Tick tock, NCAA.

Shit gets real today.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced he will sign a bill that is aimed at helping college athletes in the state make money from their name, image and likeness, beginning on July 1, 2021.

DeSantis’ action will make Florida the third state with this type of law, joining California and Colorado. However, Florida’s law is set to go into effect 18 months earlier than the other two.

Because DeSantis (R) endorsed the idea of such legislation last October, his signature had been expected since the bill completed its path through the state legislature in mid-March, just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold in the United States.

But now that it will be official later Friday, there will be even more urgency among college sports officials to lobby for the passage of a federal law that would supersede any state actions. The NCAA Board of Governors, its top policy-making group, has approved in principle a series of significant reforms related to athlete name, image and likeness (NIL), but many important details remain to be worked out before the association’s pledged completion date of January 2021.

Ah, those pesky details.  More Congressional groveling to come…

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UPDATE:  I bet this won’t be the last time we hear a governor say something like this.

DeSantis: "For all of our great high school players, stay in state. I see people going to Alabama and Clemson and I know they've got good programs, but there's nothing better than winning a national championship in your home state. So maybe this will be an added incentive."

— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) June 12, 2020

Narrator:  It won’t.

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Hatin’

You have a good idea what’s in store for you in an article hyped by a tweet like this.

Do I hate your team? My #SEC picks are in. https://t.co/OLUIh8X2kr

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) June 12, 2020

After reading it, I don’t think he hates Georgia.  I just don’t think he makes much sense when he writes,

Georgia is running circles around Florida on the recruiting trail, but Florida has the advantage this year on the field because of the quarterback situation and coaching — and the Gators will need that advantage, because Georgia’s defense will be one of the best in the nation. Dan Mullen pushes all the right buttons this time and knocks off Kirby Smart for only the second time in his career (1-11 in matchups as coordinators and head coaches) and Florida heads to the SEC Championship Game. The Gators will win double-digit games for a third straight year, a first for the program since Steve Spurrier did it six straight years ending in 1998.

How often is the better coach the one who’s lost eleven of twelve meetings?

Player survey sez…

Somebody gave me a hard time for not posting anything about a player survey about the coronavirus that appeared in The Athletic, so I’ll make amends by noting the one ESPN conducted with 73 FBS players.

Here are the three primary findings:

Are you comfortable practicing and playing games without a coronavirus vaccine?

Yes: 64
No: 8
Somewhat: 1

Are you comfortable practicing and playing games if your school isn’t open to the general student body?

Yes: 62
No: 11

Are you willing to play games in empty stadiums?

Yes: 59
No: 13
Depends: 1

And here are the two results I find more pertinent.

If the season got delayed or interrupted, would you be willing to play two seasons in one calendar year?

Yes: 37
No: 28
Depends: 8

How long do you need to get ready for the season?

Four weeks: 17
Six weeks: 37
Eight weeks: 17
More than eight weeks: 1
Whatever the NCAA says: 1

Why do I say that?  Because this strikes me as having the ring of truth to it:

This didn’t appear in our CFB player survey piece, but I feel it reflects the dilemma many players are facing with the return to play amid a pandemic. From a Pac-12 player. pic.twitter.com/evvlyY5F3a

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) June 12, 2020

In other words, “voluntary” does not mean what we think it means.

100

So, this popped up on Twitter yesterday.

Eight SEC players finished their careers with at least 100 total TDs.

Tim Tebow, 145
Aaron Murray, 137
Danny Wuerffel, 122
Dak Prescott, 114
Drew Lock, 109
Nick Fitzgerald, 101
Chris Leak, 101
Peyton Manning, 101

Half of those guys had Dan Mullen on the sidelines.

— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) June 11, 2020

David Wunderlich breaks that down.

Really, though, there are two main paths when you look at the full list.

One is to be a four-year starter (or close to it) in a pass-oriented offense. Aaron Murray, Danny Wuerffel, Drew Lock, Leak, and Peyton Manning all fit this mold.

The other is to be at least a good enough passer while getting ten or more rushing touchdowns a year. Tebow, Prescott, and Fitzgerald fall in here, and that’s really where you see Mullen’s influence.

Most coaches don’t run their quarterbacks like Mullen or his mentor Urban Meyer do. If they do, then the quarterback in question is generally not a great passer. There are some notable exceptions, like Cam Newton and Nick Marshall for Gus Malzahn or Johnny Manziel for Kevin Sumlin, but these are exceptions and not the rule.

Longevity really does count here too.

That’s why Tagovailoa (96) and Burrow (91) came up just short.  You know who else projects just short?

In 2018, Feleipe Franks racked up 24 passing and seven rushing for 31 total touchdowns. If Franks could’ve matched that count in his final two years of eligibility, he could combine his 91 touchdowns under Mullen with his nine from 2017 to surpass the century mark.

In other words, in terms of evaluating quarterback coaches, it’s one of those stats that means a lot less than it sounds.

“The Vols are back. Before long we’ll be a taking bite out of everyone we play’s ass.”

Some memes will never die ($$).  Here’s something from David Ubben’s schedule analysis for Tennessee:

Kirby Smart’s team is replacing its quarterback, offensive coordinator, top two running backs and four starters on the offensive line, one of whom will likely be suiting up for Tennessee this fall. And the Bulldogs didn’t once take the field for spring practice.  [Emphasis added.]

