Emmert knows best.

You know, I keep telling myself cynically that there’s little the NCAA can do these days that irritates me, but they keep finding ways to prove me wrong.

My favorite part of the piece is this, one step past getting leads from TMZ:

And how did the N.C.A.A. find out about Tanesha’s airfare? Get this: The N.C.A.A. heard about it from her ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon who, according to Ryan’s cousin, Jaeh Thomas, had once seen Ryan as “his big ticket.” When the relationship turned ugly, he vowed to exact revenge on Tanesha by calling in the N.C.A.A., according to Thomas and Mike McAllister, Ryan’s father. If this were a court proceeding, the ex-boyfriend’s credibility could be challenged and his motives questioned. Instead, in its crazed obsession with its extra-legal rules, the N.C.A.A. is willing to serve the interests of an angry ex-boyfriend who wants to ruin an athlete’s career to get back at his mother. It almost defies belief.

Not really.  We just wish it did.

Advertisement

JoePa passes.

The AP obit is here.  It’s sad that his life will always be remembered in a more complicated way than he wished.  But honesty compels me to say that such was the choice he made.  I hope his family can find some peace with that eventually.

Phil Steele’s 2012 returning starters

Steele has blessed us with his number crunching on how many starters return at every D-1 school this coming season.  And kleph was good enough to make a readable SEC chart, which looks like this:

Phil Steele’s SEC Returning Starters List

SEC Rank Natl. Rank School Offense Defense Special Teams Total 1 2 (tie) Tennessee 10* 8 2 20 2 (tie) 8 (tie) Auburn 7* 9 2 18 2 (tie) 8 (tie) Florida 7 10 1 18 2 (tie) 8 (tie) Vanderbilt 9* 7 2 18 5 20 (tie) Mississippi 8* 7 2 17 6 29 (tie) Texas A&M 9 6 1 16 7 (tie) 44 (tie) Arkansas 7* 6 2 15 7 (tie) 44 (tie) Georgia 6* 9 0 15 9 (tie) 64 (tie) LSU 7 5 2 14 9 (tie) 64 (tie) S. Carolina 7* 6 1 14 11 (tie) 81 (tie) Alabama 7* 4 2 13 11 (tie) 81 (tie) Kentucky 6* 6 1 13 11 (tie) 81 (tie) Miss. State 5 7 1 13 11 (tie) 81 (tie) Missouri 5* 6 2 13 * designates offenses with a returning quarterback

For comparison, you can find Steele’s list from 2011 here.

A few observations:

• Overall, the conference looks much more experienced going into this season.  No 2012 SEC program ranks lower than 81st nationally.  Last year, Florida was 85th, South Carolina 93rd, Tennessee 96th and Auburn brought up the rear at #120.
• Good news for James Franklin – Vanderbilt was 2011’s most experienced team and still ranks eighth nationally this season.
• The Dawgs return two less starters this season than they did in 2011, but return two more starters on defense in 2012 than they did last year.
• Tennessee goes from 96th in experience to second.  The Derek Dooley hot seat meme is called to order.
• And VanGorder gets nine returning starters to break from every bad habit they learned under Ted Roof.
• You think anybody in Tuscaloosa is seriously worried about no other SEC school having less starters returning?  Nah, me neither.

Sunday morning buffet

Grab a plate and get started.

• As if recruiting at Georgia Tech isn’t hard enough… and what’s with the UCF placement service, anyway?
• Fun with numbers, SEC-style.
• Mike Leach writes a settlement letter.  The addressees take up almost three times the length that his proposal does.
• How big time sports ate college life.  Or, more academic whining.
• Mike Glazer may claim not to understand what people mean when they call him a fixer, but Jarvis Jones does:  “The people that handled it, they handled it real well.”
• Year2 offers Gene Chizik some advice about hiring his offensive coordinator.
• Live by the tweet, die by the tweet.  Not that anybody is going to learn any lasting lesson from it.

Change the locks.

Derek Dooley continues a Tennessee tradition:

… The Volunteers landed some secondary help Saturday, when four-star cornerback prospect Deion Bonner committed while on an official visit to the UT campus. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Bonner, from Columbus Carver High School, is the fifth Georgian to commit for this class.

Bonner had numerous scholarship offers from schools such as Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia and Southern California, but his recruitment took a downturn following his involvement in the theft of items worth nearly $2,000 from the Georgia locker room during an open house in April. Bonner was charged with one count of theft by taking, which is a misdemeanor.

Best of luck, Andre Lott.