Around the SEC (7/31)

From Stepen Garcia's return to South Carolina to Snoop Dogg's support of Les Miles, we've got a bunch of Southeastern Conference links to pass along this morning. Let's start with the Commodores first.

The start of Vanderbilt's preseason camp was pushed back until tomorrow after the SEC informed school officials that they were starting too early.

"The league simply said we were mistaken in interpreting when we could start our preseason schedule," said coach Bobby Johnson. "After numerous discussions with the SEC, we decided that delaying practice by a day was the right action."

Brett Hait of The Nashville City Paper takes a look at 10 questions surrounding the Commodores. A couple of the big ones: Is Bryant Hahnfeldt in danger of losing his job? Who has the most to prove during training camp?

Les Miles' weekly Rotary Club meeting was interrupted when his new friend Snoop Dogg stopped by to show him some love. You can watch their hilarious interaction (Miles surprisingly gives Snoop a pretty good hip-hop hug) right here.

“I defend his music, and am much more a fan of the person," Miles said.

Stephen Garcia's return from exile will come two weeks earlier than expected, writes The State's Joseph Person. Still, the highly-touted redshirt freshman will start camp no higher than third on the depth chart behind redshirt junior Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley.

Jerrell Powe spoke to ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman about the SEC's decision to let him play for Ole Miss this fall.

"I just couldn't give up," he said. "I just couldn't. It's really because of the love I have to play in the SEC, and I just want to represent my home state. I mean, once you fall in love with something and set your mind on it, you just don't wanna give it up. And I could see it happening. I wanna come out of that tunnel and see that field. I wanna rub [the bust of] Chucky Mullins' head and I wanna put us back on the map."

Former LSU Ryan Perrilloux is trying to repair his career and his reputation at Jacksonville State. Looks like he's off to a good start.

SI.com's Stewart Mandel lists Alabama as a potential sleeper.

Ole Miss says it plans to have a 6 p.m. kickoff for the Sept. 20 game against Vanderbilt, pending the SEC TV schedule. You know what that means? More time to enjoy The Grove...

Around the SEC (7/29)

A few Southeastern Conference links to pass along on this Tuesday evening...

ESPN.com's Chris Low takes a look at which SEC teams are hated the most. Alabama takes the title, followed by Tennessee and Florida. The Commodores are the least-hated team because, as Low writes, they "haven't won enough for anybody to hate them." He's got a point.

By now, I'm sure you heard that defensive tackle Jerrell Powe has finally been cleared to play at Ole Miss. Powe hasn't played in three years, but if he's ready to contribute, the Rebels' d-line should be outstanding. It already has defensive end Greg Hardy, who led the SEC with 10 sacks last season, and Peria Jerry, a defensive tackle who had 14 tackles for a loss in '07.

Despite key losses on offense, Kentucky coach Rich Brooks thinks the Wildcats can beat anyone their schedule.

It also looks like Kentucky sophomore Mike Hartline will be the starting QB after projected starter Curtis Pulley has a possession of marijuana citation and a traffic arrest from two separate incidents this summer. Ouch.

Best party school in the country goes to...the University of Florida. Won't they let other schools win something for a change?

Phil "What subpoena?" Fulmer feels the Vols are underrated.

Six Arkansas players have been arrested over the past few months and Bobby Petrino decided to make a statement, suspending two players for the first two games of the season.

Tony Barnhart of the AJC lists five reasons why the media picked Florida to win the SEC East over Georgia. I think their respective schedules is the biggest factor.

Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson is a lot like Toby Keith, according to an Arkansas reporter who compares each SEC coach to a famous person/character. Why? Because he's "Ford tough." I like the comparison between Les Miles and George W. Bush.

Finally, ESPN.com's Chris Low (he's a busy guy) rates the SEC's most bitter rivalries. His top five:

1. Alabama vs. Auburn
2. Alabama vs. Tennessee
3. Florida vs. Georgia
4. Alabama vs. LSU
5. Florida vs. Tennessee

At least one Alabama fan has a problem with the rankings. He said he hates Tennessee more than Auburn, among other things...Just watch and enjoy.



