Ten big questions for National Signing Day

Like everyone else, we at the SEC Football Blog are really, really excited about National Signing Day on February 6th. Sorry we haven’t been covering “firm”, “less firm”, “wavy”, or “de” commitments hugely this off-season, but these are mad times for recruits, and quite frankly, we’re happiest to sit and wait to see where the chips fall on February 6th – our first reminder that yes, college football will be back in a few weeks time with the Crimson/White/Red/Black/Blue/Orange/Purple/Green/Rainbow games in April, before getting to the fun times of players arrests and ejections from campus. Anyway, there IS the important time of Signing Day. With five SEC schools predicted to be in the Rivals.com Top 10, we anticipate that things

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Tennessee (Finally) Fires Derek Dooley

Tennessee fans today got the news that they weren’t surprised or shocked about: Derek Dooley has been fired as the Volunteers head coach. After his team was drilled 41-18 by Vanderbilt, Dooley was told that he wouldn’t be returning. And he wouldn’t even be asked to coach the team’s game against Kentucky, either. And to make matters worse, but buying out Dooley’s contract will cost Tennessee a cool $5 million (FIVE MIIIIILION DOLLARS!). Dooley’s highlights included (per The Clairon-Ledger): A 15-21 record A 0-15 record against ranked teams (we start to think what might have happened to Mark Richt if UGA hadn’t beaten Florida) An 0-7 SEC record this year, despite being a dark horse for the SEC East title

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Rogered: Tennessee WR Da’Rick Rogers suspended indefinitely

Huge news in Tennessee: Standout wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers has been suspended indefinitely by coach Derek Dooley for an unspecified violation of team rules, according to ESPN. It is not known what he did to gain such a suspension, although Bruce Feldman, college football reporter at CBS was told that it was a string of troubling incidents that prompted the staff to make the move. In one tweet he said: “After what I’d been told by sources inside Vols program last yr, was surprised Dooley allowed Da’Rick Rogers to stay w team.” He added: “In 2011 Da’Rick Rogers had a series of incidents, incldg a complete meltdown at UK gm that sources say COMPLETELY crossed line w UT staff.” And

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SEC Prediction: Is Tennessee A Dark Horse for the SEC East this year?

If you haven’t heard, Derek Dooley’s out of his job as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. When? About December, 2012. We jest, but you get the point: Mr Dooley’s under huge pressure to get the 2012 right at Neyland Stadium after two years of debacle, and our thought is this: Shouldn’t we be thinking of the Vols as a dark horse for the division, rather than an also ran? LAST SEASON As awful as people who like you to think Tennessee was last year, we’d like to put this out there: The Vols were also hellish unlucky with injuries. They lost their best wide receiver Justin Hunter in their third  game of the season against Florida. Their QB, Tyler

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Penn State: Richt looking at Penn State LB

Mark Richt has admitted that Georgia is already looking at Penn State players after NCAA sanctions on the Nittany Lions meant the school will effectively have nothing to play for over the next four years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported. Richt told press at a UGA Day:  “Some colleges are going to be interested in some of their players, and we’re one of those schools. It’s pretty well-documented that we’re under our 85[-scholarship] limit. We’ll try to get in touch with some of these young men and see if they’re interested.” He added: “We do have some space available and if somebody fits a need and they’re excited about coming we would look into that possibility,” he said. “There may

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Vegas releases SEC win totals

Not that anyone gambles on the game of College Football, but if they did, they might be interested to know that one of Las Vegas’ bigger sportsbooks has released its estimates for this year’s college football season. We’re not going to go into wild detail for all the schools, but here are the SEC estimates. And no, we don’t know why Georgia hasn’t been mentioned, although we can only presume it’s because of the different disciplinary issues – one of them notably with Baccari Rambo. LSU  – 10.5 Alabama – 10.5 Arkansas – 8.5 South Carolina – 8.5 Florida – 7.5 Mississippi State – 7.5 Tennessee – 7.5 Missouri – 7.5 Auburn -7.5 Texas A&M – 7.5 Vanderbilt – 5.5

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Recruiting: Texas A&M grabs new WR commit

Texas A&M continued its recent excellent run of commitments by grabbing former wide receiver commit Kyrion Parker. The 6 ft 3, nearly-200 lb player  from Texas had previously committed to LSU before de-committing to play for Sumlin instead. “I just loved the coaching staff there,” Parker reportedly told 247sports.com in an interview. “Coach Sumlin is a great guy. He’s a down-to-earth coach and he’s funny. It was so welcoming there and I just love the program.” “Plus the way they run their offense, I think my game fits perfectly into that spread. I also really wanted to play in the SEC because that’s where the best competition is and that’s where you’re going to get better at.” Parker’s reason for

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Recruiting: Florida adds QB commitment

The University of Florida have added a commitment at quarterback for its 2013 class, Gatorsports.com reported on Monday. Three-star Quarterback Max Staver committed to Will Muschamp’s side, decided to go for Gainseville instead of Dan Mullen’s Mississippi State, who had also given him an offer. Staver, from Brentwood, Tennessee, is ranked the 14th player in the State and the 27th in the country amongst pro-style quarterbacks nationally. “I called them and they asked me if I was ready to be a Florida Gator, and I committed on the spot,” he told the website. Staver had also been shown interest from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, but none of the other schools had offered him yet.

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Recruiting: Georgia adds Recruit No.19

Georgia has added its 19th recruit of the 2013 season: Rico Johnson. Johnson, out of Swainsboro, Georgia, accepted after being offered a place at Saturday’s Mark Richt camp, the AJC reported. He told the paper: “That was my dream school; I always wanted to go there,” he said. “I told myself if I ever got an offer from Georgia, that would be the school I would go to.” He isn’t listed in any of Rivals’ rankings after swapping high schools, the AJC said, but added Appalachian State and Marshall had both offered him scholarships. Thankfully, the ‘Big Dawgs’ came calling. The paper said that Johnson ‘dazzled’ during the camp, posting 4.25 and 4.28 40 yard dashes. The news provides some

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Recruiting: Vanderbilt adds two commitments

Vanderbilt continued an excellent recruiting season so far by adding the commitment of cornerback Darius Sims from Memphis – the 11th ranked player in the State. This was widely reported on Twitter. Sims, who is ranked as a three-star defensive back by Rivals committed to the Commodores on Sunday. Vanderbilt beat Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss amongst other schools to Sims. Sims is 5 ft 9,  can run a 4.65 40 and has a 32 inch vertical – and Vanderbilt will hope he can frighten quarterbacks for years to come. The commitment is the second to be announced this Sunday after defensive end Sean Spencer – the 52nd player in Georgia – committed to Vandy. Spencer was recruited by LSU and

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