Where there’s smoke… there’s Auburn.

I can’t claim credit for the header, but I don’t think you have to be a ‘Bama fan to acknowledge it’s been a bad week for the school on the Plains.

It started with the Selena Roberts allegations, which have provoked gales of righteous indignation from the Chiz and the usual “we take them seriously” response from Jay Jacobs.  But we barely had time to absorb those statements before ESPN tossed in a blockbuster of its own about widespread synthetic marijuana usage that the school covered up.  It ain’t pretty, to say the least.  I await Chizik’s denial to this tidbit:

In one extreme case, a freshman tight end, Dakota Mosley, failed seven consecutive weekly tests for the drug, but never was punished. (He was suspended for three months in a separate incident after he tested positive for marijuana.) The Arkansas native says he learned he’d failed a sixth test on the same day he was scheduled to meet with NCAA investigators to discuss a probe into potential recruiting violations.

Instead of being kicked off the team, Mosley was brought into then-coach Gene Chizik’s office and told he could keep his spot on the team.

“The whole time, I was thinking, ‘They can’t do nothing about the spice,’ ” Mosley told The Magazine and “E:60.”

Well, they did do something.  Sort of.

According to a statement released Thursday night by Auburn attributed to athletic director Jay Jacobs, a test for the fake weed was not made available by the university’s testing company until January 24, 2011; “Auburn added the test to its panel on Jan. 27, 2011,” Jacobs said in his statement.  That addition would’ve come nearly three weeks after AU won its first national championship in over five decades after beating Oregon in the BCS title game. [Emphasis added.]

(Greg McGarity shakes his head.)

I’ve got no idea where this is going to go.  Auburn’s dodged so many bullets over the years, I can’t help but think this will all wind up being little more than sound and fury.  The NCAA’s weakened state can’t hurt, either.  But I can’t resist letting Jordan Jenkins have the last word – at least for the moment.

… Jenkins was just referring to journalist Selena Roberts’ story, which alleged payments to players, academic fraud and other shenanigans.

“Some of that stuff is -” Jenkins then made a whistling sound. “Glad I didn’t go there.”

Jenkins said he read about half the story on Wednesday night, then decided to go to sleep.

“I believe a little bit of it,” Jenkins said. “Some of it’s a little hearsay. I think some stuff might’ve been going on. But some of it’s a little far-fetched, I think.”

Jenkins said none of that ever happened to him while he was being recruited.

“The closest thing I ever got was … I don’t even know. I had no shady recruitment,” he said. “If someone had offered me a million dollars I would’ve thought about it for a second. Then I probably would’ve said no. But I don’t know: For a million dollars you probably would’ve been able to get a good enough lawyer.”

Jay Jacobs is right there with you, Dawg.

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Alleged! Alleged!! Alleged!!!

Man, this story hits on almost every sordid detail anyone who’s ever thought the worst of the Auburn football program could imagine.  (No mention of Cam, sorry.)

That being said, a lot of it doesn’t make sense – namely, why Auburn’s coaches would have had such a hard on about Mike McNeil.  And there’s already a fair amount of “he said, she said” backtracking going on.

Oh, and Will Muschamp paying McNeil $400?  In his office?  Not buying it, but I bet that’s the part of the story that winds up getting the most attention.

Tuesday morning buffet

Sidle on up and grab you a plate.

• DeLoss Dodds says Texas won’t schedule a game with Texas A&M because the Longhorns’ fans have hurt fee-fees.
• John Infante asks a good question about what the NCAA’s Board of Directors is up to with regard to suspending some of the new recruiting rules.
• T. Boone Pickens, whatta guy.
• I definitely don’t have a dog in this fight.
• John Helyar’s got a story that’s worth a read on the NFL’s relationship with Riddell and whether that might have played a part in undermining a company that produced a concussion-preventing helmet.
• Ole Miss getting a big head after a 7-6 season?  Oy.
• The Mountain West still ain’t happy with Mark Emmert.
• Cam Cameron on Zach Mettenberger:  film don’t lie.

