Houston Nutt, putting the gray in grayshirt

Not many folks take Houston Nutt’s protestations about grayshirting and oversigning seriously, but after reading the story of Maikhail Miller, a quarterback in this year’s Ole Miss class who’s been told he’s a grayshirt candidate, I concede that we may need to cut the Nuttster some slack.

… Miller said he has not closely followed the oversigning discussions of SEC presidents and coaches.

He’s currently enrolled in summer school and working out at team facilities. He said Nutt first approached he and his family about the possibility of grayshirting in late November or early December.

At the time, the Rebels had two scholarship quarterbacks and were in the mix for two more, junior college transfer Zack Stoudt and West Virginia transfer Barry Brunetti.

Veteran Nathan Stanley has since left the program, and Brunetti and Randall Mackey, a junior college transfer who redshirted in 2010, have an edge on Stoudt going into August camp.

“I really didn’t understand what it (grayshirt) was at first, but when coach Nutt got down to what it really is, he would tell me about it every time we walked to make sure I knew what it was all about,” Miller said.

Miller explored options after the grayshirt discussion, talking with Southern Mississippi and taking an official visit to Arkansas State.

“I was serious, but the facilities and all that, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the SEC,” he said.

Miller visited several spring practices and Ole Miss and is focused on moving ahead with his college career.

“I think there are benefits,” he said. “My parents thought it would be a good thing. I still have a scholarship when it comes time to go to school, and you still have four years of eligibility. It’s not that bad at all.”

So Nutt told the kid and his parents about grayshirting and gave him the opportunity to explore going to other schools.  In response and after weighing his options, Miller decided he preferred to be at an SEC school as a grayshirt than immediately enrolled elsewhere.  Sorry, oversigning fanatics, but I’m not seeing a problem here.

It sounds to me like the way Nutt engaged with Miller is exactly what Richt referred to and approved of a couple of weeks ago.

Steele’s Georgia preview

For those of you who haven’t bought the mag, he’s posted his Georgia preview at his site.

A few notes:

• He thinks there will be a drop off at wide receiver (duh!), but not as much as many of us do.
• His preview is current enough to take into account Ealey’s departure.
• He’s got Georgia with the #1 special teams unit in the country.
• He picks Georgia to win the East in an upset.
• In the last ten meetings between Georgia and South Carolina, the winner has scored 20 points or less in eight of them.

And if you want to scratch your head, look at his 7-year stats summary and compare the 2009 and 2010 numbers.  Other than the rushing stats on both sides of the ball, the 2010 team improved.  Except in wins and losses, of course.

His work is done.

And what a legacy he leaves.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton will announce his resignation at a news conference Tuesday morning, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.com’s Chris Low.

Hamilton has been the men’s athletic director since 2003.

Phil Fulmer is on the mother.

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UPDATE:  Tennessee is reportedly paying a buyout to Hamilton of $1.335 million.  That’s nice work if you can get it.

No experience necessary.

More proof of Paul Johnson’s genius:

Georgia Tech may have gotten  one of the state’s biggest steals of the year with Monday’s commitment of Francis Kallon, who is a native of London, England.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound defensive end from Central Gwinnett is an overnight sensation in recruiting circles after deciding to take up the sport of football two months ago…  [Emphasis added.]

“With not playing football before, several coaches said that it could actually be a big advantage because he hasn’t picked up any bad habits. He hasn’t learned how to loaf and he hasn’t learned how to take plays off. He only knows one speed right now, and that’s full speed. They think they can redshirt him for a year, mold him and teach him the game, and that he could end up being very special.”

“He hasn’t picked up any bad habits” – he hasn’t picked up any good ones, either.  That’s because he’s never played a game of organized football.  (In fairness, he’s got other offers, so he must have decent athletic ability.)

“Francis is everything you’re looking for in a defensive end.”  Except experienced.  Other than that, he’s perfect.

Make the bastards pay.

Tommy Tuberville has a new theory on why his 2004 Auburn team should be awarded the national title which was just vacated:  “Someone should be awarded (the) title.  If not, the team that had to forfeit is not really punished.”

I could be wrong, but I suspect that Southern Cal begs to differ with Tubs on that.  Still, it’s nice of him to care.

“Can you get the word ’scumbag’ tattooed on the front of the sports page?”

West Virginia is setting a new standard for dysfunctional coaching staffs.

The more things change…

The Oversigning Legislation That Improves Everything passes in Destin on Friday… and it’s business as usual in Tuscaloosa on Monday.

Alabama linebacker Petey Smith will transfer to Holmes Community College in Mississippi, he confirmed Monday afternoon.

Smith, who is the younger brother of Eric Smith, the Auburn running back who was dismissed from the team in February, first made the announcement on his Facebook page.

In a follow up conversation, Smith said he wants to jump-start his collegiate career after struggling to work his way up the Crimson Tide depth chart.

You’ve really got to admire the timing there.  Either that, or somebody didn’t get Mike Slive’s memo.

Chillax, peeps.

Mike Leach tweets that we all need to take a few deep breaths.

Football world is overreacting to a number of things. 1) Notion that everybody cheats. 2) The main individual at fault is always the HC…—
Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) June 06, 2011

3) Oversigning. 4) All athletes are broke. 5) Media's role as arbitrator. 6) Players don't know the difference between right & wrong…—
Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) June 06, 2011

7) The notion Coaches search for ways to cheat. 8) The notion administrators are blind to everything. 9) Notion boosters easily controlled.—
Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) June 06, 2011

Overreacting to the notion that boosters are easily controlled?  Given his experience, you figure he might feel differently about that.

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UPDATE:  The pirate is on a roll.  Evidently Coach Stewart isn’t on that list.

Mike Leach just calls West Virginia situation "underhanded and hillbilly." Channel 91 XM, folks. Now.—
Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) June 07, 2011