Vanderbilt suspends assistant coach

Vanderbilt has suspended defensive line coach Vavae Tata indefinitely after he was arrested for DUI, the Tennessean is reporting. According to the report, Tata was charged for being off his tatas on Saturday night, blowing a .18 on his breathalyzer test, more than twice legal blood-alcohol limit of .08%, according to an affidavit released by Davidson County. Which was quite good going, if you think about it. It’s not Tata’s first brush with the law: He was arrested for DUI in 1997 and convicted in 2000. Vandy, which underwent a new coaching regime with former Stanford defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason after James Franklin went to Penn State, had a relatively successful signing day. And Vanderbilt’s also no stranger to brushes with

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The Saban Effect: NCAA looking into slowing down offenses

If a rule comes into place in the 2014 season which would allow teams to substitute within the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock (therefore reducing the speed at which an offense can operate), we should call it The Saban Rule. Why? Looking ahead to seeing the days in which his man-mountain defenses would be completely exhausted by lighter, faster offenses (see the second half of the Auburn vs Alabama game for details), Coach Saban complained in September: “All you’re trying to do is get lined up [on defense],” he whined to ESPN.com in September, ESPN’s website reported today. “You can’t play specialty third-down stuff. You can’t hardly scheme anything. The most important thing is to get the

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Clowney leads SEC Defensive NFL Combine invitees

Jadeveon 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

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Manziel, McCarron lead list of offensive invites to NFL Combine

The 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

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Alabama leads NFL Combine invite list

National 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

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After the Franklin carnage, Vanderbilt rebounds on Signing Day

Former 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

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14 Last Minute SEC Head Coach Recruiting Pitches Before National Signing Day

Right, so National Signing Day’s tomorrow, which means that it’s Christmas for anyone who loves seeing if their school’s signing up some good talent. Why haven’t we gone more crazy on the recruiting front? It’s easy. I could get excited about a recruit, only for him to de-commit 400 times before making a decision, so I’d rather wait until National Signing Day. And then go crazy folks. Which I will do. Somewhere in the SEC, our head coaches are calling, texting, FBing and sexting recruits (OK, maybe not the last) in an effort to get them to come and play for their schools. As a unit, it’s worked: 80 commitments will be to SEC schools on Wednesday. But there’s still

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Bama to sign FSU back-up Coker – Reports

FSU back-up quarterback Jacob Coker is about to join the battle to be Alabama’s new starting quarterback for 2014, ESPN has reported. The report said that sources told the website: “Coker has been released from his scholarship and is free to transfer to another program. He is on course to graduate this spring, whereupon he’s expected to enroll” in Tuscaloosa. Coker was No.2 at FSU to Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, who lit up the country last year. The report noted that Coker was outgoing Alabama QB AJ McCarron’s back-up at St Paul’s, Mobile, where he threw for over 1,500 yards and 16 TDs and ran the ball for 355 yards and 6 TDs. He’s expected to battle Blake Sims for

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South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier Gets Big Raise

Steve Spurrier, the head coach of South Carolina, has been given a contract extension to the 2018 season, as well as a raise that will see him earn $4m a season. The quotable coach, who guided the Gamecocks to a victory over Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl and a final season ranking of No.4 in the nation last year, made $3.3m in 2013. But now, he’s making 21% more. “We appreciate the attitude of the board of trustees in keeping our salaries competitive with the rest of the SEC,” the Ol’ Ball Coach in a statement. “We all hope to coach here many more years, and we still have some goals that have not been accomplished yet.” South Carolina

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Manziel, Mason, Clowney lead crowd of SEC Juniors Going To The NFL

So here’s your list of junior SEC college football players going pro this year. We’ll miss you, juniors!! ALABAMA Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (S), Adrian Hubbard (OLB), Cyrus Kouandjio (OT) and Jeoffrey Pagan (DE) ARKANSAS None AUBURN Tre Mason (RB), Greg Robinson (OT) FLORIDA Ronald Powell (LB), Loucheiz Purifoy (CB), Marcus Roberson (CB) GEORGIA None KENTUCKY None LSU Odell Beckham Jr (WR), Jarvis Landry (WR), Anthony  Johnson (DT), Ego Ferguson (DT) MISSISSIPPI STATE None MISSOURI Kony Ealy (DE), Henry Josey (RB) OLE MISS Donte Moncrief (WR) SOUTH CAROLINA Jadeveon Clowney (DE), Kelcy Quarles (DT), Bruce Ellington (WR), Vic Hampton (CB) TENNESSEE Antonio Richardson (OT) TEXAS A&M Johnny Manziel (QB), Mike Evans (WR) VANDERBILT  Chris Boyd  (WR) (although Boyd was thrown off

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