SEC Talk

At last our long national nightmare is over.

And the corrupt coach who left Tim Tebow off his SEC first team ballot has been outed, solving TebowGate for good.

(drum roll, please)

Steve Spurrier.

That’s right, Mr. (former) Gator Great himself is the culprit. The Ole Ball Coach had passed on his balloting duties to one of his assistants (in this case, his director of operations). The guy filled out the ballot, saw he already had 10 Gators on the first team, and decided to put Jevan Snead of Ole Miss at first team to change things up. He took the ballot to Spurrier, who scanned it, signed it, and forgot about it… until the whole mess broke this week.

Spurrier called up his assistant to make sure they weren’t the ones who had messed up the perfect vote. After a long pause, the truth came out.

Spurrier takes the blame for the “miscommunication” as he calls it. After all, it is his ballot, his signature at the bottom. And it’s called the Coaches Poll, not the Director of Operations poll.

First, no one should be that shocked. I realize that everybody’s favorite potential culprit was Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin (Kiffin brought his ballot with him to prove it wasn’t him, just in case no coach admitted the dirty deed). But Spurrier is the same coach who, every year, puts Duke in the top 25…

In football.

He says he does it out of loyalty to the school that gave him his first head coaching job.

So now the big question the media is asking is, which coaches actually vote, and which pass it off to subordinates.

I can tell you from my own experience, many coaches pass the buck on this one. I worked in sports information for many years, and virtually each and every one of my coaches asked me to do their ballots for them each week. Now, they might tell me who they wanted at #1, or who they wanted in the top 5, or where they wanted me to put their own team. But then it was left up to me. And I’ll be real honest here, that wasn’t really the best thing to do. I voted my best (usually), but the poll wasn’t that big of a deal to me beyond the team I worked for, and maybe a team that was one of our top rivals and I wouldn’t mind sinking a little lower.

So here’s what I take from TebowGate:

1. Spurrier made an honest mistake (which, by the way, he corrected by calling the SEC office and changing his ballot).

2. Polls aren’t worth the paper they are often printed on, because who knows who is really voting and what the agenda is?

3. Sports information staff and others who really do the actual voting should get a cut of the head coach’s salary.

Ok, I admit that last one is way off the wall, but hey, a former SID has to look out for the peeps still in the business!

The coaches pre-season All SEC team was announced on Thursday. Florida led the way with 16 players selected, including a whopping eight on the first team. LSU followed with 10, and Bama and Georgia had nine players each selected to the team.

Three players were unanimous selections: Eric Berry (DB - Tennessee), Ciron Black (OL - LSU), and Julio Jones (WR - Bama). Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players, therefore a unanimous selection is actually 11 of 12 votes.

Nine schools had players earn first team honors.

The All-SEC team as selected by members of the media will be announced next week during SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama.

Pos. Name, School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown

First-Team Offense
TE Richard Dickson, LSU 6-3 246 Sr. Ocean Springs, Miss.
*OL Ciron Black, LSU 6-5 325 Sr. Tyler, Texas
OL Mike Johnson, Alabama 6-6 305 Sr. Pensacola, Fla.
OL Mike Pouncey, Florida 6-5 312 Jr. Lakeland, Fla.
OL John Jerry, Ole Miss 6-5 350 Sr. Batesville, Miss.
C Maurkice Pouncey, Florida 6-5 312 Jr. Lakeland, Fla.
*WR Julio Jones, Alabama 6-4 210 So. Foley, Ala.
WR A.J. Green, Georgia 6-4 207 So. Summerville, S.C.
QB Tim Tebow, Florida 6-3 240 Sr. Jacksonville, Fla.
RB Michael Smith, Arkansas 5-7 176 Sr. Tallahassee, Fla.
RB Charles Scott, LSU 5-11 233 Sr. Saline, La.

Second-Team Offense
TE D.J. Williams, Arkansas 6-2 251 Jr. Little Rock, Ark.
OL Lee Ziemba, Auburn 6-8 285 Jr. Rogers, Ark.
OL Clint Boling, Georgia 6-5 297 Jr. Alpharetta, Ga.
#OL Chris Scott, Tennessee 6-5 346 Sr. Riverdale, Ga.
#OL Carl Johnson, Florida 6-6 330 Jr. Durham, N.C.
#OL Cordy Glenn, Georgia 6-5 331 So. Riverdale, Ga.
C Josh McNeil, Tennessee 6-4 280 Sr. Collins, Miss.
WR Brandon LaFell, LSU 6-3 209 Sr. Houston, Texas
WR Dexter McCluster, Ole Miss 5-8 165 Sr. Largo, Fla.
QB Jevan Snead, Ole Miss 6-3 215 Jr. Stephenville, Texas
RB Anthony Dixon, Mississippi State 6-1 235 Sr. Jackson, Miss.
RB Jeff Demps, Florida 5-8 176 So. Winter Garden, Fla.

