Coaches make the best doctors.

Call this a self-inflicted wound.

The Gamecock program announced Monday that senior cornerback Akeem Auguste underwent a “procedure” on an injured right thigh muscle Sunday and is out indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated in four-to-five weeks, but there is no timetable for his return.

Auguste had already missed much of fall camp with what had been called an injured groin muscle, but was cleared to return to practice Friday. According to The State reporter Josh Kendall, after initially saying he would hold Auguste out until Monday even after his clearance, defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward OK’d Auguste to take part in Saturday’s scrimmage.

Auguste aggravated his injury during the scrimmage, leading to Sunday’s procedure and minimum of four weeks off. Auguste will miss at least the Gamecocks’ season opener at Vanderbilt and September home dates vs. East Carolina and UAB, and very likely their SEC home opener against Missouri.

Oops.  My momma said to always trust your first instinct.

Any bets on whether they get him back for the Georgia game?

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Houston, you have a problem.

This has to be some kind of record.

Two and a half years later, the substance Houston took in high school remains in his system, according to Richt.—
Seth Emerson (@SethEmerson) August 02, 2012

And you can probably guess the best part.

Houston took substance unknowingly, Richt says, and it still hasn't left his system. UGA preparing to be without him, but hoping for best.—
  (@Dawgs247) August 02, 2012

The reason I give that credence is because I have a hard time believing anyone who knows he’s going to be subjected to random drug testing in college would knowingly ingest something that would show up in drug tests for years afterwards.

But it’s in and he’s out.  More details here.

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UPDATE:  Man, that AJ-C story has been updated with this rather incredible exchange between Greg McGarity and Mark Emmert:

The latest appeal came on July 12 when athletic director Greg McGarity sent a personal letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert:

“Mr. Houston, his parents and our staff acknowledge the fact that the results of that test severely impacted his ability to compete as a student-athlete at UGA, and the Houston family accepted the responsibility for this unfortunate situation. Since the initial test confirmation on April 13, 2010, Mr. Houston has been tested very frequently by the NCAA and UGA, and there is scientific evidence that clearly demonstrates that there has been no re-use  over the past 2 1/2 years. While we have fought for Mr. Houston’s restoration of eligibility through every imaginable NCAA process available without any success, we will maintain our effort to see this through to the very end. It is disappointing to witness this scenario play out for  2 1/2 years with Mr. Houston’s eligibility in question. . . . We are appealing to you on behalf of the young man who has done everything possible to clear himself.”

Georgia did not get the reply it sought from Emmert. In a July 31 letter, he wrote:

“While I understand the institution’s empathy for Kolton’s situation, I am surprised the institution would make a request. That surprise stems in part from the fact that Kolton tested positive in subsequent drug tests after his initial sanction, and the Drug Test Appeals Subcommittee did not impose additional sanctions . . . due to the “declining value” argument that supported the conclusion that there was no use of the banned substance.[Emphasis added.] The exit test policy, however, which would require Kolton not to have elevated levels of the banned substance in his system prior to competing against other student-athletes who are competiting clean, is not something that can be appealed because doing so would undermine the purpose of the drug-testing program. . . . The fact remains that  Kolton currently has the presence of a banned substance in his system and will not be able to participate in NCAA competition until that presence drops to an appropriate threshold.”

Get that?  Emmert concedes that Houston hasn’t been using, but essentially accuses McGarity of having a lot of nerve asking the NCAA to take that into account.  Crazy stuff…

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UPDATE:  Check out what Ron Courson had to say about the NCAA.

“This is an extremely unique and complex case. There has never been another case with the level of documented laboratory testing of anabolic steroid tapering in a student-athlete. The testing clearly demonstrates that there has been no re-use over the past two and a half years. This fact has been recognized by the NCAA drug testing committee and upheld on two separate appeal cases. We have continued to track Mr. Houston’s levels, which lowered initially, but have plateaued over the past year. We have exhausted every conceivable means at our disposal to identify why his test values will not drop the threshold level. Despite multiple physician, biochemist and toxicologist consultations, as well as multiple laboratory panels, we do not have a scientific explanation for this.”

“… After trying to work together with NCAA representatives over the past two and a half years with this case, it appears that the NCAA is only interested in hearing what I think when it serves their purpose and needs. Otherwise, I am summarily dismissed.

“The most distressing aspect of this case is the appearance that no one at the NCAA actually cares enough about this case to truly look at it in an objective manner. [Emphasis added.]  We can clearly show with science that there has been no further drug use over a two and a half year period. We can show there is no performance enhancing benefit. … We are chasing an arbitrary threshold number that he is unable to metabolize to, yet no one, from the drug testing committee to Drug Free Sport to NCAA administrators and attorneys wants to hear any objective data supporting this.”

Gee, there’s a surprise.

Maybe they should call it Stealth and Conditioning.

I swear, there are times I think if it were up to Coach Tereshinski, nobody would know his part of the staff at Georgia even exists.  It’s gotten almost zero attention, but they’ve just made a new hire.

Justin Lovett was named Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Georgia in June 2012 after serving for the previous two seasons as a strength and conditioning assistant on the Denver Broncos’ staff.

That completes a drastic reordering of Georgia’s strength and conditioning staff under Tereshinski.  No more graduate assistants; no more former players there to serve as role models for the current student-athletes.  I suspect there’s no more Van Halanger-ish feel-goodism, either.

Whether all these changes pay off is the $64,000 question.  We’ll find out soon enough.

Friday morning buffet

Congrats, you made it!  Now have some football.