Garner makes bank.

Hey – remember this?

But as Garner adamantly pointed out in an exclusive interview with the AJC Thursday night, “this is not about the money.”

Sure, sure.  It’s just an added perk that Rodney Garner’s new annual salary at Auburn is a cool $500,000.00.  We don’t know the complete terms of his contract, since Auburn still refuses to release the details (why?), but if it turns out that’s part of a multi-year deal Garner agreed to, there should be little surprise about why he’s no longer coaching in Athens.

As it is, Mike Bobo is making a mere $75,000 a year more than Garner.  And Malzahn’s staff is making more than Richt’s.  Keeping Garner looks like it would have been a financial bridge too far for the likes of McGarity.

My point here isn’t to say whether Georgia’s AD was right or wrong in making that call.  For one thing, I have no idea what Richt’s position was on the matter.  But Garner’s new paycheck is another clear indication that the deals top assistants are getting in the SEC are headed in a certain direction and it’s up to Georgia to adapt.  Either that, or hope that Richt’s charm continues to go a long, long way in keeping assistants’ salaries under control.

Sunday brunch buffet

The chafing dishes are ready.

• I get that the Packers want to talk to some college coaches about how better to defend the spread-option, given how they got shredded by Kaepernick in the playoffs.  And I see that they intend to go to more than one place for that.  But Sumlin?  Why not talk to the guy who made Kaepernick into a quarterback in the first place?  (Plus, it’s not like Ault doesn’t have some spare time right now, anyway.)
• Interesting interview with Ellis Johnson about his 4-2-5 defense.  I just wonder how long it’s going to take him to get the right personnel to implement it at Auburn.
• “It’s like a mini-NFL.”
• The highest paid member of Georgia’s non-assistant coaching support staff is Dave Van Halanger, at $168,570.
• Bet Florida appreciates this Mike Slive observation:  ”If you watched Georgia play this past year and you watched Alabama play, it would be hard-pressed to say that Georgia isn’t one of the top four teams in the country, right?”
• John Infante points out that one of the biggest hits the NCAA has taken with the Miami debacle is that it’s made itself less likely to survive a split in D-1.
• Missouri’s got a nice home schedule this season but elects not to raise general season ticket prices.
• A look at how Alabama will get down from 95 to 85 players on scholarship.

Keepin’ up with the Saban, Plains edition

Looks like the bet-hedging proceeds:

McGee played at Auburn MT JoelAEricksonAU: Auburn has hired Columbus-Carver coach Dell McGee in an off-the-field position, McGee confirmed—
Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) February 21, 2013

I wonder if Auburn is one of the schools that’s told McGarity they’ve got his back in overturning the new NCAA recruiting rules.

More to come, no doubt.

A recruit so big, they’re letting him change the name of the school.

I will be taking my talents bac to the SEC at the University of Auburn—
June Marshall (@NicMarshall7) January 14, 2013

Either that, or it was too much trouble for him to figure out.

Now that’s a shame.

Care to guess which quarterback voiced this complaint?

“During the heat of the moment, I felt as if he finished the hit and I had already thrown the ball. I felt like after I threw it, he still finished and drove me into the ground. With the referee right there, I questioned his decision not to throw the flag on him.”

This one.  Aaron Murray knows just how he feels.  He handled it better, though.

“What brought us was back was Rodney.”

Garner’s return to the Plains seems to have been met with much rejoicing.  Which makes me wonder about a couple of things.

1. How do you think VanGorder feels about having coached at a second institution where Garner more popular than he was?
2. You think Auburn’s on a run where it’s decided to recycle Richt’s old staff to see if it can recapture the magic?

No hard feelings

Fifth time’s the charm, I guess.

In the end, Rodney Garner felt like he could no longer ignore his alma mater’s calls for help.