Third-Team Offense
TE Aaron Hernandez, Florida 6-3 255 Jr. Bristol, Conn.
OL Jacques McClendon, Tennessee 6-3 324 Sr. Cleveland, Tenn.
OL Zipp Duncan, Kentucky 6-5 291 Sr. Magnolia, Ky.
OL Mitch Petrus, Arkansas 6-4 315 Sr. Carlisle, Ark.
OL Trinton Sturdivant, Georgia 6-5 306 So. Wadesboro, N.C.
C Jorge Gonzalez, Kentucky 6-3 300 Sr. Tampa, Fla.
WR Shay Hodge, Ole Miss 6-1 207 Sr. Morton, Miss.
#WR Terrance Tolliver, LSU 6-5 194 Jr. Hempstead, Texas
#WR Gerald Jones, Tennessee 6-0 199 Jr. Oklahoma City, Okla.
#QB Stephen Garcia, South Carolina 6-2 219 So. Lutz, Fla.
#QB Mike Hartline, Kentucky 6-6 206 Jr. Canton, Ohio
RB Mark Ingram, Alabama 5-10 215 So. Flint, Mich.
RB Ben Tate, Auburn 5-11 216 Sr. Newark, Md.

First-Team Defense
DL Terrence Cody, Alabama 6-5 365 Sr. Fort Myers, Fla.
DL Greg Hardy, Ole Miss 6-4 265 Sr. Millington, Tenn.
DL Carlos Dunlap, Florida 6-6 290 Jr. North Charleston, S.C.
LB Rolando McClain, Alabama 6-4 249 Jr. Decatur, Ala.
LB Brandon Spikes, Florida 6-3 245 Sr. Shelby, N.C.
LB Rennie Curran, Georgia 5-11 222 Jr. Snellville, Ga.
LB Eric Norwood, South Carolina 6-1 252 Sr. Acworth, Ga.
*DB Eric Berry, Tennessee 5-11 203 Jr. Fairburn, Ga.
DB Javier Arenas, Alabama 5-9 198 Sr. Tampa, Fla.
DB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky 6-0 179 Sr. Hiram, Ga.
DB Joe Haden, Florida 5-11 185 Jr. Ft. Washington, Md.

Second-Team Defense
DL Charles Alexander, LSU 6-3 310 Sr. Breaux Bridge, La.
DL Antonio Coleman, Auburn 6-3 250 Sr. Mobile, Ala.
#DL Geno Atkins, Georgia 6-1 290 Sr. Pembroke Pines, Fla.
#DL Dan Williams, Tennessee 6-3 327 Sr. Memphis, Tenn.
#DL Malcolm Sheppard, Arkansas 6-2 280 Sr. Bainbridge, Ga.
LB Micah Johnson, Kentucky 6-2 258 Sr. Ft. Campbell, Ky.
LB Patrick Benoist, Vanderbilt 6-0 224 Sr. Southlake, Texas
LB Rico McCoy, Tennessee 6-1 220 Sr. Washington, D.C.
LB Dont’a Hightower, Alabama 6-4 250 So. Lewisburg, Tenn.
DB Ahmad Black, Florida 5-9 190 Jr. Lakeland, Fla.
DB Chad Jones, LSU 6-3 214 Jr. New Orleans, La.
DB Prince Miller, Georgia 5-8 198 Sr. Duncan, S.C.
DB Myron Lewis, Vanderbilt 6-2 205 Sr. Pompano Beach, Fla.

Third-Team Defense
DL Jeff Owens, Georgia 6-3 300 Sr. Sunrise, Fla.
DL Marcus Tillman, Ole Miss 6-4 260 Sr. McCall Creek, Miss.
#DL Rahim Alem, LSU 6-3 254 Sr. New Orleans, La.
#DL Corey Peters, Kentucky 6-3 295 Sr. Louisville, Ky.
LB Chris Marve, Vanderbilt 6-0 228 So. Memphis, Tenn.
LB Jamar Chaney, Mississippi State 6-1 245 Sr. Fort Pierce, Fla.
LB Ryan Stamper, Florida 6-2 232 Sr. Jacksonville, Fla.
LB Perry Riley, LSU 6-1 240 Sr. Ellenwood, Ga.
DB Major Wright, Florida 6-0 200 Jr. Miramar, Fla.
DB Janoris Jenkins, Florida 5-10 185 So. Pahokee, Fla.
#DB Ryan Hamilton, Vanderbilt 6-2 210 Sr. Wycombe, Penn.
#DB Chris Culliver, South Carolina 6-0 190 Jr. Garner, N.C.
#DB Reshad Jones, Georgia 6-2 214 Jr. Atlanta, Ga.

