Sixth year’s the charm.

This doesn’t make up for what it put him through…

Offensive tackle Kolton Houston has received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA, Georgia announces.

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) December 13, 2014

… but it’s still the right thing to do at this point.  We’ll take it.

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Life on the SEC recruiting trail, a continuing series

You’ll be shocked, shocked to learn that rival programs are using Spurrier’s “Give me two or three more (years)” comment to negatively recruit against South Carolina.

I bet Phil Fulmer truly regrets not being at Tennessee right now.

Mark Bradley’s warning to the “grumblers”

Shorter Bradley:  Mark Richt may be no Paul Johnson, but, Georgia fans, who you gonna get who’d be better?

Classic.

What you get when Jimmy Sexton is your agent.

Hugh Freeze gets a base salary of $5 million if Ole Miss advances to SEC Champ game. Well done, Jimmy Sexton.

— John Talty (@JTalty) December 12, 2014

Mind you, that’s not for winning it, just for getting to Atlanta.  Well played, Mr. Sexton.

Though I doubt anyone at Ole Miss would begrudge the extra mil a year if that came to be.

Some of you need to remind me again about how you’d restructure Mark Richt’s contract.

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UPDATE:  Freeze’s pay before the trip to Atlanta is bumped to $4.3 million/year.  That is

… tied with Penn State’s James Franklin, and fourth among SEC coaches, behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban ($7.16 million), Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin ($5 million) and LSU’s Les Miles ($4.37 million).

“If you are fortunate enough to spend five minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.”

The GPOOE™ is preparing to channel his inner Thom Brennaman, as he makes his broadcasting début at the Peach Bowl.

And I was really looking forward to watching that game.

Another football wish for today

If the Pitt head coaching spot is indeed open, I’d love to see the school hire Junior as its next head coach and have him bring Ed Orgeron along for the ride, if only so we could watch James Franklin’s head explode as he has to deal with the both of them on the recruiting trail.

Speaking of business decisions…

As a complement to my last post, consider this:

With a number of underclassmen declaring for the 2015 draft, I thought I would post some stats from @TroyVincent23 pic.twitter.com/u3WAjuPwpz

— Bucky Brooks (@BuckyBrooks) December 11, 2014

Now, which do you think is a better incentive to keep kids in school, the NFL wagging a finger at their dreams, or receiving enough money while enrolled to make staying in college easier?

“This is America,” Uncle Nate said. “What’s wrong with making money?”

Not one damned thing.

And ponder Todd Gurley’s fate at Georgia as you read this:

These aren’t the old days. The players are more famous than ever. Social media makes them easier to reach and approach outside the confines of the athletic department.

And the big, big business of celebrity makes their fame a major commodity.

To pretend otherwise, to deny them the representation they deserve, to prevent them from earning money, to put kids who are now in an overwhelming spotlight to operate under rules that are far more restrictive than the criminal code, isn’t just ridiculous. It actually forces college sports’ best players to leave sooner than necessary to cash in and thus, Fitch argues, hurts both the NCAA business and its stated mission of educating athletes.

“[If] you can make money and you can stay here for four years and get your education and you can have a much smoother transition to the NFL or NBA, that actually fulfills the education part because it’s no longer a system that pushes them out,” Fitch argued.

“If you say [allowing this] ruins it, I say it helps fulfill the student part of student-athlete. More will graduate. More will stay.”

Manziel played just two seasons for Texas A&M. If he were banking $8 million to $10 million per year on outside income, would he have stayed for one or two more, led A&M to more glory while becoming better prepared for the NFL?

“My opinion is absolutely,” Fitch said. “I think Johnny would have stayed. And with Mike [Evans, A&M star receiver who also left early] and Johnny this year at Texas A&M? National championship.”

It wouldn’t have cost the school one dime.  As for the kids,

“Who defines big money to a college kid?” Fitch said. “Who defines that? Is $100 big money? So if a backup can go get $100 to sign 100 footballs and he comes from a disadvantaged background is that not big money? How about $25 to fill his gas tank? Who does it hurt?

“Every dollar is a big dollar to a college kid.”

My dream Belk Bowl scenario

It’s never gonna happen, but I’d love to see Georgia hang half a hundred quickly enough that Brice Ramsey plays the entire fourth quarter, and after the game Mike Bobo lays out a perfect crack about somebody’s backbone.

“If we had to go to Siberia, OK, to play the Leningrad Stalins or the Leningrad Rooskies, we’d go do it…”

In one of the funniest rants I’ve read in a while, Air Force’s Troy Calhoun calls the current CFP four-team format “un-American”.

“There’s no doubt that it’s all set up for five conferences, as it is,” Calhoun said. “You’ve got to be in one of those five conferences.”

Shit, dude, what do you expect from a bunch of socialists?