LSU starter Jones named ineligible for rest of football season

LSU linebacker Tahj Jones is one of four Tigers players who have been declared academically ineligible for the rest of the 2012 season, according to the Times Picayune, citing sources. Jones, who started one game last season but had 27 tackles with the team was named alongside tight end Tyler Edwards, linebacker D.J. Welter, and offensive linesman Evan Washington. BOTTOM LINE: This might not hit LSU in its starters, but won’t help Les Miles’ depth chart during the course of a brutal SEC schedule.

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Quick SEC reaction: Week 2

Wow. What a Week 2 for the SEC. And it was somewhat humbling, let me tell you (although not as humbling as the Big 10, who saw Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Iowa and Illinois all lose, stalwarts Michigan and Ohio State tested) – especially in Fayetteville. Anyway, this blog went an honest-to-God 9-2 yesterday, with our only bad predictions with Arkansas and Vanderbilt. Anyway, here’s some quick grades before a longer piece tomorrow, when we’re feeling more, ahem, ‘together’. 1) We completely underestimated Louisiana-Monroe. We thought they’d come to town, take their near-$1m, and walk off or walk over. Instead, they battled Arkansas when they were 28-7 down in the third quarter, and came back to win in stunning

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So now Tyrann Mathieu CAN’T play for LSU again…

Tyrann Mathieu won’t ever be playing for the LSU Tigers again, according to school compliance director Bo Bahnsen. He said: “He’s permanently ineligible to play football at LSU. That’s definite. That’s what was said Friday.” Also Les Miles seemed in slightly more forgiving mode in a press conference on Tuesday, when he said: “I certainly am rooting for Ty and whatever his future is, but I’m not focused on him. I’ve got games to play.” He added: “I’ve got 104 guys that I have to be ready for. I know this is a very key time in (Mathieu’s) life, and I hope the decisions he makes are in his best interest for the long term. We’ll help any way we can.” He

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Tyrann Mathieu: What happens now?

Tyrann Mathieu was a gamechanger for the LSU Tigers. Ask Oregon. Ask Kentucky. Ask Arkansas. Ask West Virginia. Ask Georgia. And ask any team who purposefully threw away, kicked away, and punted away from LSU’s No. 7 in 2011, just to make sure that they didn’t get punished. Well, they aren’t going to have that problem in 2011, because Tyrann Mathieu managed to get himself thrown off LSU’s football team – at least for the 2012 season and possibly longer. And the sad news was that it was for testing positive for drugs – the same things that had dropped him into Les Miles’ bad books in 2011 for a couple of games. Now, Mathieu wants to ‘sit out’ the

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SEC Media Days: Les Miles’ best quotes

LSU coach Les Miles was his usual quotable self at his SEC Media Conference his Hoover, Alabama. Here are a list of some of the more juicy things he said in what was an unusually straight press conference. About the Alabama National Championship Game Loss: “‘I’ve seen [the game] a couple times. There weren’t that many plays for us on offense for me to spend that much time [on]. On his EA commercial: “I really thought that Mike the Tiger stole the show. We didn’t get along on the set. He was kind of working the camera. It was really a difficult time”. On Tyrann Mathieu and (yet another) Twitter outburst on July 13th: “I didn’t get the Twitter rant exactly.

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Georgia looking for life after Crowell – and vice versa

After dismissing Isaiah Crowell on Saturday after their troubled star’s arrest on gun charges, Georgia will be needing another running back to frighten the life out of SEC East defenses in the fall. The job up for grabs will come between sophomore Ken Malcolme, highly-touted Keith Marshall, and freshman Todd Gurley, ESPN says. And as for Crowell, here are some schools where we think Crowell might end up: 1) Auburn – Remember what happened when Florida dismissed Cam Newton? We can bet that some parts of The Swamp were thinking: “Why was Urban Meyer so draconian?” Stealing computers will do that to do. Tigers fans? They’re pretty happy with the National Title. Plus, with Michael Dyer leaving, Auburn suddenly needs

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Recruiting: Alabama picks up QB from Georgia

It seems that if you’re a four and five-star recruit, you are either heading to Tuscaloosa, Ann Arbor, or Los Angeles these days. Parker McLeod, the highly sought-after quarterback from Walton High School in Georgia, decided that he wanted to go to Tuscaloosa to play his football in 2013 – and so committed to Nick Saban and his Crimson company on Friday. “Alabama was my dream school all along,” McLeod told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I got a firm offer from them on Wednesday and I committed on the spot. They wanted me to wait a little bit, or until Friday, until I went public with it.” Saban had earlier whiffed on quarterbacks Anthony Jennings and Johnathan McCrary, who went to Vanderbilt.

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Recruiting: Alabama adds four-star recruit

Nick Saban added his 15th commitment of the season when Texan cornerback Maurice Smith committed to play for Alabama, Al.com has reported. According to the report, Smith announced the decision via press release. He said: “Maurice Smith II (Fort Bend Sugarland Dulles c/o 2013) has researched, evaluated, and visited and has reached his decision to commit to University of Alabama and play for Nick Saban’s defense.” He added: “I knew this would be one of the biggest decisions in my life, and at 16 it seemed almost too big, and a lot of pressure. But someone told me that I would know when it was right. It just felt right, with no pressure, or expectation, it is just right for

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Recruiting: LSU grabs dual-threat QB commitment

LSU has grabbed a major out-of-state coup when four-star dual threat quarterback Anthony Jennings committed to play for the Tigers. Jennings, who plays his football in Marietta, Georgia, was ranked as a four-star recruit by Rivals. He gained offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and the two Mississippi schools in the SEC as well as a number of other Big Ten and Big XII schools – including West Virginia, Wisconsin, Nebraskas and Iowa. Steve Kragthorpe did the recruiting. BOTTOM LINE: Les Miles is a fan of dual threat quarterbacks and although Jordan Jefferson had his (many) problems, JaMarcus Russell and Matt Flynn could both run in the purple and gold – and both have gone on to the NFL.   

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SEC Spring Meetings: Winners/Losers

The SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fl. weren’t low on discussion. To make it a quick read (and to not try and tread on too much old ground, The SEC Football Blog brings you a (not completely complete) list of winners and losers from the three days of meetings. If you have any more, please comment! WINNERS The supporters of tradition: The SEC voted for the 6-1-1 schedule to stick around for the next half a decade, meaning that the century-old Auburn-Georgia and Alabama – Tennessee rivalries stay intact. And so does the LSU vs Florida game, which has been going for a mere 41 years, which is just a smidgeon shorter than how old Les Miles is (and yes,

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