. Fellow defensive lineman, Bennie Logan is also emerging as one of the top tackles in the SEC. Secondary stars, Tharold Simon, Eric Reid, and the playmaker, Tyrann Mathieu will all be in the NFL this time next year.

Statistically, the Tiger Defense was incredible in 2011. There is a good chance the 2012 version will be even better.

According to Chavis, the speed of the defensive line will be even greater and quarterbacks in the SEC aren’t going to have much time to throw the ball. When they do, it will be into another nightmarish group of secondary personnel that just keep getting better with each passing year in Baton Rouge.

To complete the picture, the Tigers will have an outstanding group of young linebackers led by Kevin Minter. Tahj Jones is penciled in as a starter with as many as six other freshmen and sophomores competing for the third spot. Don’t let the inexperience fool you. This spring, true freshmen Ronnie Feist and Lamar Louis made strong cases to start and they might not be the best new lbs to hit campus. Kwon Alexander and Trey Granier are both supposedly built and ready for SEC play.

Offensively, Zach Mettenberger is finally leading the team. Recently, while speaking to fans, both John Chavis and Frank Wilson gave high praise to Mett’s talent and leadership. Although we have saw little of him in 2011, the LSU spring game was an all out aerial assault where Mett was able to make throws against some of the best DB’s in the nation. Mettenberger is also taking the reins of a warhorse that rushed for over 2500 yards and returns a stable of 5 running backs that could start for any other team in the conference. It is also an animal that returns a ton of NFL quality depth along the offensive line, most notably future 2013 first rounder, Chris Faulk.

Many inside and close to the program feel that this will be one of the most prolific Tiger offenses in LSU history. If teams are going continue to stack eight in the box to limit LSU’s ground game, LSU now has a triggerman to make them pay. Receivers Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham, and Russell Shepard are all capable of taking a 10-yard pass to the house and all are floored by the talent of their new signal caller. Rising stars, James Wright and Kaadron Boone are also more than capable of winding a DB on a long route as well.

Tiger fans should be ecstatic right? We should all be whipped into a frenzy and frothing at the mouth for the season to start? Well, not exactly, and possibly it is because of Zach Mettenberger. All this hype has begged the question…Why did he not play more last year? IF he is THE MAN to lead the 2012 campaign, then how come he couldn’t at least help in 2011? Mainly, why wasn’t he used on January 9th? Where was this silver bullet when the hounds (tooth) were taking over in the Superdome?

Even in optimism, January 9th lingers like a bad taste. Frank Wilson told fans that the program has a chip on its shoulder and will be playing with it all season. As a fan, I wanted to say I have a chip, too. Maybe mine will be knocked off on November 3rd under the lights of Tiger Stadium when Nick Saban rolls into Baton Rouge. Both teams should be undefeated again and the hype could eclipse last year’s battle of the century. If LSU wins that game as convincingly as it lost on January 9th, then Les Miles might be able to pull some folks back on his side of the fence.

Auburn WR Trovon Reed was arrested over missing court date for unpaid parking tickets. Reed said he paid the tickets last week, and he posted a $500 bond. Reed also said the coaches were aware of it and that he thought had taken care of it. Obviously he did not. Reed looks to have a breakout year on the field this year; he’s a dynamic athlete. [AL.com]

Arkansas grants a release to Kane Whitehurst. He was on an indefinite suspension since his April 1st arrest on a misdemeanor drug and drug paraphernalia charges. Whitehurst was one of the three who were arrested over the weekend for the burglary charges. Now, Whitehurst and Quinta Funderburk have both transferred from Arkansas, and both were WRs. [Arkansas Sports 360]

Florida was irrelevant in this year’s draft, but they could have several prospects go high next year. Seniors LB Jon Bostic, DT Omar Hunter, OT Xavier Nixon, OLB Lerentee McCray and K Caleb Sturgis could all get a look at the draft. Juniors DT Sharrif Floyd, OLB Jelani Jenkins, S Matt Elam and DT Dominque Easley will all be mentioned as well. Of everyone listed, Bostic and Elam could have the biggest potentials at the next level. [Gator Sports]

Mark Richt says next year’s signing class could be the largest, but he’s not saying how many he’ll sign. The Dawgs have experienced some attrition since this past signing day, and Georgia will back-count some signees to last year’s class in the 2013 class. Georgia could sign as many as 33 for 2013, but it will more likely be around 26-30. [AJC]

An article from columnist Roy Exum at The Chattanoogan gives you a look at what a certain player faced his going into his freshman year at Alabama, from Coach Bryant himself.

Chris is considered a scholarship player, and the letter, which Exum believes to be about 40 years old, was sent to him the summer before he enrolled at Alabama:

Dear Chris:

You will be expected to report for football practice August 17. We will expect you to arrive in the afternoon and our first meal will be served that evening at the dorm.

On the 18th, you will take your physical, including the mile run, get your room and locker assignments and participate in Photographer’s Day in the afternoon. Our first practice will be on the morning of the 19th.

I am expecting you to report in top physical condition, clean-cut, smiling, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and raring to go. Also, I am expecting you to be prepared to run, hit, pitch, kick, catch, sweat, smell and enjoy it. There are no easy ways but there are ways to enjoy the journey and we must find them.

I am also expecting you to work hard, eat well, sleep well, play well, display a winning attitude at all times, be a leader and help me sell the squad on what it takes to win and enjoy the journey.

I hope you will share your problems with me whether it be at home, at the dorm, in your school work, with teammates, with coaches, with training regulations, self-discipline or even flying a kite. If you do that, I will try to help you and, if I can’t, I’ll recommend you get a job, join the Army, or join the Foreign Legion, but, in any event, to reside in another state.

Nothing’s too good for winners. I want to love you, pat you, pet you, brag on you and see you hoot, run and shout and laugh, pray, hug, kiss, and win with humility.

If we lose, I want all of us to be unhappy, no one to have any fun, and expect only what is reserved for losers but take it with dignity while planning to come back.

Please remember us to your family and make your personal plans on how you are going to reach your goal – the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Sincerely,
Paul Bryant

HT: Roll Bama Roll

US Presswire - LSU Coach Les Miles

The ever-quotable Les Miles is back at it, again. Miles had a little warning for the Tigers and Aggies, who are the newbies to the conference in 2012. Miles was asked if he had any advice for both programs as they enter into the gauntlet of the SEC.

Miles’ advice was poignant and to the point:

“I would say ‘Strap it up,’” Miles said Tuesday. “They’re going to really not enjoy their welcoming to this conference.”

I think the consensus around SEC country is that both schools will need a few years adjusting to their new home, but it’s not like both teams are without talent so much they cannot compete.

LSU does not face Missouri in year one, but obviously, TAMU will be in the Tigers’ half of the division, and they will square off on October 20th in College Station.