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03 July 2008

03 July 2008 Morning News

• This type of money is usually reserved for Alabama, LSU and Florida. Now, it's finally hit Knoxville. Tennessee football Coach Phillip Fulmer and men's basketball Coach Bruce Pearl received long-term extensions and significant raises Wednesday that propelled them into the Southeastern Conference's financial elite. Both signed seven-year deals, with Fulmer averaging $2.99 million during the course of his contract and Pearl averaging $2.3 million. The skyrocketing salaries for heavy-hitting college coaches continue to permeate university athletic departments, and UT now finds itself among the top college compensators. – Tennessean

 

• With the SEC winning back-to-back championships and three in the last five seasons starting with LSU's 2003 title, it's easy to argue that it is the best conference in college football. Coaches Steve Spurrier (South Carolina), Urban Meyer (Florida), Les Miles (LSU), Nick Saban (Alabama, but won title at LSU) and Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee) have all won national championships, and Tommy Tuberville led Auburn to a 13-0 record. Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State was coach of the year last season. The signature theme of the SEC: bone crushing, hard-hitting, fast defenses. This season, three of the best defensive coordinators who were previously coaching in the SEC are now reunited coaching together in the Big 12. Gene Chizik, Auburn's defensive coordinator when they went 13-0 in 2004 and Texas' defensive coordinator when they won the 2005 championship, is now head coach at Iowa State. Former legendary Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines is now Mike Sherman's defensive coordinator at Texas A&M. And of course, Will Muschamp, who was defensive coordinator of LSU's 2003 national championship team and a firey Saban disciple, is now Texas' defensive coordinator. – The Daily Texan

 

• Florida State has requested and been granted an Oct. 18 date in front of the Division I Committee on Infractions involving its academic misconduct scandal. "There's still an opportunity it could change," athletic director Randy Spetman said Tuesday afternoon. President T.K. Wetherell asked the NCAA in mid June for that time slot, which is a Saturday and two days after the football team plays at North Carolina State. During the proceeding, the 10-member committee will review all the allegations, hearing from the school and NCAA enforcement staff. – St. Petersburg Times

 

• While ESPN officials undoubtedly zeroed in on UCLA’s hiring of Rick Neuheisel as head coach and Norm Chow as offensive coordinator as motivation to plant Tennessee’s season opener against the Bruins on Labor Day, Volunteers officials had another thought. They figured the showcase game, which will run unopposed for viewers in primetime Sept. 1, would be an opportunity to highlight their new staff headlined by offensive coordinator Dave Clawson and reassert the program in an oft-recruited West Coast hotbed of talent. A former two-time NCAA I-AA coach of the year recipient, Clawson represents the centerpiece of Tennessee’s offseason coaching staff overhaul. The former Richmond University coach brought with him wideout receivers coach Latrell Scott from his Spiders staff, and SEC coaching dean Phillip Fulmer completed his staff with the additions of Jason Michael and Stan Drayton. – Nashville City Paper

 

• Kodi Burns says he has his confidence back. Chris Todd says he has his arm back. And on Aug. 2, the first day of preseason practice, the race to be Auburn’s starting quarterback will hit high gear. Burns, a sophomore who started one game last season, struggled even to hit wide-open receivers down the stretch of the regular season. But Tony Franklin arrived as offensive coordinator, and Burns played a major role in Auburn’s 26-23 Chick-fil-A Bowl win over Clemson. The final scrimmages of spring practice might have been his best days at Auburn. – AuburnUndercover.com

 

• You don’t have to absolutely know to read between the lines.The final year of a contract + a crescendo of open internal and external speculation about succession + a president ready to move = Year One of the Official Paterno Farewell Tour, where the dominant theme is the quiet assumption -- couched in more open speculation, just to be polite and journalistic-y about it -- that this is it. Maybe you don’t know, but you kinda know, right, so it’s okay to ask: is this the last time he runs onto (and possibly off of, and then on again, depending on how the pregame meal is sitting) the field at Wisconsin? At Ohio State? Is this the last chance to end the improbable, decade-long losing streak to Michigan? Can he leave on top against Michigan State? You don’t have to know to assume, the way everyone just assumed (correctly) it was Lloyd Carr’s last go-round with Michigan. And you can go on assuming in 2009, if necessary, and 2010 and forever, until the blazers and congratulatory Barca loungers from opposing teams on road trips spill out of the Paternos’ garage. The Paterno Farewell Tour can become a tradition unto itself. This seems like the perfect scenario to pull a Purdue/Kentucky/Florida State and name the successor in advance, even if Paterno has no intentions of hanging it up in December -- while Joe Tiller knows this is his last year, Rich Brooks and Bobby Bowden have no firm timeline for handing UK and FSU to Joker Phillips and Jimbo Fisher, respectively, just a promise that it won’t be too far into the future -- yet seems more likely to veer into the tiight-lipped, "I don’t know what you’re talking about" territory Carr occupied last fall. We won’t know until we know. But really, we know. (We think). – Sunday Morning QB

