Yes, he really is like that.

The story behind Richt putting his lake house on the market is… well, let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t post this.

More Dawg porn

Per Gentry Estes:

To continue to illustrate the impact of Jenkins’ arrival and Geathers’ improvement, Richt told those in attendance later that “Last year we probably played as much four-down, three-linebacker as we did the 3-4 because we didn’t really have that nose guard. Now we can do it the way Coach Grantham wants to do it.”

Word up.

I must have done a good job fooling Allen Kenney at Blatant Homerism last year when he invited me on a podcast, because he’s gone back to the well again, this time complete with a snappy Cameo intro.

Give a listen here, if you have a few minutes to spare.

Funky preseason fact of the day

Via Chris Low:

But since the league expanded in 1992 and split into two divisions, no team that started the season unranked in the AP poll has gone on to win the SEC championship.

Wednesday morning buffet

Random nuggets for you to sample:

• Bill Connelly explains adjusted pace.  Georgia ranks just about where you’d expect.
• More from Shakin the Southland on linebacker play.
• Gary Patterson is pumped about entering the promised land.
• Details about the Big Ten’s expanded scholarship proposal emerge.  John Infante explains what they mean.  Bottom line:  “The greatest impact is likely to be felt in Division I’s middle class: FBS schools out of the BCS conferences and the FCS. They will have the largest additional scholarship bills to meet, with comparitively low revenue to meet them. And underrated winners will be non-football departments like Gonzaga and Xavier, with strong revenue but not the massive additional expense of football.”
• People keep asking how Mike Hamilton still has his current job.
• Too many bowl games?  Blame ESPN.
• A former Ohio State basketball player wonders how the football players had nicer cars.
• Somebody thinks Mark Richt is a hypocrite.
• Spencer Hall makes the case for South Carolina winning the SEC East.

He’s totally cool with that.

Mark Richt with Will Muschamp’s Cocktail Party guarantee, that is.

… The heat was turned up a bit at a recent meeting of the Atlanta Gator Club, where Muschamp guaranteed a win over the Bulldogs in Jacksonville this fall.

“I thought that was a good thing coming from him,” Richt said with a laugh when asked about Muschamp’s guarantee. “I heard about it right away, but I also know how those things happen. That’s why I don’t answer some questions.”

Too bad.  I was kind of hoping Richt would give us a mock “We’ll handle it and it’s going to be a big deal”-type response in tribute to Corch.  We’ll have to leave that up to Uncle Verne, I guess.

“You have to finish in the fourth quarter.”

So sayeth Todd Grantham in this 15-minute interview on the DawgDial radio show (it starts at about the 13:20 mark).

Always a good listen, he’s got lots to say about the learning curve in his second year, which opponent’s offense was the toughest to coach against last season and recruiting.

Slive’s oversigning legislation: the leaks begin.

Marc Weiszer lets the cat out of the bag:

The Athens Banner-Herald has learned that proposed legislation to be considered at the SEC meeting to address “roster management” includes:

► Limiting the size of a football signing class in each academic year to 25, down from the current level of 28. The NCAA adopted that SEC-sponsored legislation put forward in 2009. The 25 limit would cover those who sign from Dec. 1 to August 1. The rule now runs from the February signing day to May 31, which allows schools to exceed 28 by enrolling signees before or after those dates. An exception would be made for mid-year enrollees included in the current academic year’s initial counters.

► Making football signees who attend summer school on athletic aid before the fall semester count against a school’s scholarship numbers for that next academic year.

There currently are no limits on how many can attend summer school, which can leave a recruit already on campus to be asked to delay enrollment until January if there’s no room. The proposal would go into effect in summer 2012.

► Giving the SEC office more oversight in medical scholarship exemptions to review and determine outcome for cases. A team doctor, trainer and athletic director would need to sign off on each case.

► Keeping early enrollees from signing an SEC financial aid agreement until they are enrolled and attend class at the school. Currently, recruits can begin to sign a financial aid agreement after their junior year of high school, which keeps other SEC schools from recruiting them.

That’s… interesting.  I expect most SEC coaches will go ballistic over the first item there.  I wouldn’t anticipate as much opposition to the other three, although I think most of us can easily speculate on those who would be unhappy with their implementation.

Honestly, I give Slive a lot of credit with these.  It’s clear his intent is to restrict certain tactics which allow coaches to limit recruits’ options.  Of course, the devil’s in the details; never underestimate the ability of an SEC football coach to find the weak spot in a rule which can be exploited.  But, overall, I like what I see.

And it’s interesting that one thing not floated there is a total ban on grayshirting.

Weiszer doesn’t name a source for his information, but Slive’s tactics (assuming that the info is coming from Slive or someone who sides with Slive on the legislation) seem to me to be of as much interest as the proposals themselves.  Is he putting this out because he feels more confident in his support, or because he feels the need to rally support in the media and with the public?  I guess we’ll find out in another week or so.

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UPDATE:  Oversigning.com is critical of the proposal, calling it “window dressing” for failing to address the 85-player limit.

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UPDATE #2:  Year2 names names.

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UPDATE #3:  Brian Cook’s analysis is here.