Fun rumor of the day

No idea how much of this is true, except for Pouncey’s comments to the media.  (Good for him, by the way.)  But it’s worth pointing out that the Gators have already lost two members of this year’s class of the ages to transfers.  So maybe there is a little fire with the smoke.

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UPDATE: So much for that.

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UPDATE #2: I know this is out of the timeline, but it contains a quote worth sharing.

… Easley compared himself, Powell and fellow freshman defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd to the Miami Heat’s free-agent haul.

“Ronald Powell is Chris Bosh, Sharrif (Floyd) is Dwyane Wade and I’m LeBron (James),” Easley said at UF’s Media Day.”

I can’t say how talented their on-the-field play will be, but the members of this year’s class clearly have the potential to be the biggest assholes in Gator history.  Which, when you think about it, is saying a lot.

Let your fingers do the walking.

Here’s a link to a very handy blog post containing numerical and alphabetical rosters of every SEC school in .pdf, suitable for downloading.

Kiffin watch: Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.

Shorter T.J. Simers:  Junior isn’t an asshole because his daddy loves him.

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UPDATE: You wonder if everyone in the family feels the same way.

‘What should we study? … We don’t know what to study.’

If you’re like me (and Ricky Bustle, for that matter), you’ve spent some of the offseason trying to get a handle on this newfangled, one-gap 3-4 defensive scheme that Todd Grantham has imported into Athens.

It’s from an unlikely source – an NFL fantasy football site – but here’s as good an analysis of the primary defensive schemes that have been deployed in the NFL over the past twenty-five years, including the 3-4, as I’ve read (h/t socomfort1 @ DawgPost message board).  It’s quite long, but there’s a lot you’ll get out of it, particularly if you’re interested in learning the differences between the two-gap and one-gap versions of the 3-4.

And as you’re reading Marc Weiszer’s article about why the coaches are pleased about Justin Anderson’s development at nose tackle, keep this passage in mind:

… Parcells liked the 2-gap 3-4 for many reasons. Its design makes it more difficult for the offensive linemen to get an angle on his defenders. It makes it easier to drop eight men into coverage and prevent big plays. It makes it easier for an OLB in a two point stance to get an angle in pass rush and generate pressure with just four rushers and avoid the coverage risk of an all-out blitz.

But the 2-gap 3-4 front is more difficult to play in today’s NFL. Those planet-like defensive linemen are getting harder and harder to find. Players generated by today’s college defenses are built for speed. How many can hold the point of attack against a monstrous OT and control two gaps? Not many. How many 245-250 pound linebackers are agile enough to elude a guard on every play and still close down on a RB with 4.45 speed? Very few.

As a result, the majority of the 3-4 fronts gaining favor today are based on the 1-gap schemes designed by Bum Phillips or those that use other wrinkles to bring pressure and disguise coverage. Other than Parcells’ Cowboy and Dolphin teams in recent seasons, every other contemporary 3-4 has strayed from the 2-gap 3-4 in one way or another. The true 3-4 front has become a dinosaur of sorts as an every down defense.

‘I’m an old boy from Snellville, Georgia, and if I can do it, you can do it.’

This is a terrific article about David Greene and Aaron Murray on so many levels.  You owe it to yourself to read and enjoy.

By far my favorite part is this:

… The two watched tape of Greene’s play-faking ability, which was on display several times on a “44-Flyback Rooskie” call used in short-yardage situations. By drawing in the safeties, Greene found Terrence Edwards alone for a 56-yard touchdown in a 2001 loss to Auburn and passed to Edwards again for a 65-yard score in an ’02 win over Vanderbilt.

The punchline is even better.

“Auburn is the one that most folks remember, because that was the first time we ever did it, but I liked the one against Vandy more because their safety was like a straight-A student who made a 1600 on his SAT, so I figured if we could fool this guy we could fool anybody,” Greene said. “Aaron had never heard of the play. He didn’t even know what I was talking about, which goes to show how old I’m getting.”

I hope Murray enjoyed watching that as much as I have.

And I saw you in my nightmares, but I’ll see you in my dreams.

In case you didn’t know, Jim Delany has a fixation about the SEC.  Witness this latest example, as he muses about whether Ohio State and Michigan should share the same division in the soon-to-be reconfigured Big Ten:

“I would put Michigan-Ohio State among the top five events in all of sports for rivalry,” Delany said. “It’ll get played. Now the question is, how best to play it? Are they in the same divisions or are they not? Do they play in the last game, the second-to-last game, the third-to-last game? How to do that is still under discussion.”

Delany noted that Ohio State and Michigan often have played for the right to go to the Rose Bowl, which would be lost if the teams were placed in the same division.

“You could make a good argument that Michigan and Ohio State should never really be playing for a divisional crown,” Delany said. “If they’re going to play, play for the right to go to the Rose Bowl. When Tennessee and Florida play, when Auburn and Alabama play, only one of those teams is going to go to the championship game because they’re in the same division.”

Yeah, that ol’ Iron Bowl sure has faded into obscurity since the SEC adopted division play and tucked ‘Bama and Auburn into the West, hasn’t it?  It seems like nobody cares about that game anymore.

Isn’t Delany is setting his sights a little low with this talk about a Rose Bowl play-in game?  After all, as Andy Staples notes, the SEC aims higher and hasn’t missed lately.

… Naturally, this dominance chafes those who live in places where they don’t appreciate Dolly Parton as an artist and where they don’t understand that good grits require the perfect combination of salt, pepper and butter. After Florida steamrolled Ohio State 41-14 to win the 2006 BCS title, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany released a statement that essentially blamed the Buckeyes’ lack of swiftness on the Big Ten’s higher academic standards.

“The SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics,” Delany wrote on Feb. 9, 2007. “Each school, as well as each conference, simply must do what fits their mission regardless of what a recruiting service recommends.”

Near the end of his letter Delany posited that, given the cyclical nature of college football, it was unlikely the SEC’s reign would last long. “Let’s see if the five- and 10-year trend lines hold,” Delany wrote, “or whether the recruiting services and talking heads are seeing a new day.”

Three seasons have passed since then, Commissioner. No other conference has won the national title. And when an SEC team beats a nonconference foe, SEC fans — even the ones who are bound by tradition to hate one another — rise to a full-throated roar to proclaim that superiority…

Narrative, come to papa.

Bruce Feldman posted this on his Twitter feed yesterday:

Boise St has surpassed ND and the SEC as the most polarizing topic in CF right now thanks to BCS critics and irked fans from power confs.

I can’t say that I’ve really noticed that, but I’ll take him at his word about it.

But the comment got me to thinking – if you’re part of ESPN’s production staff, aren’t you quietly rooting for Boise State to beat Virginia Tech on September 6?  A Bronco win insures a season-long debate about BSU and the BCS (unless the Broncos turn around a couple of weeks later and crap the bed against Oregon State) that you’ll be more than happy to try to beat to death.  Lose, and there’s nothing left with which to stir the pot.

I know which option I’d pick.