SEC football talk, news and discussion.
Georgia offensive tackle Mark Beard is graduate and transfer from Athens, the school has announced. The junior – who earned his sociology degree early- appeared in 14 games in 2012 after playing in Junior College. Beard was considered to be a candidate to be a starter in 2014, but now he’s eligible to play somewhere else immediately in 2014, wrote Macon Telegraph reporter Seth Emerson on Twitter.
Read moreJadeveon Clowney leads the list of SEC defensive linesmen going to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, starting February 19th. Here’s the list of defensive players: Defensive linemen Ego Ferguson (LSU), Dominique Easley (Florida), Kony Ealy (Mizzou), Ed Stinson (Alabama) and Dee Ford are the five SEC names that jump out at you. Jadeveon Clowney (DE), South Carolina Kony Ealy (DE), Missouri Dominique Easley (DT), Florida Ego Ferguson (DT), LSU Dee Ford (DE), Auburn Anthony Johnson (DT), LSU DaQuan Jones (DT), Penn State Daniel McCullers (DT), Tennessee Jeoffrey Pagan (DE), Alabama Kelcy Quarles (DT), South Carolina Chris Smith (DE), Arkansas Ed Stinson (DE), Alabama Robert Thomas (DT), Arkansas Linebackers For the linebackers, CJ Mosley (Alabama) and Ronald Powell (Florida) both stand
Read moreThe quarterbacking foursome of the Four Ms lead SEC names invited to the NFL Combine. Texas A&M’s Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, Alabama’s AJ McCarron, Georgia’s Aaron Murray and LSU’s Zach Mettenberger have all been invited to the Combine, which starts on February 19th. Connor Shaw at South Carolina has also been invited. While Manziel, McCarron and Shaw will probably make the trip, it’s not certain if Murray and Mettenberger will have recovered enough from injuries they sustained at the end of the year to partake – which may drop their draft status, despite both players’ electric arms (Mettenberger’s particularly). Auburn’s Tre Mason will be the one to watch from the running backs, while LSU has three running backs invited (Jeremy
Read moreNational Signing Day was Wednesday. And now NFL Combine Invite List Day is Thursday. OK, so we made up the ‘NFL Combine Invite List Day’, but today the NFL really did release breakdown of how many people had been invited to the Combine, which runs from February 19-25 in Indianapolis. The SEC had 71 players invited, smashing the second-placed ACC with 48. The Pac-12 had 45, Big Ten 36, Big 12 had 25. Every team in the SEC had at least one player invited. Eight SEC schools had at least eight. Alabama had 12 players invited, LSU had 11, Florida had 8 and Missouri had 7. Position-wise, SEC had 28 offensive and defensive linesmen invited to the combine, dwarfing B1G’s
Read moreBearing in mind that we managed to get ‘They Might Be Giants’ in an article, we thought it important to get some Ernest Hemmingway in this article…..and that’s why we’ve gone with the ‘For Whom The Cowbell Tolls’ headline….(apparently it’s also the name of a Mississippi State blog, so we’re not exactly first in with this one…) Anyway, despite many people thinking that he would be out of a job before the 2014 National Signing Day, Dan Mullen’s victory in the Egg Bowl over Ole Miss and subsequent bowl win over Rice has now put a smile or two on the faces of the Cowbell Army. The Jamoral Graham signing was great because, as ESPN said – he can play
Read moreBret Bielema isn’t much liked in SEC corridors. Maybe it’s because he was Wisconsin’s head coach. Maybe it’s because of his wife and her tweeting ways. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t won a SEC game. Anyway, Arkansas fans will certainly like him a lot better after a solid National Signing Day – which included getting a player to come play for him instead of National Champion Florida State. That was the case with 4-star athlete JoJo Robinson . Robinson had been pursued by LSU, Auburn and Miami, too. They think he might be the next great UA punt/kick returner. We can’t wait. Anyway, Bielema has always been pretty good at getting running backs, and he added one more in Juan Day.
Read moreAfter a tremendous 2013 National Signing Day, it would have taken Godlike qualities (and a Nick Saban resignation) to have propelled Hugh Freeze to those heights. Instead, the Ole Miss coach continued with another tremendous National Signing Day, solidifying his offensive line with a bunch of offensive linesmen, including four-starrer Rod Taylor, as well as Tyler Putman, and Jordan Sims. They’ll join JUCO O-Lineman Fahn Cooper, who enrolled early. Defensively, Freeze got JUCO DB Tee Shepard, who had previously committed to Notre Dame and Mississippi State, before he decided to play in Oxford at the last minute. Shepard had said that he would be playing his sophomore year in a community college. Did that all change? We don’t really know. Speaking
Read moreFormer Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin left at the wrong time. His departure in January to Penn State led to a number of de-commitments, and worries that Vanderbilt would not be able to fill their numbers. Defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason, from Stanford (which is better than Vandy in terms of academics, but would still be twinned with them in terms of academics-before-athletics institutions), came to town. And although he had a slow start, the speed that Vandy recruited in the last few days before National Signing Day would have made Nick Saban or Les Miles happy….and they picked up a monster DE recruit from under Stanford’s nose in Nifae Lealao. He also added 4-star DB Emmanuel Smith, who had offers from Ole
Read moreRegardless of the screw-up with local boy Rashaan Evans, Auburn had a very, very good National Signing Day. To explain the Evans situation: five-star OLB Evans went to a local Auburn high school and it was anticipated that he would become an Auburn Tiger. So much so that Auburn put his name on their website, celebrating their victory. Well, it was a little too early, rather like Alabama fans celebrating a 2013 Iron Bowl victory. At his commitment ceremony, he opted to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Anyway, it’s all in the past, because Gus Malzahn had a great haul – at prep and JUCO level. Auburn signed the best JUCO player in the land in WR D’haquille Williams
Read moreThe Florida Gators may have had a goddawful 2013 season, but if the 2014 season plays out like National Signing Day did, then the fanbase will have little to complain at Will Muschamp about. Five-star CB from Arizona Jalen Tabor decided that he’d prefer to take his talents South, and opted for Gainseville. Tabor’s move made Adoree Jackson’s decision not to play for the Gators (he’s going to USC) less of a kick in the teeth. He’ll be helped out in the secondary by DB J.C. Jackson, who many felt wouldn’t be a Gator by the end of the day, DB Duke Dawson (already enrolled) and DB Quincy Wilson, who was one of Florida’s earliest signings of the day. Muschamp also picked
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