“This seems completely counter to the dialogue.”

The SEC is urgently requesting the NCAA to block Michigan from holding part of its spring practice in Florida because it doesn’t want Jim Harbaugh’s ugly mug getting extra exposure at IMG Academy it would be held during spring break.

No, really.  Cue Greg Sankey’s sad tears:

“We have work to do on [giving athletes a] day off. We have work to do on, how do you provide a postseason break? It seems where this is one where reasonable people could say we just shouldn’t be in this space.”

That is so sweet.  And if the NCAA doesn’t do it for the kids, then what?  Then Sankey intends to get medieval on Harbaugh’s ass.

“The net of that is to say the Southeastern Conference is not going to be outpaced in recruiting,” Sankey said. “If the national approach is that we want to have more aggressive summer camps and coaches touring around all summer, then we will not only engage in that behavior, we will certainly engage in that behavior more actively — probably more effectively than others.”

Sounds reasonable to me, Greg.

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UPDATE:  The SEC actually has a rule prohibiting its members from doing what Michigan is doing.

@slmandel Actually the SEC has a rule prohibiting that: pic.twitter.com/nyL0iiN3Ch

— RazorbackRules (@RazorbackRules) February 9, 2016

I guess we know what Sankey’s first move will be if the NCAA turns down his request.

Not to interrupt your midday drool…

Before you finish trying to compose yourself after reading this morning’s Eason/Chaney post, you might want to take a minute to think about what a couple of folks are saying about Charlie Woerner:

“What exactly is he? He’s a utility player that can do a lot of things,” Smart said. “He’s getting bigger, he runs track. He’s played defense, he’s played offense. He’s not a guy that’s coming in and looking for the high-profile situation. All he wants to do is come in and play and compete. I’m excited because having gone against Jim Chaney’s offense, I know the way he uses players like that. I watched him do that with Hunter Henry (at Arkansas), I watched him do that with guys at Tennessee. He’ll find ways to get the guy the ball and put him in unique situations for his body size and matchup. We’re obviously excited about Charlie.”

Woerner’s high school coach at Rabun County, Lee Shaw, believes his pupil’s skill set and size could make for some interesting mismatches down the road. Last July, when Woerner committed to Georgia, Shaw said his standout player should be able to allow  Georgia’s coaching staff – which has since changed – to move him around in various formations.

“(Woerner) presents mismatches because you can force a defense into different fronts,” Shaw said. “Then you flex Charlie out, or send in trips open and he’s a single receiver, and you force the defense into a scheme they don’t want to be in. Charlie’s that guy. That’s why I compare him to (tight end Rob) Gronkowski and how they use Gronkowski at New England.”

Cigarette?

“Preseason FPI is designed to take the guesswork out of preseason ratings.”

ESPN, any ratings system that has Tennessee coming out ahead of Alabama may be many things, but guesswork-free ain’t one of ’em.

Goodness, I need a cold shower.

If this Ian Boyd post, entitled “5-star Jacob Eason is a perfect fit for UGA’s new offense, because he’s already been running it”, isn’t pure, 200-proof Dawg porn, I don’t know what is.

A little taste:

Eason doesn’t even need to have his feet firmly set in order to hit tight windows and make long throws down the field. He reminds SB Nation recruiting guru Bud Elliott of Drew Bledsoe with the way he regularly beats safeties on post routes and seam routes with his velocity and ball placement.

In terms of physical tools, there’s no doubt that this kid can execute any style of offense at a very high level, if he can learn to read defenses well enough to avoid mistakes. So exactly what kind of system is he going to be learning to attack defenses with at Georgia?

Jacob Eason in the new Georgia offense

Jim Chaney made his name in the college football world by unleashing an overlooked and undersized Texas HS QB named Drew Brees in a wide-open, spread offense at Purdue. That Purdue team won a split Big Ten championship in 2000. This was before everyone was unleashing overlooked and undersized Texans in spread offenses.

Chaney eventually entered the pro game but then came back to college at Tennessee in 2009 before joining Brett Bielema at Arkansas. From his time in St. Louis with Scott Linehan he picked up the art of utilizing TEs and diverse run games with varied blocking schemes and angles, which has defined the Arkansas offense under Bielema’s oversight.

In an age where schematic complexity tends to focus around the passing game, Chaney’s diverse run game is a unique challenge, with its myriad of false keys and varying blocks for linebackers to recognize. After setting the table with these schemes and putting TEs on the field, Chaney then sprinkles back in his spread passing game.

Chaney’s development towards becoming more TE- and run-focused is crucial for Eason, particularly if he’s asked to step in and play soon. An offense built around a multiple run game that deploys TEs on the field is often an easier one for a QB to manage, since it generally only relies on the passing game to punish defensive responses to the run. Also, it’s easier to hit 6’4″+ targets in the middle of the field, especially if they are running free after faking a block.

I’ll let you have some privacy now.

Chantastic recruiting news

Jeez, if you think Georgia Tech’s 2016 class was a little underwhelming, get ready for 2017, when the Jackets deal with the aftermath of having only 13 seniors on this year’s team — including 10 in their fifth year of eligibility.

If Johnson has another disappointing season on the Flats and gets canned (and, no, that’s not a prediction), imagine how long it’ll take his successor, who presumably won’t run the triple option, to sort out Tech’s offensive personnel shortcomings.  Hoo, boy.

‘How the hell did this come about?’

How you know when a high school isn’t completely serious…

Lakatriona Brunson becoming the first female head coach of a Florida high school football team is a circus. We can all agree on that.

Brunson, better known as Bernice, moonlights as a reality television star — if there is such a thing — on South Beach Tow. One of her assistant coaches is Luther Campbell — the flamboyant record producer better known as Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew — who is also a South Florida football impresario.

The truly great thing there will be watching college coaches suck up to the two of them on the recruiting trail.  Now that would make a great reality show.

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UPDATE:  Campbell says he came on board to make sure “this wasn’t going to be any joke or circus”.

“And Coach Richt, he’s been like a game out of that.”

Dial the clip here up to the 1:10 mark and listen to Finebaum ask Spurrier if he was surprised that Mark Richt was fired.

The definition of a need-to-know basis

Boy, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to watch Greg McGarity’s reaction to this:

While there were rumors of dissension on Georgia’s coaching staff in 2015 because of defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, nothing was ever confirmed. And there’s no question Bulldogs players will miss him: One player tells me that Pruitt’s future at Georgia was one of the first things athletic director Greg McGarity was asked about when he addressed the team following Mark Richt’s dismissal.

That probably explains the sensitivity.