Each week, Matt Hayes uses his sources around the country to bring you insider knowledge about what’s going on in and around the SEC ahead of this week’s games.

This is what he’s hearing from coaches and NFL scouts in Week 13 …

The Tua question

I’ve been talking to NFL scouts all week (including a recent update in this week’s First and 10), trying to get a handle on how Tua Tagovailoa’s injury will impact his draft status.

There are 3 prevailing schools of thought from 5 NFL scouts I’ve spoken to:

1. Tagovailoa makes a complete recovery, and one of the NFL franchises that clears him medically will take him in the 1st round, maybe even in the top 10.

2. Tagovailoa’s rehabilitation is slower than anticipated, and NFL teams aren’t able to get a complete medical read on him. The draft projection then is late 1st, or more than likely, the 2nd round. Said one scout: “Is there any doubt the Patriots would take a chance on him at the end of the first round?”

3. Tagovailoa’s rehab hits a significant snag, and he returns to Alabama – not to play, but to finish school and rehab. The idea: He sits out a year, gets his degree (his family wants him to get a degree), gets healthy, then goes into the 2021 draft after working out individually for NFL teams.

“Before we do any what-ifs, we really have to sit back and let the process takes its course,” a scout told me. “We’re so eager to jump ahead of things, and I get it, everyone wants to know what’s next. But medical advances in this type of injury make it likely that he’ll be able to play at a high level again.

“Now, that’s discounting any ancillary problems like an infection, or something of that nature. But again, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves.

“Let’s all talk about this again in February, when we get a better idea of where he’s headed, as far as rehab and recovery.”

Said another NFL scout: “Tua’s game is a pocket passer. He moves in the pocket and buys time like few I’ve seen in the college game in a long time. And his accuracy is uncanny. He doesn’t need to be a guy that can extend plays with his legs, whether or not he still has that 100 percent ability. If he can move and throw and still generate velocity on those throws, his natural talent will take over.”

Making the move

Former 4-star quarterback Joey Gatewood, in the transfer portal after leaving Auburn late last month, already has begun visiting schools.

Gatewood has visited Kentucky, and and industry source told me he has scheduled a visit with Florida in the first week of December. Expect Gatewood to visit a handful of other schools, including LSU, Oregon, Mississippi State, Utah and Maryland.

Big Blue Watch

Florida State athletic director Dave Coburn has said he expects the Seminoles to have a coach in place by the end of the month.

That means Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, who one industry source said is one of a handful of coaches FSU has zeroed in on, could have a new job in less than 2 weeks – if he’s the final choice.

“I expect FSU to play (Florida) a week from Saturday, make an announcement Sunday, and introduce their new coach on Monday,” the industry source said. “There’s a time element here, and the sooner the better.”

Should FSU hire Stoops, he would owe UK $1.75 million in buyout money. To land Stoops – FSU’s defensive coordinator from 2010-12 before he left for the UK job — FSU will have to give him a significant pay raise. How big, you ask?

“I’d be shocked if it’s not at least a million a year increase,” an agent told me this week. “And it will be a lengthy deal with guarantees in any deal for any coach who takes that job after they blew out Willie (Taggart) after 21 games.”

Stoops makes $4.75 million a year at UK, and if his annual salary is bumped to $5.75 million at 6 years, FSU will have invested as much as $53 million to fire Taggart ($18 million buyout) and hire Stoops – or a coach of Stoops’ caliber and salary demand.

That’s $34.5 million for the new coach, and $18 million for the Taggart buyout. If it’s Stoops, you better believe FSU will spend another $1.75 million to buy him out of the UK contract.

The book on Muschamp

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the worst way possible to run an evaluation of a football program: South Carolina.

It’s absolutely more than fair that South Carolina president Robert Caslen and athletic director Ray Tanner are doing due diligence on coach Will Muschamp, whose team has struggled badly this season.

Caslen told the Florence Morning News that he did not ask Florida State officials how they came up with $18 million (almost as much as it would cost to buy out Muschamp) to fire Willie Taggart. But, he said, Tanner did.

Let me explain something: Athletic directors do nothing with football coach hiring/firings unless it’s first run by the president. There’s only one decision-maker with these critical athletic decisions, and it’s the president – at more than 90 percent of the FBS universities, and at every single SEC university.

So, yes, Caslen was most certainly part of that decision to perform due diligence. To make matters worse, Caslen released a statement 2 days later saying he misspoke, or misinterpreted or misstated – whatever fits the backtrack – and that Muschamp is South Carolina’s coach now and moving forward.

Don’t think for a moment if bitter rival Clemson goes into Columbia next weekend and lays a number on the Gamecocks, Caslen might change his mind. It’s an unfortunate but all too real reality in the SEC.

Muschamp has done a solid job at a tough place to win big. Should his team have won more games this season? Without question, and he’d be the first to admit it. But he doesn’t deserve the end around pulled on him by the administration.

Said one SEC coach I spoke to last week: “They’re looking for those 11-win seasons that Steve (Spurrier) had, and that’s just not there now. Kirby (Smart) is at Georgia, and Dan (Mullen) has it pointed in the right direction at Florida. You’re starting out at No.3 before you walk in the door – and there’s some heavy lifting after that.”

Long way to go on The Plains

Yeah, it sounds crazy, but crazy has a full-time address on The Plains.

If Alabama goes into Auburn and wins by double digits, one industry source told me the Tigers might just come up with the $26 million to fire coach Gus Malzahn. Or they could get lucky, and in the ultimate déjà vu, Malzahn leaves for Arkansas and this Auburn president doesn’t offer him a boatload of cash to stay.

Whether it’s real or not, Alabama might be as vulnerable as they have been under Nick Saban after this season. There will be numerous players leaving for the NFL, and the quarterback situation will be full of questions.

If Auburn believes it can get an elite coach to take swings at Saban and his program when it appears – let me stress that, appears – the Tide are vulnerable, why keep banging your head against the wall with Malzahn?

“You want crazy?” an industry source told me. “What if Auburn beats Alabama, and now you have a guy who has beaten Alabama 3 times in 7 years – and I think the administration there would still be happy if he left for Arkansas.”