First-Team Specialists
PK Leigh Tiffin, Alabama 6-1 199 Sr. Muscle Shoals, Ala.
P Chas Henry, Florida 6-4 215 Jr. Dallas, Ga.
RS Brandon James, Florida 5-7 186 Sr. St. Augustine, Fla.

Second-Team Specialists
PK Jonathan Phillips, Florida 5-10 210 Sr. Wellington, Fla.
P Brett Upson, Vanderbilt 5-11 185 Sr. Griffin, Ga.
RS Javier Arenas, Alabama 5-9 198 Sr. Tampa, Fla.

Third-Team Specialists
PK Joshua Shene, Ole Miss 5-8 170 Sr. Oklahoma City, Okla.
P Spencer Lanning, South Carolina 5-11 188 Jr. Rock Hill, S.C.
RS Trindon Holliday, LSU 5-5 165 Sr. Zachary, La.

* - Unanimous Selections

# - Ties

Tennessee has gotten a double whammy over the past few days.  First, senior Austin Rogers tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during voluntary summer workouts and is lost for the year. Now it appears junior Denarius Moore may miss most, if not all, of hte upcoming season. Moore, the Vols best at going deep, has a broken bone in his left foot and will be out eight to 12 weeks.

The case for Rogers is the toughest pill to swallow. Since he has already used a redshirt year, the knee injury could effectively end his collegiate career. He will most likely petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility, but those are few and far between.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Raycom’s award winning series Football Saturdays in the South returns to television this Saturday. The series features six one-hour episodes and is hosted by Tim Brando. The first episode will feature UT’s blue tick coon hound mascot Smokey. Episode two will highlight the voice of Georgia football, Larry Munson, along with Auburn’s eagle. Episode four will profile Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin, and episode five will feature Tim Tebow and Jevan Snead among other players.

Two Ole Miss football players avoided serious injury in a car accident over the weekend. Defensive end Greg Hardy and running back Dexter McCluster hit a car that pulled out in front of them. Hardy reinjured his right foot and is in a walking boot for 5-7 days. The car the players were in caught fire, but both escaped what could have been a much worse situation.

My retinas are bleeding.

Seriously.

I am spending hour after hour studying everything I can on SEC football. And there is a lot out there.

A lot.

I made a trip to our local bookstore to pick up a magazine or two. There were about 25 there just focusing on the SEC. Now, since I can’t afford to buy that many sports mags (I’m a blogger, not a miracle worker), I sat there and read…

And read…

And read some more.

I picked two out to take on my vacation next week, but felt the need to digest the others, since I’ve decided to do my own little pre-season SEC ranking here in a couple of weeks. Man, there’s a lot to learn!

I’ve been an SEC fan my whole life. I can appreciate other conferences, even enjoy watching their games…. as long as the Southeastern Conference isn’t on. But there are so many unknowns coming into this season that I feel like I’m starting from scratch.

So I’m studying. In fact, if they gave an SAT on the SEC, I’m pretty sure I’d score through the roof. But there is still a lot more to read.

It used to be easier. In the SEC East, you read up on Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Maybe you read a bit on South Carolina. You skimmed Vandy and Kentucky and were done. Now? Florida may still rule the roost, but Vandy and UK have upped the ante, so you can’t just slide past them.

In the West, not much work needed to be done on Mississippi State. Now that Dan Mullen is running the show, who knows what is going to come out of Stark-Vegas this season? And Houston Nutt is getting it done at Ole Miss. Yeah, Bama is gonna be the lead dog in that division, but nothing is a given.

So it’s time to study up and get ready. Football previews start in a couple of weeks!

Tennessee got a big time commit the other day.

Evan Berry, brother of All-American DB Eric Berry, took the Vols up on a scholarship offer and has said he will join the UT program… in 2013.

You see, Evan is 13… hasn’t even played high school football yet.

Now there is a lot of family history there. James Berry, dad to the Berry boys, played football at Tennessee in the 1980’s. And, of course, you have Eric tearing it up in the defensive backfield for the Vols these days.