• Quayvon Hicks thinks Zander Ogletree is a “great man”… just not a big man.  (Seeing as Hicks just won a state title in the discus throw, I’m not gonna argue with him.)
• North Carolina’s ACC peers aren’t very happy with its Butch Davis-era NCAA violations.
• Michael Elkon confirms that I made a good decision not to listen to the absurd Buzz Bissinger debate (using the term loosely) about banning college football.
• But I sure as hell would have tuned in for this:  Leach said, “I would have massacred those people. I would have loved to been part of that debate.”
• Mark Richt has some thoughtful observations about concussion safety and where football might be headed as a result.
• Boise State may be having second thoughts about joining the Big East, in part because the TV money may not be there.
• Years after the demise of the Blue-Gray Game, it looks like Montgomery will be hosting a new “College Football All Star Game”.
• Derek Dooley, Roy Adams and Adolf Hitler.  Who says Tennessee football isn’t fun?

Profiles in chutzpah

This was probably inevitable:  Art Schlichter swindles widow out of almost $700K, attorney blames concussions he suffered playing college ball for Schlichter’s behavior.

“You can lift the world, but if you can’t get from point A to point B before your opponent gets there it doesn’t matter.”

For a man who has been famously silent with the media since being put in charge of Georgia’s strength and conditioning program, Joe Tereshinski sure had a lot to say today.

There’s much to unpack, but this is the part I found most interesting:

On Armstrong:

–An “outside the box” hire, according to Tereshinski, who called Armstrong a person “who understands speed, quickness, agility, who can teach it.” Armstrong was founder and head performance specialist at VAST Sports Performance in Tampa,Fla.

Armstrong said his hire is unusual that Georgia players will have days set aside for him to work with players on speed.

“If we have success and we’re able to do what I hope we can do,” Tereshinski said, “I think they’ll be a lot of questions `What did we do?’ You may see something like this go on elsewhere. That’s pretty much how we are in this business.”

You read that right.  Georgia’s S&C man thinks he’s gone cutting edge and made a move that may be copied elsewhere.  I don’t know enough about his business to question his analysis, but I’m certainly intrigued.

So what exactly is the staff nutritionist doing these days?

I’m sorta figuring out what she isn’t doing.

“I always had a problem eating candy,” said Mitchell, who moved to cornerback this spring after catching 45 passes for 665 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman last fall.

Mitchell said that since he was a kid, his diet has mainly consisted of fruit-flavored candy, preferably Starburst jelly beans, and Sprite — a catastrophic combination of sugar and carbonation.

The 6-foot-1, 184-pounder is used to consuming at least five bags of jelly beans and who knows how much Sprite a week. That’s approximately 1,160 grams of sugar and 6,000 unnecessary calories from jelly beans alone.

“I know that’s going to have to change,” Mitchell said with a laugh.

Holy Moth… scratch that.  Gee whiz, imagine what Mitchell could be like on a sensible diet.

This is really part and parcel of that same mentality that gets players suspended for blowing drug tests.  You can lecture these kids until you’re blue in the face, but ultimately, it’s up to them to absorb the advice.

Thursday morning buffet

In case some of you have the munchies…

• It looks like Fox is planning a throw down with ESPN.  If so, every sports organization should be licking its chops over the increased competition.  Those of us with cable bills won’t be so thrilled.
• Who said this?  “It’s funny. I think I have raised more money for the University of Alabama than I have Georgia these last three years.”
• Yeah, this is gonna happen.
• It’s a shame that James Franklin let his on field demeanor obscure the coaching job he did last year, because it was pretty impressive.
• I can’t help but wonder where this is going to lead.
• Mark Bradley (yeah, I know) surveys the offseason changes for the Falcons and notes that there was “no real remorse when defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder left for Auburn”.
• The mad scientist aspect to Todd Grantham may be coming in real handy about now.

Friday morning buffet

Another working week is about to end, so dig in.

• Another sign of the hot seat?  SOD may be on the verge of losing his seventh assistant since the end of last season.
• Lots of handy links from Phil Steele’s Spring Guide here.
• Right on, sister.
• And here’s a roundup of quotes from several Dawgs who were at yesterday’s talk to the press.
• Auburn football is boobtastic.
• Looks like baseball’s latest round of postgame expansion doesn’t impress Braves players.  Not that it matters, of course.
• Always be closing, recruits.
• Brian Cook argues for the Big Ten to secede from the NCAA – in baseball.

Team speed kills.

If you haven’t read Groo’s summary of where Georgia’s strength and conditioning staff stands, take a minute and do so.  His conclusion is straightforward:

We wish the three members of the staff that are leaving well, but their departure opens up a chance for Tereshinski to add skills and experience that were missing from his program. The athletic admininstration has pledged that they’ll give the program the resources it needs, and this is a big area of need to continue and to build on the gains made in the past year.

It’s also timely.

Sherman Armstrong, a former professional sprinter and the coordinator of V.A.S.T. Sports Performance in Tampa, Fla., confirmed Wednesday night that he has accepted a job as a full-time assistant coach on UGA’s strength staff.

Armstrong told Dawgs247 he plans to start by March 1 and will be filling the spot on Tereshinski’s staff left vacant by Thomas Brown’s recent move to UT-Chattanooga.

“I believe I’m to replace him, but my role is two-fold,” Armstrong said. “My primary role is to help our athletes get faster, loosen their hips up and pretty much improve the team’s overall speed at every position.

“That’s the No. 1 goal. And then to also assist Coach T and the staff in helping our athletes develop strength.”

Armstrong has an impressive list of athletes he’s worked with on speed training, including Aaron Murray.

It’s certainly a different sort of hire than Tereshinski’s made before.  We’ll see how it pays off.