Torn between two lovers

Try to read this paragraph without chuckling.

Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that veteran coach Charlie Strong, who rose to notoriety in coaching circles in part because of his great Florida Gators’ defenses, was planning to return to the Florida program to work alongside veteran defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, but appears instead to have chosen to go with Meyer.

Hard to believe Charlie turned down an opportunity to work with Towel Boy, but I guess the lure of Corch was too strong to resist.

Advertisement

Totally normal

This seems… fine.

One day after meeting with compliance and the outside counsel about the internal investigation, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt is on his way to California to meet with standout linebacker Henry To’oto’o and his family.

Pruitt is joined on the trip west by defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley, Tennessee Player Development Assistant Kevin Simon and sources say they are picking up new defensive assistant Kevin Steele on the way to the west coach. Simon is a De La Salle alum which is where To’oto’o played and Simon was a key factor in To’oto’o selecting the Vols.

The soon to be Junior linebacker has loved his time at Tennessee. However, sources tell Volquest that the current unknown from the internal investigation which has led questions surrounding Pruitt’s job security have given Henry and his family pause. In an effort to settle the To’oto’o families concerns, Pruitt and members of his staff are on their way to the west coast.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that get together.  What sort of advice would you offer Pruitt for when he meets with the family?  Besides “wear your mask correctly”, that is.

Today, in leveling the playing field

Bill Connelly makes two points in one here:

Alabama is projected to have 70 top-300 prospects on their roster next year.

SEVENTY.

(But yes, tell me more about how NIL will result in top schools getting all the good recruits.)https://t.co/l6ebvEKeGX

— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) January 15, 2021

Competitive disadvantage done left the barn, people, and paying players isn’t gonna change that.

You know, there’s more than one narrative this offseason.

We already know what the pundits will be singing about Georgia between now and September.  But Matt Hinton brings up another song we’re probably going to hear a few times, too.

3. Did Florida blow its best shot?

By most lights, the Gators hit every major milestone they needed to hit to claim another solid step forward in Dan Mullen’s 3rd season: They beat Georgia, won the SEC East and remained in the thick of the Playoff race well into December, all while producing the program’s first bona fide Heisman candidate since Tim Tebow.

And yet the ending – a 3-game losing streak, including humiliations at the hands of a shorthanded, lame-duck version of LSU in the regular-season finale and Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl – undeniably left a sour taste that’s going to linger well into the offseason. With Kyle Trask and his top 3 targets are all on their way out, there’s a palpable sense for the first time under Mullen that the Gators are due for a step back.

That’s a shame.

Brittany Collens delenda est.

Here’s your weekly reminder that the NCAA is run by petty assholes.

When Brittany Collens first saw the news, she figured it was a joke. It was last October, and Collens, a professional tennis player, was driving home following a workout when her coach texted her an article about the National Collegiate Athletic Association punishing the University of Massachusetts, Amherst women’s tennis program for violating its amateurism rules.

Didn’t you play at UMass? her coach texted.

Collens did. As a senior in 2017, she helped the school win its first Atlantic 10 title in 15 years, capping a memorable season for Collens and her tight-knit teammates with what she calls “an absolutely fairy-tale ending.”

But now—three years later and completely out of the blue—the clock was striking midnight. After pulling off the road, Collens read the article. The NCAA was vacating 49 UMass women’s tennis victories from 2014-15 to 2016-17, including the team’s conference championship, because two players had received money from the school exceeding the full cost of attendance—thereby flouting the sacred and fundamental principle that college athletes shall not get more than whatever the NCAA says they are allowed to get, currently the value of their athletic scholarships plus cost of living stipends.

Curiosity curdling into disbelief, Collens realized that she and her former roommate, Anna Woosley, were the two players in question. Their terrible, no-good amateurism crime? When the pair moved out of dorms and into off-campus housing during their junior year, the school mistakenly continued to include a $252 telecommunications subsidy in their scholarship checks.

“It’s a stipend for athletes in on-campus housing, so they can have a phone jack for a landline,” Collens says. “I didn’t have a landline when I lived on campus. So I never even noticed it. I had to call my former coach and the UMass [athletic director] so they could explain what was happening, and why I was in trouble.

“It just doesn’t make sense. The rules don’t make sense.”

To you, that’s a bug.  To Mark Emmert, it’s a feature.  He must defend this amateurism.

Cover that guy.

Well, shit.  The job for Georgia’s secondary in next season’s opener just got tougher.

Clemson standout wide receiver Justyn Ross, who missed the 2020 season with a spinal condition, will return to the team in 2021, he announced Thursday night on Twitter.

Ross in June underwent surgery for a congenital fusion in his spine. He suffered what was thought to be a shoulder injury during spring practice in March, but X-rays revealed that two vertebrae in his spine were fused.

If you’ve forgotten about Justyn Ross here is your reminder

(h/t @TigerCommenter)

pic.twitter.com/yJsR8fHgo2

— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 15, 2021

Yeesh.

Musical palate cleanser, “I am the natural born taildragger” edition

Could you use a little live Howlin’ Wolf this morning?  Everybody could use a little live Howlin’ Wolf this morning.

There’s a consummate performer for you.