“There are a lot of waivers granted. I have not monitored the percentage.”

Greg Sankey on the transfer portal is the perfect mix of non-committal weasel…

“What I’m concerned about is that we’re, like, seeking reasons,” he said. “Whether there’s a transfer rule or not, we all should know the same information to be able to make decisions.”

Sankey said he has heard coaches wonder, “Are we doing the right thing?” but indicate they will be active participants in the system. He wants to wait to see hard data on how many players are graduating and remaining eligible before reaching his own conclusion.

… and bullshit artist.

“We assume the movement, the freedom, is healthy,” Sankey said. “I think we need to track the data to see when young people move from Campus A to Campus B for whatever reason, are we assessing the right educational outcomes?”

Yeah, sure.  Because if there’s one thing the SEC is synonymous with, it’s right educational outcomes.

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Could this be the SEC East’s year of the QB?

Now this here’s an interesting little factoid.

Every team in the SEC East has a quarterback who has started at least 13 games. Returning starters in the East include South Carolina’s Jake Bentley (32 career starts), Georgia’s Jake Fromm (28), Florida’s Feleipe Franks (21) and Kentucky’s Terry Wilson (13). Missouri’s top candidate to replace four-year starter Drew Lock is graduate transfer Kelly Bryant, who started 18 games at Clemson.

Ball State graduate transfer Riley Neal, who made 32 starts at his former school, is competing with Deuce Wallace for the right to take over for four-year starter Kyle Shurmur at Vanderbilt.

No, that doesn’t mean we’ve got a bunch of Heisman candidates at hand — that’s for the folks at Auburn to decide, anyway — but you’d think most of those starters are significantly along their respective learning curves at this point.  The question may be how many of them have good enough receiving corps to work with.

Today, in profiles in courage

Greg Sankey, tower of jello.

Greg Sankey calls the reinstatement of LSU basketball coach Will Wade a "chapter" in the story of college basketball's ongoing narrative of corruption in the sport. With the federal trial beginning today, Sankey says, "We'll see how this whole story concludes."

— Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) April 22, 2019

Everything about this federal prosecution is a farce.

If you take requests, I’ve got a few for you.

Faithful reader Nick emailed me with this question yesterday:

If Josh Allen of UK is the top edge rusher in the draft, why did he disappear against UGA? His official stats were unimpressive and my memory of the game was that he was a non-factor. PERHAPS the only elite line he faced? Worth a conversation?

Well, with two fumble recoveries that kept his team in the game early on, I wouldn’t say Allen completely disappeared, but with only three tackles and zero sacks, he certainly didn’t dominate Georgia the way he took over Kentucky’s game against Florida.

As to why, I’d say, yeah, the offensive line certainly played a part, but the game plan may have played an even bigger one.  Fromm only had twenty passing attempts; meanwhile, the Dawgs ran the ball fifty times for 331 yards.  That’s definitely the way to keep a pass rusher from being a factor.

Georgia was definitely focused on Allen and Snell and did a solid job grounding both.  I do think Allen in particular is a special talent who will excel at the next level, but in college there’s only so much a kid like that can do facing a loaded team like Georgia when he’s not surrounded by a lot of talent.

Anybody else want to pitch in here with a take?

The cream rises to the top.

Shot.

SOURCE: #LSU will be looking for a new AD. I can confirm that Joe Alleva is expected to step down, as the Baton Rouge Business Report first reported.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) April 17, 2019

Chaser.

This will make Georgia's Greg McGarity (currently signed through June 2020) the SEC's second-longest serving A.D., after Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky. https://t.co/xipmHJNkVA

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) April 17, 2019

I wonder if he’ll hang on as long as Richt managed to.

Wait… you were serious about that?

C’mon, Athlon.

SEC recruiting profile, part one

I came across a post at Rock M Nation that evaluates Missouri recruiting’s offensive talent profile when compared to the rest of the SEC.  Here’s the general summation of the last five signed classes:

So, on average, Missouri is signing players that are about 9 percent less highly rated stars-wise and 3 percent less highly rated 247 rating-wise than its SEC counterparts.

Those numbers compare favorably with Kentucky (3.12 stars, .8598) and Vanderbilt (2.98, .8436) and not so favorably with, say, Alabama (3.98, .9318), Georgia (3.85, .9200), Auburn (3.68, .9104), LSU (3.65, .9008) and Florida (3.53, .8979).

Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Florida, not so coincidentally, are the schools that have beaten Missouri out for either the SEC East or SEC crown in each of its seven years in the league. Because, while recruiting rankings may miss on a player-by-player basis, the cumulative effect is real.

Missouri has been able to compete the most at quarterback — thanks a lot to Drew Lock and Kelly Bryant — and line, where it is only about 7-8 percent off the league star average. At the skill positions — receiver especially — the Tigers fall off a bit more. All the way to 12 percent underwater at receiver.

Skill pieces like Larry Rountree, Damarea Crockett, Emanuel Hall, Albert Okwuegbunam and Jalen Knox are very nice pieces, yes. Skill pieces like the kind Alabama (.9287 receivers, .9382 average backs) and Georgia (.9052 receivers, .9402 average backs) get challenge for national championships.

Note that hierarchy again:  Alabama (3.98, .9318), Georgia (3.85, .9200), Auburn (3.68, .9104), LSU (3.65, .9008) and Florida (3.53, .8979).  The gap between Alabama and Georgia is roughly on the same level as that between Georgia and Auburn.  And before you say that gap with Saban is closing, note the huge margin of difference in the 2017 classes.  That ‘Bama class is ridiculous, and a reason why the Tide’s offense exploded last season.

Georgia is probably another season or two away from being on the same level, talentwise.  The good news is nobody is gaining real ground on Kirby’s work.