 

• Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz and associate athletic director Fred Mims are among 30 potential witnesses who could be required to testify in the sex abuse trial of two former members of the University of Iowa football team. The prosecutor’s witness list became public today as the Johnson County attorney filed formal charges accusing two former Hawkeye athletes — Abe Satterfield, 19, of Erie, Pa., and Cedric Everson, 19, of Detroit — each with one count of second-degree sexual abuse for allegedly assaulting a female student-athlete Oct. 14 in an unoccupied dormitory room at Hillcrest Hall on the Iowa City campus. Satterfield also was charged with third-degree sexual abuse. – Des Moines Register

 

• If convicted, both face up to 25 years in prison and would be required serve a mandatory 70 percent of the sentence under Iowa law. If Satterfield is convicted on the third-degree charge, he could face an additional 10-year prison term. You won't find Razorbacks head football coach Bobby Petrino jumping onto Alabama coach Nick Saban's webcam-recruiting train. Unless he absolutely has to, that is. The former Falcons coach, now preparing for his first fall campaign at Arkansas, thinks online recruiting isn't good for the game. Currently, football players must wait until the regular signing period between February and April 1 of their senior year to sign a national letter of intent. Petrino particularly dislikes being forced to offer a greater number of players than in the past, thanks to the cornucopia of websites available for showcasing the nation's top recruits. "I don't like it. It is a trend, and it is because they're reading people on the Internet," Petrino told The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this June. "We're having to offer more guys because of Internet recruiting. That's basically it." – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

• Michigan junior tailback Kevin Grady was arrested early Wednesday on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The arrest, which came in Wyoming, Mich., just outside of Grady's hometown of Grand Rapids, was confirmed by Wyoming district court administrator Chris Kittmann. Grady was stopped and arrested at 1:54 a.m. in the vicinity of Byron Center and 44th Street in Wyoming. He remained in jail until mid-morning and was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. The Grand Rapids Press reported he blew a 0.281. Michigan's legal definition of drunk is 0.08. Grady is scheduled to have a hearing next Wednesday morning on the charge. – Detroit Free Press

 

• West Virginia University president Mike Garrison acknowledged he told Rich Rodriguez he wasn't sold on the idea of buyouts in contracts, but he denied telling the former Mountaineers football coach in August that the $4 million buyout clause in Rodriguez's contract would be lowered. Rodriguez, currently Michigan's coach, and agent Mike Brown said in previous depositions for the university's lawsuit seeking a $4 million buyout from Rodriguez that Garrison, president elect when they met Aug. 24, pledged to remove or halve that provision in the new deal that Rodriguez then signed. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

• It is time for Notre Dame, and/or Weis, to brandish an 11-foot pole. The 52-year-old head coach has flatly refused to discuss Spygate since that first comment almost 10 months ago. In May, then Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White, who has since accepted the same position at Duke, told the Chicago Tribune, "It's just not a Notre Dame matter." It most certainly is, and White's exodus does not alter that. Character is always a Notre Dame matter. So why would it not be for the university's highest-paid — and highest-profile — employee? – NBC Sports

 

• Virginia Tech junior wideout Brandon Dillard will miss the 2008 season after rupturing his right Achilles' tendon in a player-organized passing drill Tuesday night, the team announced yesterday. The loss of Dillard, a walk-on who ascended to first-string flanker after a stellar spring practice, deals a major blow to the Hokies' already thin receiving unit. With the departure of its four top wide receivers -- Eddie Royal, Josh Morgan, Justin Harper and Josh Hyman, all seniors last season -- Virginia Tech entered the spring with uncertainty at wideout. Dillard had never caught a pass, but he seemed to provide at least one answer. He clocked a 4.28-second 40-yard dash, and then, in the Maroon-White spring game, he ran 49 yards on a reverse and caught a 25-yard touchdown pass. – Washington Post

 

• UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel. Throw in Norm Chow and DeWayne Walker and, well, you have one exciting - and pricey - coaching staff. But what to make of the guys actually playing? The quarterback situation went from so-so to dire in a matter of minutes on the second-to-last day of spring football. Patrick Cowan blew out his knee and Ben Olson, slated to be Cowan's backup, broke his foot the same day. Olson should return to start, but if he isn't, that leaves junior college-transfer Kevin Craft and youngsters Chris Forcier and Nick Crissman. With Chow in the fold, however, don't count these guys out. The offensive line is inexperienced and quite shallow, but running backs Khalil Bell and Raymond Carter have break-away speed despite coming off knee surgeries. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer

 

• Athens police issued a warrant for the arrest of Georgia football player Michael Lemon on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The victim's family corroborated the report to the AJC on Wednesday night. Jacqueline Jackson, whose son, DeMarius Jackson, suffered a blowout fracture of his left eye socket when Lemon allegedly punched him Saturday night, said Athens police informed them late Wednesday afternoon that Lemon would be arrested for aggravated battery, which is a felony. DeMarius Jackson, a rising junior at UGA, claims that Lemon, a 6-foot-4, 274-pound defensive lineman attacked him and punched him at least five times Saturday night at a barbecue at an apartment complex. – Atlanta Journal Constitution