There’s a drinking game to be made out of the first broadcast of the season, but I don’t want to watch a game stinkin’ wasted.

Asses in the seats?

In case you’re wondering what the governor’s latest executive order regarding the pandemic says about playing in front of crowds at Sanford Stadium…

IT IS FURTHER

 ORDERED:

That venues hosting professional, collegiate, or high school sporting events, practices, and games during the effective dates of this Executive Order shall do so solely pursuant to the rules or guidelines that have been or will be promulgated or approved by the applicable professional, collegiate, or high school sports league, conference, or association.

In other words, Kemp is deferring to Greg Sankey or Mark Emmert.  I guess he’s making sure we’ll know whom to blame, one way or the other.

Some things, you just can’t get enough of.

For me, one of those is the first seven and one-half minutes of the 2017 Cocktail Party.

I’ve seen my share of empty seats in the Florida section over the years, but watching Gator fans leaving in the first quarter is something I’ll be eternally grateful to Kirby Smart for.

Dawg porn in the morn

PFF wants to build the perfect college quarterback, and to do that, it needs to borrow something from Georgia’s likely starter in 2020.

TOUCH: JAMIE NEWMAN, GEORGIA

One of the most heated debates in college football this offseason has been over who the third-best quarterback is behind Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. We here at PFF are among the few who have Georgia transfer Jamie Newman in that spot. The biggest reasons why we have Newman there are his underappreciated arm talent and how he made the most of a bad situation at Wake Forest. Specifically, Newman’s touch is really the key driver in this — it’s the best in the country. Newman displayed great touch when leading downfield last year and dropped numerous balls in the bucket over his receivers’ shoulders. He had 22 such completions last year, which tied for the most among Power-5 quarterbacks.

Newman’s top-notch touch is going to give Georgia something it didn’t really have with Jake Fromm: A formidable deep passing attack. Newman ranked second to only Burrow among Power-5 quarterbacks in deep (20-plus yard throws) passing grade last year with his great touch. He can thread the ball into tight windows with easy zip if need be or drop it perfectly over the receiver’s shoulder. And because of that, he’s our third-best quarterback in the country and looks poised for a big year with his supporting cast at Georgia.

From your lips to Gawd’s ears, fellas.

Leachery

Tell me, how accurate a take do you find this?

There are two ways to look at the hiring of Mike Leach.

On the one side, the guy has never won anything.

In 18 years as an FBS head coach at Texas Tech and Washington State, he has as many conference championships as you do.

He has never coached a team in a conference title game, has just one top ten finish, just two double-digit win seasons, and for all the flash and fun, there isn’t even an outright division title.

And then there’s the flip side – he has never come close to having as much talent to coach as he has now at Mississippi State.

Nah, Leach and MSU aren’t going take over the SEC West and start winning conference championships – at least not right away – but there’s reason for the big boys to freak out.

Basically, Mississippi State is now going to be a problem to deal with. Even if the championship runs aren’t there, this is going to be a team that can pull off a win against anyone because the system is so dangerous.

Here comes the grand experiment that was worth wondering about when the Tennessee job became open a few years ago. What’s going to happen when the system matches up with a team full of top-shelf recruits on the lines?

My feeling is that if Leach couldn’t pull off a conference championship in the Pac-12 or the Big 12, there aren’t enough stars in the sky to align right to pull off even a divisional title over the likes of Alabama, Auburn and LSU.  (Insert “if even Dan Mullen couldn’t” snark here.)

But is he going to make Mississippi State a pain in the ass to play and more than occasionally knock off one of the powerhouses along the way?  It’s hard to see how he won’t given his track record.

If I’m an MSU fan realistic about my program’s ceiling, that’s likely enough to make me happy.

“There’s nothing worse you can ever have to do than cut sports.”

It took COVID-19 for a bunch of college athletics administrators to come to Jesus and realize they’re operating a broken system?

Shit, all they had to do was look at what Jeff Long did with David Beaty to know things are fucked up.

Kansas Athletics has been billed at least $473,730.04 — so far — on outside legal services while defending itself against a lawsuit from former football coach David Beaty.

Those invoices, received by The Star on Thursday following an open records request, show the amount billed by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP to KU between Oct. 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020.

KU Athletics and Beaty settled the lawsuit on Friday, with the athletic department agreeing to pay the former coach $2.55 million. Beaty originally sued KU for $3 million, which was the amount of the original buyout in his contract…

Though KU did not attach a Bryan Cave bill for May’s services as part of the records request, a “balance outstanding” line indicated that the school still owed $81,058.55 from an invoice that was dated June 8, 2020. If accurate, that would make KU’s total $554,788.59, not including any Bryan Cave billing from June.

When you wind up spending more fighting a buyout than the original cost of the buyout, that’s just your way of showing that college sports’ problem isn’t that there’s too much money.  It’s that there’s too much waste.

And canning programs that help kids instead of addressing the real problem is just further proof that most athletic administrators either don’t understand the problem or don’t care.  And why should they?  Once things get back to normal and the money spigot is turned back on, they can go right back to doing what worked before.  For them, anyway.