Author: Alex Haddon

The SEC Football Blog loves everything about SEC football. If it's news - and it's interesting - we'll be publishing it, and remarking on it.

Chizik denies allegations

Gene Chizik, the former Auburn coach, has denied allegations from blogger Selena Roberts that he manipulated players grades, ignored drug tests and paid players. He said in a statement: “During my tenure at Auburn, the NCAA conducted a multi-year investigation into the Auburn football program that they called “fair and thorough.” The NCAA focused intently on widespread accusations about Auburn players being paid and other alleged recruiting violations. The NCAA conducted 80 interviews. In October 2011, the NCAA rejected “rampant public speculation online and in the media.” Unfortunately, the recent story published by Selena Roberts is more of the same. It once again portrays Auburn University, current and former coaches, professors, fans, supporters and community officials in a false light.

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Report: Auburn paid players, changed grades under Chizik rule

If you’re an Auburn fan and think that things couldn’t get worse than they were after a winless SEC season and the firing of your head coach – plus a sea of off-season troubles, then think again. Selena Roberts, a reporter who has written for Sports Illustrated, brought out a report today that stunned not only this writer, will stun a lot of SEC fans. In the report – which is essentially an interview with former safety Mike McNeil – Auburn changed grades, paid players to host recruits, saw more than 40 players test positive for “recreational drugs” after their National Championship win in 2011, and offered money to players to keep playing at the school. Here are some stunning

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Texas A&M legend Pardee passes away

There was more sad news for the SEC after news emerged that Texas A&M legend Jack Pardee had passed away aged 76. According to ESPN, Pardee was one of Bear Bryant’s Junction Boys when Bryant was a coach in Aggieland. Pardee played linebacker for the Aggies for three years and was then drafted in 1957. In the three years Pardee played under Bryant, the Aggies went 7-2-1, 9-0-1, and 8-3. Pardee then played in the NFL for 15 years – during which he had a bout of melanoma. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996, after a successful coaching stint at Houston in 1989 that saw Andre Ware get a Heisman Award – he was

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Alabama appoints new athletic director

Alabama has appointed Bill Battle as the new Alabama athletic director after Mal Moore had to retire for health reasons. Battle, who played for Bear Bryant in 1961, then went onto coach as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma and the US Military Academy, before going to Tennessee as an assistant before graduating to head coach in 1970, where he was relatively successful, going 59-22-2 in Knoxville. After leaving there, he became quite the entrepreneur, starting up the Collegiate Licensing Company, where he was CEO until 2010. His first client? The University of Alabama. Alabama coach Nick Saban called Battle a “First class person and leader” , and invited him to practice, according to reports.  

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Harvey Updyke gets three years for Toomer’s Oaks poisoning

It’s too  harsh to call it ‘murder’ because that word refers to humans, but Harvey Updyke has admitted to the killing of Toomer’s Oaks. The Alabama fan – who famous called Paul Finebaum’s show to admit his crime – was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to “Criminal Damage to an Agriculture Facility”, which is a Class C felony in the State of Alabama. The sentencing was part of a plea deal with the D.A. He will be out after six months, and then under supervised probation for five years. “As part of the plea deal, Updyke’s probation will require him to abide by a 7 p.m. curfew and he is forbidden to attend any collegiate athletic events and is

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Clowney has $5m insurance policy

South Carolina defensive end and All-American Jadeveon Clowney has a $5 million insurance policy should he get injured in the 2013 season, it has been reported. The policy – which will be paid out via the NCAA should anything go awry next season – will be paid for by family members, and protect against future . The cost is $30,000. Reply to Charleston Post-Courier writer Daryl Slater’s report, Paul Myerberg of USA Today noted that the policy was the largest available to players. The insurance company offering the policy is HCC, based in Cincinnati. On South Carolina’s website, they said: “Student athletes can receive up to $5m in coverage, up from $4.4m in basketball and $3m in football.” The NCAA

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ESPN announces August-October SEC TV dates

ESPN has announced its August – October TV dates for SEC schools – starting with South Carolina’s hosting of North Carolina on Thursday, August 29th at 8pm. Here is the line-up: Thu, Aug 29 6 p.m. North Carolina at South Carolina * ESPN   9:15 p.m. Ole Miss at Vanderbilt ESPN Sat, Aug 31 5:30 p.m. Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: Virginia Tech vs. Alabama (Atlanta) ESPN   8 p.m. Georgia at Clemson ABC   9 p.m. Cowboys Classic: TCU vs. LSU ESPN Thu, Oct 24 7:30 p.m. Kentucky at Mississippi State ESPN We’re already extremely excited! In order of games that the neutral should be excited about, here we go: 1) Georgia at Clemson – Two likely highly-ranked teams in one

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SEC Spring Game: Full Diary

The SEC has released all the dates of Spring Games – and when practice begins. Here’s to the athletes getting prepped for it already. All SEC schools and Pro Days start practice between March 2nd and March 27th. Here are the Spring Games in April: April 6th: Florida, Georgia April 13th: Kentucky, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt April 20th: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee

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‘Bama Four’ Booted by Saban

The University of Alabama has announced that the four freshmen that were arrested a few weeks ago have been dismissed from the program. Linebackers  DJ Pettaway and Tyler Hayes were both charged with second degree robbery, and Brent Calloway, an H-Back, were charged with credit card fraud. Eddie Williams – a safety – was charged with both crimes. And things will look to get worse for Williams, who was also charged on Sunday with carrying  a gun without a license. According to a report on ESPN’s website, Deborah Lane, associate vice president for university relations said: “UA’s judicial review has been completed. The four students involved in the robberies on campus are no longer enrolled in UA.” Coach Nick Saban said: “Based

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Six reasons why Jadeveon Clowney WON’T to sit out 2013

Many congratulations, Tom Sorenson. You wrote an article about why Jadeveon Clowney should sit out the 2013 season, and you set yourself alight in the Twittersvere, the Facebookvere, and certainly, in the SEC. In his article, Sorenson basically said that he should sit out South Carolina’s 2013 season, because a) if it was any other sport, he’d be professional by now, and b) if he gets injured, he’ll cheat himself out of a big-time NFL contract, that’s definitely going to come to him in the draft of 2014. The reason why he’s got to play three years is the fact that the NFL’s rule “stipulates that a player must be at least three years removed from high school before he’s

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