Garner, Georgia’s assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach for the past 12 years, accepted an offer to handle the same jobs at Auburn, where he played offensive line and started his coaching career. He will also receive a significant salary increase from the $300,000 a year he earned with the Bulldogs.

I confess I got fooled by the Tracy Rocker stories.  I didn’t see where there was a place for Coach Garner on the Plains, especially after Malzahn announced he was bringing his offensive line coach at Arkansas State with him.  It turns out that Malzahn was saving a place at the table for Georgia’s longest-serving assistant coach.

There’s a lot of honor in that service.  Garner deserves our gratitude for holding things together during the transition from Donnan to Richt.  He’s been an excellent recruiter and he’s got plenty of NFL defensive linemen to show for his ability to develop players as a position coach.

That doesn’t mean it’s been a one-way street for him in Athens.  Richt has been steadfast in his support – just ask any of his defensive coordinators about that.  Garner’s many previous passes at job offers from other schools haven’t merely been tolerated, but essentially supported by Richt as a means of getting better financial terms from the bean counters at Butts-Mehre.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  I’m not going to fault someone for his ambitions and Garner’s no exception to that rule.

But I agree with Groo that something feels different this time around.

It’s a lateral move in terms of job titles, but it might’ve just been time for both parties to go their separate ways. Georgia didn’t seem to put up as much of a fight as they did in 2009 when Lane Kiffin tried to pry Garner to Knoxville.

And while Garner is totally gracious about the defensive staff he’s leaving, it sure doesn’t sound like Todd Grantham is going to let any dust gather in Garner’s former office.

In a text to UGASports.com, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said he will be the person responsible for hiring Garner’s replacement, and that the hire will be for a new defensive line coach.

Grantham said he will not assume the duties of coaching the Bulldog defensive line and will hire a coach solely to coach that position. He said coaches from “all levels” will be considered for the job and there is no timetable on when the hire might be made.

“It will be a good hire, just like Kirk (Olivadotti) and Scott (Lakatos),” Grantham said.

So what conclusions should we draw from this?

• Richt feels pretty good about how Georgia recruits.  If there’s anything remarkable about this move, it’s the timing, as we’re within sixty days of signing day.  And yet there were no signs of a panic to keep Garner’s departure from happening.  That tells me that Bobo and Grantham are doing fine on the recruit chasing side of the fence and that the Daryl Jones hire has been a success.  It probably doesn’t hurt that in John Lilly, Richt’s already got a coach on staff who’s got plenty of successful experience as a recruiting coordinator.
• Garner is quick to say his decision wasn’t motivated by money, but you’ll have to excuse me if I’m skeptical about that.  It’s a lateral hire.  He’s going to a place with two defensive co-coordinators and a head coach who’s an offensive guru with an offensive coordinator on staff.  He won’t be moving up any time soon there.  Sure, he can say it’s about going home, but it’s not like Mama hasn’t called him before only to be turned down.  I will be very interested in seeing the terms of the contract he’s signed, because I think it will give us some indication of how far McGarity is willing to go with jobs below the coordinator level.  (In fact, I suspect it will be very interesting to compare Garner’s deal with Bobo’s next contract.)
• It will be worth watching how the dynamics of in state recruiting play out in the wake of this.  Tennessee, you may recall, did well recruiting in Georgia while Garner was on staff there and not so well after his departure.  Obviously, it’s not the same situation now, but seeing who gets kids out of places like, say, Carver Columbus in the next few years should make for some interesting discussions.
• Okay, one snarky observation:  at least Garner won’t have bowl preparation to interfere with recruiting for the next couple of weeks.

And to think some of you believe that nobody wants any of Richt’s assistants.

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UPDATE:  I did find one somewhat sour note in this Emerson column.

Grantham and Garner got along publicly and there weren’t any major fissures reported behind the scenes. But sources have said the two occasionally butted heads over recruiting, whether that means offering certain recruits, or the timing of doing so.

Interesting.  Wonder if this was one of those cases.