Just another day in Paradise

Here’s something you don’t see every day.

Phillip Fulmer on going on SEC Network to discuss Tennessee and recruiting because of course he is.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) December 20, 2017

More and more, it’s looking like an oncoming train wreck in Knoxville.

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When you’re not busy on early signing day…

… you have more time to throw one of your assistant coaches under the bus.

Paul Johnson said that any coaching changes would happen in the dead period. Told us to ask Roof about if Roof will be here next year.

— Kelly Quinlan (@Kelly_Quinlan) December 20, 2017

The man is an inspiring leader,  no doubt.

Today, in big deals

One of today’s more surprising developments is that Clemson flipped a five-star offensive lineman from in-state Ohio State. Somehow, I don’t think that’s gonna stick in Corch’s craw nearly as much as this will:

Dabo Swinney told Jackson Carman during his recruitment that Urban Meyer is on the back end of his career in terms of years left. “It wasn’t a major factor, but it was an underlying one,” Carman said.

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) December 20, 2017

Urban Meyer is five years older than Dabo Swinney.

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UPDATE:  Oh, my.  This story just gets better.

3. Carman previously called out OSU’s coaching staff in public, then got into a Twitter fight with Kirk Herbstreit.

He thought Ohio State should bench QB J.T. Barrett for Dwayne Haskins…

Herbstreit, a Buckeye himself, did not like that…

And Carman didn’t like that Herbstreit didn’t like it:

Herbstreit’s last word on it:

“And then he says he’s gonna go to Clemson or USC. Good, that would be a great decision for you. I think it’d be better for Urban Meyer to not have a guy like that on his roster.”

Well, Carman has now followed through on that threat. But it wasn’t because Meyer decided he wasn’t welcome at Ohio State.

I wonder if Herbie’s heard about Seat 37F yet.

If you ain’t cheatin’…

South Carolina got caught tryin’.

Penalties in the case include a $5,000 fine and the following recruiting restrictions:

• No recruitment of any of the prospects involved in the violations (self-imposed by the university).
• Reduction of fall evaluation days by four, from 42 to 38, during the fall 2017 evaluation period (self-imposed by the university).
• No engagement in off-campus recruiting activities at the involved high school from Sept. 1, 2017, to Aug. 31, 2018 (self-imposed by the university).
• Suspension of each involved assistant coach from off-campus recruiting activities for 42 days during the fall 2017 evaluation period (self-imposed by the university).

Boom!

Further proof of a special season

Given history, this is kind of amazing.

Latavious Brini is no longer facing a felony charge for forgery.

On Wednesday, Brini’s attorney Mark Wiggins confirmed that the charge was dropped during a preliminary hearing. Brini maintained his innocence by claiming he was a victim of mistaken identity. The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office claimed Brini used a fake $100 to receive $92 in change.

“This was a perfect case of the judicial system; the court, the prosecutor, the police and the defense lawyer, all aggressively seeking the truth,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins said Tuesday that there was no video footage linking Brini to the crime. The only link was a cashier claiming Brini was the perpetrator after he walked into the store eight days after the incident.

The times, they are a-changin’.

If Kirby’s not on the next plane to Vegas, he’s making a mistake.  What a roll he’s on…

Throwing stuff up against the bulletin board and seeing what sticks.

As I’ve already said, motivation tends to carry the day during bowl season.  In my mind, if UCF has a legitimate shot of upsetting Auburn in the Peach Bowl, it’ll be because the Knights want it more than the Tigers.  On paper, anyway, Auburn’s offense looks to have its way with a mediocre Central Florida defense and it’s hard to see how UCF copes with that menacing Auburn defensive front.

Best thing to do, then, would seem to be to lull the Gus Bus to sleep with lots of love and respect and try to catch them napping on game day. But, between one of UCF’s players denigrating SEC speed and now Scott Frost himself claiming that his coaching staff is outworking Malzahn’s, it looks like they’ve decided on a different tack to take.  Interesting.

Kirk Herbstreit has lost control over losing control.

Herbie doesn’t understand what the big deal is about meeting Micah Parsons on the GameDay set.

While bemused, I’m actually a little sympathetic. Maybe Herbstreit might want to try a little sympathy himself the next time he’s about to rush to judgment on social media.

The upside to an empty postseason

At least Florida fans won’t have to worry about whether Eddy Pineiro would have bailed on his team’s bowl game.

“I think it’s hard to pick a number.”

You’ll be shocked, shocked to find that adherents of The Process have a decidedly different take on the ideal size of support staffs than those who aren’t — or, perhaps more accurately, can’t afford to be.

It’s early signing day and nothing else matters.

Hey, I’m not kidding myself. I realize nobody’s gonna pay attention to anything I post today.  The least I can do is give you a link to Marc Weiszer’s early signing day post.

Knock yourselves out and let me know when you’re done.