Tag: Tennessee

The new SEC Network: What We Should Expect

The new SEC Network was announced with all the bells and whistles that greets every ESPN announcement. The deal, which is thought to be worth billions of dollars to the SEC, was not discussed by ESPN CEO John Skipper or SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, but is thought to be worth a heck of a lot more than the current 15-year, $2.25bn deal signed between the conference and the network back in 2008. The deal will be for 45 college football games, 100 men’s basketball games, and lots of other sports, plus 24-7 programming about the SEC and all the fun and games. We would love to ask the network to hire us as special director for a ‘Wild Girls of

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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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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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Most intriguing SEC players at the NFL Combine

To any outsider, you now understand why most good high school players want a chance to prove themselves at the SEC. If you’re good – and good enough to go pro – then you might get invited to the NFL Combine. 74 SEC players were asked to come. Thanks to Gamedayr for the list, without which this article wouldn’t have made it up here. Alabama (10) Quinton Dial, DE DJ Fluker, OT Nico Johnson, ILB Barrett Jones, OL Eddie Lacy, RB Robert Lester, FS Dee Milliner, CB Damion Square, DE Chance Warmack, OG Jesse Williams, DT MOST INTRIGUING: Eddie Lacy could be seen as the next Trent Richardson – particularly if he performs as well as he did in the

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National Signing Day (SEC East): Florida rules, but Georgia, do we have a problem?

There might have been a lot of headlines out west about the National Signing Day classes that Alabama and Ole Miss put together, but guess what? Florida’s was pretty darned amazing. Will Muschamp has the reputation as one of the best recruiters in the land, and he proved it with an excellent class. However, there are some deep questions about Georgia to answer, folks… CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! THE MUSCHAMP EFFECT Among other thoughts from UF brass, Will Muschamp was hired to Florida for two reasons: 1) He’s a great defensive coach 2) He’s a great recruiter. After a fantastic 2012-3 season (marred slightly by an ignominious loss to Louisville), Florida needed to add some more depth on both sides of

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National Signing Day Round-Up (SEC West): Ole Miss rules, but Alabama’s excellence shines

This year was yet another banner year for SEC recruiting, with every side A year ago, you would say that there was no way on God’s green earth that Ole Miss would have had a recruiting day like this one. But Hugh Freeze took over, took the team to an excellent year which included breaking a SEC losing streak, beating your biggest rival, taking LSU, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M to the last second, and thundering through a bowl game – as favorites. HUGH FREEZE FRIES IT UP IN OXFORD Well, there seems to be some belief about the Ole Miss program, because No.1 player in the nation – defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, plus highly-touted offensive tackle Laremie Tunsil, wide receiver

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SEC players, coaches and fans’ tweet lives in 5 Words

There’s something amusing going around Twitter which is #MyLifeIn5Words, so we thought we’d think up a few for SEC players. Please add in your thoughts, too!! Jadeveon Clowney: Must eat the opposing quarterback #MyLifeIn5Words Nick Saban: Johnny Football. Revenge. September 14. #MyLifeIn5Words Johnny Manziel: All the fuss about Alabama? Puhleeze. #MyLifeIn5Words Les Miles: Am I really that mad? #MyLifeIn5Words Tyrann Mathieu: From hero to zero. Sorry. #MyLifeIn5Words Aaron Murray: God bless you, beautiful Athens. #MyLifeIn5Words Mark Richt (to UGA faithful): Love me or hate me today? #MyLifeIn5Words Hugh Freeze: The Blind Side and Jesus. #MyLifeIn5Words SEC fans: Fall Saturdays are for drinking. LSU Juniors: Let’s all go be pros! #MyLifeIn5Words Steve Spurrier: Must enrage my biggest rivals #MyLifeIn5Words Texas A&M fans: Johnny

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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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