‘Cause I got high, ’cause I got high, ’cause I got high…

You’ve gotta love this:

… One NFL head coach told me this week that in this era of some states decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, he has interviewed potential draft picks who didn’t even seem to recognize their marijuana smoking constituted drug use in the eyes of the NFL.

“It’s pretty significant as a trend,” the head coach said. “But if you knocked everyone off your board who has experimented with weed, you’d lose about 20 percent of your board, not to mention disqualify a few recent presidents. A third sounds a little high to me, but it’s not a rare occurrence to have a player with some pot use in his background. You have to make a judgment on each individual guy.”

Of course, there’s a practical side to this that should come as no surprise to you.

… Some players suspected of marijuana use in college in recent years, Philadelphia receiver DeSean Jackson and Minnesota receiver-return man Percy Harvin most notably, have been two of the top offensive players in the draft the past two years. Their early success in the NFL has possibly led some teams to take a more lenient approach to drafting talented players who are suspected of collegiate marijuana use, one team front office executive said.

“If you passed on Jackson and you passed on Harvin the past two years, maybe you can’t afford to just completely write off that kind of prospect every time, or you won’t have a job at some point because you won’t win any games,” one team front office executive said…

I doubt the scales balance very differently on the college level.

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Wednesday brunch buffet

Lots of menu items today.

• Nick Williams is pumped, pumped I tell you, about the 3-4:  “I like it. I am excited. I love it,” he said. “This defense… I love this defense. You play; it’s simple; you let loose. If you mess up, you always have someone covering your back. I am back there – I am just playing loose. You can take risks. I know at strong safety in the 3-4 that I am going to have someone behind me all of the time. I have learned it (snapping fingers repeatedly) like that. You never know who is blitzing – it’s crazy. Offenses have to be smart… they are going to have to be smart. There are going to be some things that they cannot do.”
• You know, you would think after watching the 2008 Georgia team up close and personal that Tony Barnhart would know better than to predict greatness for a team with a stud quarterback and a questionable defense, but he’s picking Arkansas as his SEC West dark horse if Mallett’s healthy.
• As if you had any doubt about it, Matt Melton’s stats tell us that the Big Ten’s been Ohio State’s world and the rest of the conference has just been living in it.
• Bloggers who go bad:  “I was a journalism major in college, so I have every reason to believe my research is accurate.”
• For whatever it’s worth, here’s a comparison of Clemson’s football budget with Georgia’s and Alabama’s.
• Longhorns Inc.
• Another kick in the nuts for Tennessee fans – Bryce Brown to Southern Cal rumors surface.
• In these troubled economic times, you’ve got to fight for your right to party.
• In the NCAA basketball tourney, “The statistical correlation between the number of upsets and the performances of No. 1 seeds is nearly insignificant.” So what’s the point of a big postseason field again?
• The Title IX wars rage on.

A sentimental fool am I…

It’s the same old song, indeed.

With the SEC East as open as it has been since the league split into divisions in 1992, Spurrier knows the Gamecocks finally have a real chance to break the Florida-Georgia-Tennessee triumvirate that has won every East title. To pull off that feat — which might get him elected governor in the Palmetto State — he knows he’ll have to change…

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UPDATE: When it comes to the Gamecocks, you really can’t make this stuff up.

Logic gaps and bracket creep

A common theme that runs among commenters here who favor a football playoff and think that my concerns about an extended playoff are overblown is that there’s no rational reason for a college postseason to expand beyond a manageable handful of games.

Now GTP is lucky to have a great bunch of folks who comment here regularly (I probably don’t say that enough) and even those with whom I have philosophical differences on this subject strike me as being sensible enough folks that if they were the ones calling the shots on this, I wouldn’t worry too much.

Unfortunately, Larry Scott isn’t one of the commenters here.

As part of his conference’s ongoing expansion study, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott has explored the possibility of staging a conference football championship game with the current membership of 10.

Give me a few days to come up with a dumber idea and I could probably have something for you, but off the top of my head, that’s about as stupid as it gets.  And don’t take my word for that.

“Initially, it doesn’t make much sense but I’ve had a couple of conversations …”

Scott himself said that.

The Pac-10 plays a round robin schedule.  It’s the fairest way to determine a conference champ.  In that context, a championship game is a virtual lock to make any regular season showdown between the top two schools completely meaningless.  Beyond that, think about how worthless a championship game would have been in the years when Pete Carroll’s USC squads were destroying the rest of the conference.  It’s a ridiculous move that nakedly elevates financial considerations over competitive ones.

Scott speaks of a “logic gap” here, but there really isn’t one.  He’s just not comfortable coming out and admitting the ugly truth.

And he’s one of the guys who would have a significant role in fashioning a new college football postseason format.

The Anderson move

I confess that this decision caught me by surprise:

New Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has stressed several times that he doesn’t need a gargantuan body to play nose in his 3-4 scheme.

He’s got one anyway.

Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt announced after Tuesday’s practice that Justin Anderson, who made five starts early last season at right guard, has been moved to defense. The 6-foot-5, 330-pounder is sitting out this spring because of a shoulder injury.

“We won’t see what he can do out at practice, but he can start learning the terminology,” Richt said. “We think he can do well there, because he’s quick and strong. He’s an explosive athlete.”

Richt’s got that last part right.  We’ve all been waiting for Bean to harness his obvious physical talent into becoming a dominant lineman.  Based on what I thought was a terrific performance on his part in the second half of the bowl game against TAMU, I had him pegged as my sleeper to step up and become a major contributor on the offensive line this season.

The good news about the move is that it’s an indication that the coaches are pretty satisfied with the depth on the offensive line, which I would think bodes well for those of us hoping for the successful return of Trinton Sturdivant.  The not-so-good news is that it’s an indication that Grantham is still casting about looking for a good mix of bodies to man the nose position in the 3-4.

Richt mentioned that Anderson was receptive to the move, but also had this to say:

“He knows if we lose a tackle or two offensively, he knows he would have to come back,” Richt said. “Right now, if everybody who’s projected to be healthy will come in healthy and make it through camp and all, we’ll probably keep him on defense.”

I hope this kid doesn’t wind up sharing space in Kiante Tripp’s no-man’s land.

I guess we aren’t the only ones who noticed.

Proof that it doesn’t always take a trained eye to offer an accurate critique:

I sat down and watched the defense, broken up into groups by position, go through a few drills. Lakatos was teaching how to attack the ball carrier. Belin doing much the same. Got a few interesting quotes from Belin.

…

“Where did you guys learn to tackle the last five years.”

That last one…well, you know.

Yeah, we do, actually.

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UPDATE: More Dawg porn from Page:

… Seems like the defensive coaches are determined to get Georgia tackling better. Coach Warren Belin has been especially adamant about driving through the ball carrier. And the quote by Belin I reported in Tidbits yesterday was a classic. “Where did you guys learn to tackle the last five years?”

I know I shouldn’t read into every little thing I hear/see…but there has been added emphasis put on proper tackling technique. Coach Lakatos likes physicality in the secondary. We know coach Grantham is all about it as well.

The staff is working from the ground up, developing proper technique and fundamentals first. Belin, I’ve especially noticed, is meticulous about the little things. He preaches proper helmet placement, driving through the ball, proper way to wrap up while driving, etc.

This type of conversation should excite Bulldogs’ fans.

Trust me, it does.