So Evan figured, sure, I’ll go to Tennessee. And daddy James says that both Evan and his twin brother, Elliott, are ahead of the pace of Eric at the same age.

Woo hoo!

However… don’t get too excited Vol fans. The quotes from young Evan don’t exactly make you feel like he is set in stone:

“It’s the only college I know right now and it seems the best for me,” Evan told Rivals.com. “My dad went there and my brother is there now. I know I can do the same things there. I have a real friendly relationship with the coaches there. I don’t know them too well, but I know I will have plenty of time to get to know them.”

Ok…

He goes on to say that he can’t wait to play for Monte Kiffin. Now, I don’t want to throw more water on the situation here, but Monte is 69. A young 69, but still 69. So he would be 73 at the earliest when the Berry boys hit UT. That seems more like an age moving into retirement rather than coaching and recruiting…

unless, of course, you’re Joe Paterno.

This all kind of reminds me of another Vol commit. Jimmy Clausen announced his intentions to follow brothers Casey and Rick to Tennessee when he was about the same age. Only he never made it there, opting for Notre Dame.

Anyway, there is joy in Volville tonight. Just hope the fans aren’t counting the days till Evan gets there.

I got a kick when I checked out SECSports.com today. They have a calendar on the left side of the page that tells of upcoming sporting events.

Currently listed are games of the College World Series involving LSU and Arkansas. The next listing was USC at NCState.

I wondered what sport that was in.  Then I checked the date.

9-3

September 3.

Football.

And there they were, the first games of football season popping up.

Georgia at Oklahoma State on Sept. 5 (on ABC!)

Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, also on Sept. 5, and also on ABC.

LSU at Washington, Sept. 5 on ESPN.

Patience may be a virtue, but when it comes to SEC football, I am not a patient person. I want it all, and I want it now. Some of the preseason magazines are already out. Soon, when the doldrums of summer hit us square in the face, stories will start dribbling out about this team and that. Then the players will report. Fall practice will start. Then…

Kickoff!

Coming to a football field near you!!!

Alabama announced today that it will appeal NCAA sanctions that were handed down by the NCAA last week.

The sanctions were in response to self-reported infractions where UA athletes were getting free textbooks for friends. While athletes from 15 sports were involved, football sustained the biggest hit, with orders to vacate 21 wins from 2005-2007. It’s been speculated that football was more harshly reprimanded because the program was still in a five year probationary window from previous infractions.

“We appreciate that the committee recognized the isolated nature of this violation as well as UA’s immediate and aggressive actions to correct the situation as soon as we discovered the problem. However, we are disappointed with the excessiveness of the sanctions in view of the facts of this case and the penalties in other textbook infractions cases.

“There is no evidence or allegations of other NCAA violations; no coaches or administrators were involved; no players obtained books and sold them for cash, and all the books were returned or charged to the student’s account as required by the UA textbook policy in effect at that time.”

Alabama President Robert Witt

Bama has until June 26 to formally file with the NCAA’s Infractions Appeals Committee.

IN OTHER SEC NEWS:

Sites for upcoming men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were announced on Wednesday, added to sites previously announced:

Men’s Tournaments:
2010 - Sommet Center, Nashville, Tn.
2011 - Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.
2012 - New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, La.
2013 - Sommet Center, Nashville, Tn.
2014 - Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.

Women’s Tournaments:
2010 - The Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Ga.
2011 - Sommet Center, Nashville, Tn.
2012 - Sommet Center, Nashville, Tn.
2013 - The Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Ga.
2014 - The Arena at Gwinnett Center, Dulluth, Ga.

The news out of Tuscaloosa isn’t good today.

The NCAA is reportedly going to place Alabama’s football program on three years probation and strip the school of up to 10 wins as a result of violations of textbook disbursement policy.

Additionally, Alabama will pay a fine. There will be no reduction of scholarships or bowl penalties.

The penalties are the result of student-athletes arranging for free textbooks for friends. Five football players, including starting linemen Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis and running back Glen Coffee, were suspended for four games in 2007. Although Bama lost three of its next four games, they crushed Tennessee 41-17, the day after the suspensions were announced.

The infractions occurred during Bama’s five year probationary period, which meant the University could have faced much more serious penalties. UA self-reported the violations when they were discovered more than a year and a half ago, although did not announce the situation to the public until three months after appearing before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.

Football wasn’t the only sport involved. It has been reported that more than 200 UA athletes covering most sports participated. The problem was discovered by an employee of the University of Alabama Supply Store when a student account in excess of $1600 was found.

