Is Lane Kiffin on the hot seat now?

I mean, that’s the way these moves roll in Athens, right?

Pay to play, continued.

Proving that there’s nothing new under the sun, check out this passage from a post at The Bylaw Blog:

While there has been a lot of talk that the NCAA is finally getting serious about agent activity on campus, this has been identified as a serious problem for a long time:

“What both of these issues have in common is that they both have a long history of being a crisis,” [former Georgia AD Vince Dooley] said. “They are both so critical, and there are those who say that if they are not properly addressed, they could bring down intercollegiate athletics this time.”

At the time, NACDA proposed a series of solutions that sound very familiar: allowing institutions to loan money to student-athletes, eliminating the July recruiting periods, eliminating summer camps, and better education. NACDA also had statistical evidence that up to 75% of student-athletes had accepted benefits from an agent, and there were over 70 registered agents for every student-athlete that signed a contract each year. When did this flash of insight hit? June of 1996.

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“If they want to know something, I let them know what’s real.”

Meet Jarvis Jones, Southern Cal transfer, redshirting sophomore linebacker and Georgia’s go-to guy with recruits.

Pay to play roundup

It’s funny how much the “NCAA gets serious about agents” story has heated up in the wake of the Maurkice Pouncey rumors.  Here’s some of the latest scuttlebutt and speculation making the rounds on the Intertubes:

• A couple of months ago, the hot new kid on the college football bloggerdom block was Oversigning.com.  Now, it’s The Bylaw Blog.  You can find a good, cautious summary of the Florida situation here.
• Expect the Pouncey family to issue a statement today denying that Maurkice received any illegal benefits.
• Another blog getting timely attention is SportsAgentBlog.com.  Here’s his take on what’s going on with Pouncey and Florida.  Obviously, if there’s more than one kid who’s received illegal benefits, that’s likely to change the outlook on Florida’s fate, but we’re a long way from there now.  He also asks the question that I have about the athlete-agent contact criminal statutes everyone wants enforced:  “Who would be the victim in this case?  The school?  The player?”
• Stewart Mandel has a good summary.  Two observations:  (1) how much of the current high profile this area is enjoying is due to an increased focus by the NCAA and how much to disgruntled coaches and agents who perceive that their complaints are more likely to be heard and acted upon?  (2) you’ve got to be a complete idiot to boast about your exploits on Facebook or Twitter – “… the advent of social media — and the inevitable penchant of some young athletes to post incriminating messages or pictures to their Facebook or Twitter accounts — has been a boon to investigators.”

Anticipation… is making me wait.

Tim Tucker reports on his Twitter feed that Georgia has moved the first day of fall practice back to August 2 because “formula determining permissible practice opptys not properly applied” in the schedule that had practice beginning on July 31.

No word on whether that means two-a-days are back.

Tuesday morning buffet

We’re on the cusp of SEC Media Days, so eat.

• Speaking of which, this is a good list of, you know, football questions.
• More signs of fiscal reality at Fresno State:  Pat Hill signs a contract extension with a pay cut.
• What Mike Bobo does with his summer.
• Joe at Coaches Hot Seat Blog reminds us how lucky we are:  “Yes, there really is not limit to the damage that the BCS Lovers can do to our country if they get their hands on things, but then All Americans should count themselves lucky that the BCS Lovers have such a small amount of influence on American society.” Believe it or not, that has something to do with Bobby Johnson’s retirement.
• Roll Bama Roll takes a look at SEC 2009 Pythagorean Wins.  It doesn’t flatter Georgia.
• On the topic of flattering Georgia, Andrea ’64’ Adelson is taking her keen football insight to ESPN.
• The Arizona Secretary of State has asked the state’s Attorney General to investigate allegations that Fiesta Bowl employees made illegal campaign contributions.  Given the breathless reaction at PlayoffPAC.com, I guess this is supposed to be bad news for the BCS, but I’m not sure why.
• In case you’re interested, ACC Sports Journal has a four-part (!) interview with Paul Johnson.  Here’s the first installment.
• One thing going into this season that puzzles me almost as much as the faith a lot of people have that Arkansas’ defense is going to improve significantly is the assumption that John Brantley is going to have a superlative season.  It’s not so much that I question his talent (or Florida’s potential), it’s that the receiving corps is a huge question mark:

Most of these guys were highly recruited prep stars, but none has done much at the college level. The projected go-to guy is junior Deonte Thompson, who is the only returning receiver who had more than 14 receptions last season. Thompson has 42 career catches, and if he doesn’t catch at least 50 this season, the Gators could be in trouble. The other wide receivers and tight end on the roster have 24 career catches — 24. That does not include Chris Rainey, who has moved from backup running back to (likely) starter at slot receiver; Rainey has 13 career receptions out of the backfield. There are high hopes for sophomore Omarius Hines, who might be the most physical receiver on the roster, and redshirt freshman Andre Debose, a mega-recruit who missed last season after hamstring surgery. Florida also could use a tight end to step up. One problem: There are four on the roster and each is a freshman (two redshirts and two true). The projected starter is Jordan Reed, a redshirt who was a high school quarterback.

SEC, you’re not so tough.

I was going to lay out  a detailed rebuttal to Matt Hinton’s post yesterday about the current stratification of the SEC, but I see that Michael Elkon has beaten me to the punch (surely a sign that the World Cup has come to an end).  You should read ’em both, but Elkon’s last point is worth repeating here:

4. Unipolarity or bipolarity are the state of nature in the SEC. Florida and Alabama met in the first three SEC Championship Games. Florida and Tennessee dominated the conference in the 90s. Alabama dominated the conference in the 70s. The SEC is always good, but it often has periods in which one or two teams run away from the pack.

That’s exactly right.  Don’t forget that no teams other than Florida and Tennessee represented the SEC East in the SECCG until Georgia made it to the eleventh game in 2002.

On the other hand, you want to talk about how things look today, Matt’s summary is accurate.

But for once, there aren’t any equally talented outfits: Even the momentarily weakened, “reloading” editions of the Gators and Tide are more attractive than the alternatives. Actually, they’re far more attractive. Three years removed from finishing in the top two spots nationally, LSU and Georgia are both trying to ward off ever-encroaching “hot seat” chatter after back-to-back disappointments. Tennessee is in an unprecedented state of disarray on almost every level. High-flying Arkansas remains saddled with the league’s worst defense. Auburn, for all of its optimism going into the year, is still 5-11 in SEC games over the last two. South Carolina is, well, South Carolina.

If you’re a dispassionate observer of the conference, I think it’s fair to say that there are more questions going in to this season than any since 2002 (coincidently,  a year in which there were huge questions about how Florida would manage without Spurrier and how Alabama on probation would do).  That should make for a fun year, particularly if you’re someone with a rooting interest in a team that is hoping for a reversal of recent fortune.

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UPDATE: Some of the Vegas sports books are starting to publish over/under lines on wins (h/t Blatant Homerism).  I’ve found lines on eight of the twelve teams in the conference.

• Alabama:  10
• Arkansas:  8.5
• Auburn: 8.5
• Florida:  10
• Georgia: 8.5
• LSU:  7.5/8
• South Carolina: 7
• Tennessee: 7

If the Vols win seven games, Derek Dooley ought to get some serious consideration as SEC Coach of the Year.  If South Carolina wins seven games, Spurrier ought to give some serious consideration to retirement.