Does AD Mitchell’s leaving scream “Tampering”?

Georgia fans were stunned to find out that AD Mitchell – who caught touchdowns in all four of their play-off victories – had hung up his red and black cleats, and had put his name in the transfer portal.

Since Mitchell is from Texas – and there were rumors already flying around that Texas was ‘tampering’ with players during the season – the angry fanbase are already yelling obscenities at Austin, as they prepare for the player to be wearing orange (yes, we know it’s burnt orange, but it’s still ****ing orange) and white).

Of course, there will be messageboards claiming that Mitchell would be paid the price of a Premier League football to play for Steve Sarkasian, but there is a bullshit detector amongst everything.

Also if you asked Georgia fans how they managed to get prized wide receivers RaRa Thomas from Mississippi State and Dominic Lovett from Missouri seemingly seconds after the two transferred, they would go “The love of the program”. Obviously. But in this day and age, did Georgia put calls into Starkville and Columbia before they were ‘meant’ to?

Anyway, Dominick Blaylock’s also transferring. He’s had an injury-ridden career in Athens.

Nick Saban told ESPN that Alabama was innocent of it. “You know, I don’t really know that anybody’s ever tampered with our players. I just think sometimes when things happen it makes you wonder. So I’m not making any accusations against anybody that’s done anything to our players and I don’t have any knowledge of anybody that’s done anything with anybody else’s players.”

Speaking of tampering, the story of Jaden Rasheda is hard to listen to. The four-star Florida commit was meant to sign on Signing Day, but that didn’t happen because Rasheda’s advisors (for that read greasy lawyers and ‘uncles’) wanted him to go somewhere else….or for the Gators NIL fund to put up the money immediately (his ‘team’ are rumored to ask $12m for his services.

With all of this, here are the key SEC transfer portal arrivals/losses:

Alabama: Lost WRs Javion Cohen, Traeshon Holden and JoJo Earle. Cohen and Holden were both starters and have gone to Miami and Oregon respectively. Added TE CJ Dippre from Maryland, beating out Ohio State for his services.

Arkansas: Lost slot WR Ketron Johnson to Baylor.  CB Jalen Catalon to Texas. One of the best DBs in 2020, he fell off the map a bit after succumbing to injuries. TE Trey Knox (26 rec, 296 yards, 5 TDs) went to South Carolina. Added DL Terry Hampton from Arkansas State.

Auburn: Added NINE players from the portal. Experienced TE Rivaldo Fairweather (FIU) and C Avery Jones, and wideout Koy Moore are expected to make immediate impacts. QB Zach Calzada has taken his talents to Incarnate Word after injuries hampered his chances to make starter on The Plains.

Florida: Added Mercurial former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz. Mertz’s arm has all the talent in the world, but the 59.1% completion rate (5,332 passing yards, 38 touchdowns and 26 interceptions) are certainly going to need a OC and QBs coach Brian Johnson to do some wondrous things. Mertz is a fifth-year transfer, by the way). They hope that Mertz will do the job bearing in mind Rasheda’s loss as well as Carlos Del Rio-Wilson’s decision to go, and Jalen Kitna being booted off after an arrest for something that we hope he goes away for 90 years for.

Georgia: Brought in former 4-star Deyon Bouie from Texas A&M. Lost LB MJ Sherman to Nebraska, who was formerly an elite recruit who couldn’t break into a team full of – you know – elite recruits. He played in all 15 games, but as a reserve.

Kentucky: The addition of Ray Davis from Vanderbilt, who is in on a COVID-19 waiver, who fourth in the SEC in rushing is a huge get.RB Kavoisey Smoke’s off to joy the Deion Party in Colorado. He ran for 1,583 yards and 13 TDs in Lexington, but always played second fiddle to Chris Rodriguez. 9-game starter and former four-star DL Justin Rogers is off to Auburn, but this hole was filled quickly with UNC’s (and former five star) Keeshawn Silver.

LSU: The transfer of QB Walker Howard to Ole Miss made ESPN headlines. Four-star QB Rickie Collins is going to fill some space, but he’s still young. Go with God, Jaylen Daniels. They got in CB Denver Harris (Texas A&M), who will be useful if they can sort out his obvious weed problem. Also coming in Syracuse CB Darian Chestnut, who was great in 2021. DB JK Johnson (in from Ohio State) could also be useful with his four years of eligibility, although probably not a 2022 starter.

Mississippi State: The loss of Mike Leach is going to be HUGE for the team, but Lideatrick Griffin’s withdrawal of his request was huge. Every other loss was negligible – including back-up QB Braedyn Locke to Wisconsin.

Missouri: Make no bones about it: The Tigers were immediately dealt a huge blow when its best WR Dominic Lovett left for Georgia. Although this was softened by getting Theo Wease’s signature from Oklahoma (The speeder averaged nearly 20 yards per reception), Lovett made Brady Cook look like a serviceable quarterback (Note: He wasn’t).

Ole Miss: Walker Howard will probably start for the Rebels, but Lane Kiffin also signed up Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders. Sanders had over 9,500 yards and 60 TDs for Oklahoma State, although the 40 TDs showed how unpredictable he truly is. This will leave Jaxson Dart in the lurch and probably looking for Spring services. Former five-star WR Chris Marshall has also been added. Marshall had 11 catches for 108 yards for Texas A&M in his freshman season. LB Ashanti Sistrunk – one of Ole Miss’ leading tacklers this season – is gone, despite a fruitful four years in Oxford.

South Carolina: The biggest loss of the Gamecock’s transfer window was the loss of RB MarShawn Lloyd, who was a crowd favorite and was a great runner and good as a catching RB as a well. He will be fit in beautifully in Lincoln Riley’s offense at USC. Former five-star edge rusher Jordan Burch, who’s off to Oregon. Burch had 60 tackles last season. There was also the  which will also be a massive loss. Former four-star LB Jaron Willis comes from Ole Miss with four years of eligibility.

Tennessee: The Vols got better in their secondary with the addition of BYU starter Gabe Jeudy, who had 47 tackles (31 solo) for the Cougars. Also coming in from BYU is LB Keenan Pilli. Josh Heupel added some depth on WR by signing up Dont’e Thornton (Oregon). Whether than will fill the hole of Jalin Hyatt going pro is a whole other question.

Texas A&M: Despite the multiple arrests added to an abhorrent year for the Aggies, it was a shock that so many players (25) left College Station this year. Of these, the Athletic reported that 18 of these were blue-chip recruits, with eight of them in the Top 100. The locker room at QB is a bit thinner with Haynes King and Eli Stower and electing to leave. It’s obviously Conor Weigman’s job to lose, now. But the Aggies’ addition of Tony Grimes from UNC, who gained a reputation as one of the ACC’s top defensive players and Florida State’s Sam McCall is a boon for Jimbo Fisher and his staff, who have now shored up their secondary.

Vanderbilt: With the Commodores, it’s always obvious that if you’re great at a smaller school, they’ll find it difficult to keep you. Happens in every sport. And that was the case of Derek Davis, who shipped off to Kentucky after one of the best running back seasons in the 2022 SEC season, where he racked up 1,042 yards on 232 carries. However, former Stanford DE Aeneas DiCosmo is considered a huge get for a school that has to measure up academics AND athleticism.