Bama hoped to avoid having to forfeit games, but the NCAA noted that the infractions went on for at least two years before being discovered, and that it could constitute a major infraction under the Lack of Institutional Control catagory.

Alabama has not decided whether to appeal the decision.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Tennessee’s Tyler Smith has withdrawn his name from the NBA draft and will return to the Vols for his senior season. Smith said the opportunity to stay and graduate, as well as be a part of what he called a “special” team, won out over the NBA.

Most likely the fact that most scouts projected Smith as an early second round pick weighed in the process, too.

Sometimes it’s tough to find a college sports subject to write about, especially during the summer months. But Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin is keeping journalists and bloggers alike busy as bees, wondering where and when his next NCAA infraction will occur.

Sunday ESPN’s Outside the Lines featured a segment on Kiffin. In it, he is seen meeting with a recruit and his family… a violation according to the NCAA rule book:

A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.

NCAA recruiting rule 13.10.1

Oops.

But the reaction of the coach is telling. Just another minor misstep. Can’t keep all of the rules, this stuff happens all the time. And besides, Kiffin repeatedly claims, he is doing all of this just to fire up the Vols fans, it’s all by design.

Athletic Director Mike Hamilton sounds like it is all just another day at UT, saying that self-reporting these things lets the NCAA know that the member institution is on top of things.

But what about this statement from the NCAA rulebook?:

By definition, a secondary violation is one that is isolated or inadvertent in nature, provides or is intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and does not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit.

Hmmm…. Isolated? For the record, this will be Kiffin’s sixth secondary violation in his seven months on the job. That’s not so isolated if you ask me.

I don’t know if Lane Kiffin is brash, arrogant, or just ignorant. I doubt it is the latter. He had a successful run at Southern Cal as offensive coordinator, and one of his biggest boosters is USC coach Pete Carroll.

One of two things is going to happen with the Lane Kiffin Experiment. Either he will win big and be gone to greener pastures, or he will lose and be gone anyway.

It will be interesting to see whether Tennessee survives the Kiffin era intact, or on probation.

Ok, I realize that just the other day I wrote about how things were slowing down in the SEC (Winding Down). After today’s events, I humbly take back that statement. In fact, if today’s news is any indicator, the off-season may be more interesting than anticipated.

Today let’s start with the goings on at the SEC coaches meetings, being held this week in Destin, Fla. Commissioner Mike Slive is none too happy with a few of the coaches. We all knew that Slive was unhappy, and was going to address the situation. But I think we underestimated just how unhappy the big guy was.

“I had all 5-foot-9, 175 pounds of me into every word I said. I can tell you that,” Slive said.

Reports say that Slive made eye contact with everyone in the room, forgoing the podium to walk around and make sure everyone was paying attention. And according to witnesses, Slive got the attention he wanted.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin came just the day before, when South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier was told by a reporter, jokingly, that Lane Kiffin of Tennessee said he had never gotten an apology from the Old Ball Coach after Spurrier appeared to accuse Kiffin of illegally calling recruits prior to being hired at UT.

According to reports, Spurrier wheeled around and looked at Kiffin, who was waiting for an elevator, and said, “I didn’t accuse you of cheating. What I said was, ‘Was it permissible to call recruits before you were announced head coach and had taken the [recruiting] test?’ Now, you took the test online, and I didn’t even know you could do that. I thought you had to take the test on campus … and then start calling [recruits].”

Kiffin didn’t respond, although witnesses said he was red as a beet. Then the elevator doors opened and Kiffin, Spurrier, Kentucky’s Rich Brooks and Auburn’s Gene Chizik all piled in. As the doors closed, Spurrier again reiterated than he never said that Kiffin cheated.

Now let’s jump back to December. Here are Spurrier’s exact words:

“You’re supposed to have passed the NCAA test and be on board, I think. But maybe he was just calling him as an interested observer. I don’t know. But technically to be able to recruit you’re supposed to pass the NCAA test.

“I know when I was hired, after the press conference I took the test to qualify you to be a recruiter. I hadn’t taken it in three or four years. At that time I could start making calls. I don’t know if he was permitted to make that call or not. You’ll have to ask somebody else.”

Spurrier might not have come right out and screamed “CHEATER” at Kiffin, but I think the inference is pretty plain.

And, isn’t Steve Spurrier the same coach who enjoyed taking shots at other coaches while he was winning all those titles at Florida? Seems like age has thinned the Ole Ball Coach’s skin a bit.

At any rate, Spurrier marked his territory and attempted to reclaim alpha coach status in the SEC by allowing the media to goad him into confronting Kiffin.