 

• Alabama has plenty of options at running back, with four experienced players — Glen Coffee, Terry Grant, Jonathan Lowe and Roy Upchurch — returning, in addition to promising redshirt freshmen Demetrius Goode and Jeramie Griffin. What the Crimson Tide doesn't have is a back who possesses both game-breaking skill and the ability to make it through an entire season healthy. (Mark) Ingram could be that player, though he'd likely serve in some sort of two-man rotation if he wins a spot as a true freshman. Alabama coach Nick Saban has always used more than one back, and there's no reason to expect different this season. – CrimsonConfidential.com

 

• Miami offensive coordinator Patrick Nix, who hopes UM's new talent allows him to be less conservative than last year, assuredly knows there will be serious fan scrutiny in Year 2. But ''coaching is overrated,'' he asserts. ``A lot of guys will tell you they're the best coach in the world, and that's why they win. If they're winning, they've got players, and that's the bottom line.'' – Miami Herald

 

• Let's take a look at some of the possible winners of this year's Heisman Trophy: Tim Tebow, QB, Florida (3:1) - The early favorite to take home the award this year is Florida Gators QB, Tim Tebow. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy last season and looks to repeat again this year. He's a very versatile quarterback and can hurt you with both his arm and his legs. He threw for 3286 yards, 32 touchdowns and had a completion rate of 70%. He also rushed for almost 900 yards with 23 touchdowns of his own. His resume is outstanding and it's not hard to see him a top the leader board again. Chris Wells, RB, Ohio State (6:1) - The arrival of Chris Wells to Ohio State was much anticipated. He has lived up to all the hype and has become one of the best running backs in the nation. Last season he started every game for the Buckeyes. He managed to average almost 6 yards a carry and had 1600 rushing yards with 15 touchdowns. Ohio State is set to have another good season, so look for him to have a great chance at winning the Heisman this year. – Cappers Mall

 

• I know UGA and coach Mark Richt lecture their athletes a constantly about their behavior and the consequences of their actions. But they seem to continually find themselves on the wrong side of the law. When you add the recent alcohol-related driving arrests of basketball player Billy Humphrey and baseball player Ryan Wooley it looks even worse. Say what you want but Georgia needs to get a handle on all this and I'm sure it will. – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

• Former Michigan Wolverine and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson has announced that he will preview his new wine collection at a charity event, Friday, July 18th. Woodson will unveil the fall collection of his Twenty Four wine at The Chop House in Ann Arbor, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. – Detroit Free Press

 

• Dismissed Alabama football player Jimmy Johns will have his first court date on Aug. 12, according to his attorney Mary Turner. Johns will appear for a preliminary hearing in Tuscaloosa County district court at 9 a.m. before Judge Joel Chandler. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is for the prosecution to present enough evidence to convince the judge to send the case to the grand jury. Under rules of a preliminary hearing, the defendant does not present his side of the case. Johns has not yet entered a plea. Johns was arrested last week and charged with five counts of distributing a controlled substance and one count of possession of cocaine. Hours after his arrest, Johns was booted from the team by coach Nick Saban. – Huntsville Times

 

• Georgia Tech football player Jerrard Tarrant admitted to police he performed oral sex on the woman he is accused of raping, a police report says, but he said the oral sex was consensual and they never had intercourse. Tarrant and the alleged victim had met at a party the night of April 24 and went to his on-campus dorm room, where the incident occurred sometime after 1:30 a.m. Dominique Reese, one of Tarrant's teammates, told police the woman victim was happy when she left the party but was upset when she returned. – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

• Another day, another top recruit for Rutgers football. Abdul Smith, a defensive back from the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, Pa., became the 19th player to verbally commit to coach Greg Schiano for the 2009 freshman class. Smith said what sealed it for him was his hourlong conversation with Schiano, which happened after all the tours and brief talks with other members of the football program. Smith -- a two-way star who last fall had 60 tackles and four interceptions, and rushed for 930 yards and 10 touchdowns -- will likely be a cornerback for the Scarlet Knights, joining an incoming secondary that is already stocked with talented players. The 6-0, 182-pound Smith chose Rutgers over 22 other schools. He said the finalists were Maryland, Pittsburgh and the Scarlet Knights. – Newark Star-Ledger

 

• Penn State has landed its 13th recruit for 2009, but the first from the WPIAL. Adam Gress, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound offensive lineman from West Mifflin High School, made a verbal commitment to Penn State yesterday. His other top choice was West Virginia, and his other scholarship offers were from Michigan, Rutgers, Central Florida and Mid-American Conference schools. Gress' stock with colleges has been on the rise in recent months because he has grown so much. He played last season at 240 pounds but has added 50 pounds since. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette