Talkin’ SEC Media Days

Here’s the lineup.

Day Three ought to be quite the study in contrasts, especially going from Leach to Pruitt.

Advertisement

Moar East beasts

Pretty good showing here, as well.

#SEC Highest-graded returning D-linemen (Interior or Edge w/at least 320 snaps)

Malik Herring, UGA – 90.3
Bobby Brown III, A&M – 81.8
Jamar Watson, UK – 81.5
Tyler Shelvin, LSU – 80.4
Devonte Wyatt, UGA – 78.2
Neil Farrell Jr., LSU – 78.2
Azeez Ojulari, UGA – 76.7@PFF_College

— Brent Rollins (@PFF_Brent) February 20, 2020

I think Herring and Wyatt are going to have big years in 2020.  (Especially Herring.)

If music be the food of non-compliance…

Let’s give it up for Pittsburgh, which has managed to pull off the neat twofer of having a former men’s basketball head coach and current football head coach hit with show cause orders in the same NCAA announcement.  Well done, Panthers.

Here’s what Narduzzi was up to:

According to the agreement, the head football coach instructed or was present at the practice facility when three former quality control staff members performed coaching duties, resulting in the program exceeding the allowable number of permissible coaches. The university conducted adequate spot checks of the program, but the agreement said the violations were undetected in part due to the program’s practice of playing music to indicate when outside parties were present at the practice facility. Football quality control staff members reported that they would make sure they were not near student-athletes when hearing the music.

Well, that’s one way to play on.

Made Mays

Someone asked UT’s The Athletic beat writer about the status of Cade Mays’ transfer waiver request ($$).  Tom Mars wouldn’t speak to him about that, on or off the record, so this is what he had to offer:

… I’ve asked around. The sense I’ve gotten is it’s a collection of things over time more than one big, giant thing that no one knows about. Georgia was, of course, very unhappy about Mays’ move, and though Mars was “highly confident,” he also admitted it’s possible he’s wrong.

Clear as mud.  Strange, too, considering Mays started in the Sugar Bowl.  It’s water under the bridge, sure, but hope it’s not an indication of something troubling under the surface that went on before.

Is the NCAA following the First Rule of Holes?

You could certainly make an argument that this week’s announcement the organization intends to implement some form of one-time transfer rule for college football players is an indication that it’s trying to put down the shovel.

I’m not going to even mock them by saying better late than never, because it’s got to be hard for that group to acknowledge that it’s completely tangled itself up in its rules and regulations.

That’s the real problem here.  Even if Emmert and his team know they’ve lost their way, they’ve constructed so many barriers in the process that it makes it hard to get back on the road, even when they recognize the need to reset.

And there’s plenty more where that comes from.  Look at the argument advanced by the Alston plaintiffs to the appeals court yesterday.

Plaintiffs in Alston appeal argue that NCAA's new position on athletes making money off NIL reinforces plaintiffs' contention that athlete-compensation limits should be set by the conferences rather than by the NCAA pic.twitter.com/JqzCSQNbEv

— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) February 20, 2020

The NCAA knows that standing pat on loosening NIL rules is a losing proposition, but if it proceeds to take steps to extricate itself from that, it runs smack dab into its O’Bannon stance.  It’s the inevitable problem that arrives when you insist on taking maximalist positions on everything.

Most of this could have been dealt with through proactive negotiations five years ago that would have left much of the schools’ positions intact, but that’s not how the NCAA rolls.  Is it any wonder that lawmakers are skeptical of Emmert’s position that this time, they really mean to do something about NIL that’s in all the parties’ best interests?

It’s a shame, too, because it’s still not too late for the NCAA to roll up its sleeves and work out something allowing it to retain more than half a loaf.  I expect that shovel still feels mighty comforting, though.

Beasts of the East

Didn’t expect to see a list looking like this:

#SEC Highest-graded returning O-linemen

Darian Kinnard, UK – 89.2
Jamaree Salyer, UGA – 81.3
Trey Smith, UT – 78.6
Landon Young, UK – 78.3
Drake Jackson, UK – 78.0
Ben Cleveland, UGA – 77.4
Luke Fortner, UK – 77.0
Carson Green, A&M – 76.3
Trey Hill, UGA – 73.6@PFF_College

— Brent Rollins (@PFF_Brent) February 19, 2020

Seven of nine names there are from Georgia and Kentucky.  Looks like the ‘Cats might have a stout o-line this season.

And nobody from ‘Bama.  What’s going on?

A match made in swampy heaven

Generally speaking, I’m not keen on five-star recruits signing with rivals, but I’ll make an exception in this case.

National Signing Day for the 2020 recruiting class may have come and gone, but the Florida Gators aren’t quite done with targets in that cycle just yet. Florida still has a big fish on the line in Houston (TX) North Shore five-star running back Zachary Evans.

The Gators have been in talks with Evans for quite some time now as they have wanted to ink a high school back in the 2020 cycle to go along with transfer back Lorenzo Lingard, who enrolled in December. Florida took their next step in the chase of the talented runner as the two parties have locked in their official visit for the weekend of March 20, sources have confirmed to Swamp247.

This will be Evans’ first time visiting The Swamp, and the Gators will look to make a strong impression.

Don’t screw this up, Portal Master.  I’ve just laid in a new shipment of popcorn.