And I don't like pumpkins!

Around the SEC (7/28)

A few Southeastern Conference links to pass along on this Monday evening...

Shortly after three-star tailback Zac Stacy committed to Vanderbilt, another running back, the 5-foot-10, 191-pound Warren Norman, did the same.

“(Vanderbilt has) great coaches,” Norman told the AJC. “They just want to win. They feel like they need a couple of great players to win, and they said I’m one of them.”

ESPN.com's Chris Low answers an interesting question: Who are the SEC's best fantasy players? Low lists his top-10 (some Tebow guy is No. 1) along with 10 sleepers. No Commodores are mentioned.

Low also ranks the 25 best SEC players after The Gainesville Sun did the same. While Vanderbilt CB D.J. Moore is No. 17 on The Sun's list, he is nowhere to be found on Low's.

The Sun also ranks the receiving corps of each SEC school and the Commodores are 10th, ahead of Kentucky and Mississippi State.

The Birmingham News has some fun predicting what the SEC will look like in 25 years. Among the changes:

After openly gay athletes come forward in professional leagues, the trend trickles down to colleges, even in the South. Vanderbilt, before leaving the SEC and being replaced by Louisville, produces the SEC's first openly gay athlete in a major sport.

Tennessee tailback Arian Foster is relishing his leadership role, writes Drew Edwards of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

2008 looks like it will be the year of the center in the SEC.

With the allure of the spread offense, college football is now full of more Tim Tebows than Matt Staffords, which might have an impact on the NFL.

Lastly, Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal takes a look at the number of student-athletes smoking marijuana and makes this suggestion: standardize testing and procedures.

Around the SEC (7/25)

A bunch of links to pass along as newspapers across the South analyze day two of the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala. In case you missed it last night, check out The Sports VU's own recap, which lists 10 things we learned from Thursday.

The media released it's preseason predictions, and they're exactly the same as mine, which probably does not bode well for me. Florida was an overwhelmingly favorite to win the East, while Auburn was predicted to win the West.

SEC East
1. Florida (45) 98
2. Georgia (23) 121
3. Tennessee (2) 222
4. South Carolina 266
5. Kentucky 356
6. Vanderbilt 407

SEC West
1. Auburn (48) 99
2. LSU (21) 12
3. Alabama 228
4. Mississippi State 299
5. Ole Miss (1) 338
6. Arkansas 386

Also, congratulations to Vanderbilt cornerback D.J. Moore, who earned first-team honors.

Asked why he hadn't read "The Blind Side," Ole Miss left tackle replied, "I didn't need to. I lived it." Great response. Oher did admit that he'd see the movie, however.

Underrated running back Arian Foster sits on the cusp of UT immortality, writes Brett Hait.

Alabama coach Nick Saban won't put a timetable on winning titles, writes the AJC's Tony Barnhart.

The Crimson Tide have high expectations for their freshman class, particularly WR Julio Jones, writes The Birmingham News' Ian Rapoport.

I'm tired of the subpoena story, but I liked this line from Kevin Scarbinksy: "By refusing to confirm that he'd received a subpoena in Wendell Smith's defamation lawsuit against the NCAA, Fulmer was splitting hairs when he could've been cracking skulls."

The SEC will be getting tough on unsportsmanlike conduct, helmet-to-helmet hits and sideline violations in 2008, reports the Press-Register.

Mark Richt expects QB Matthew Stafford to return for his senior season.

In Vanderbilt news, former offensive tackle Chris Williams said his back injury is not serious. Williams was pulled from practice Thursday was back staff, but he said they were just being cautious.

Finally, in possibly his last Double-A start, David Price turned in a quality start on Wednesday, scattering three runs on seven hits in six innings. Price is expected join Triple-A Durham later this week.

Around the SEC (7/8)

A few links to pass along as Lady Vols coach Pat Summit tells Bruce Pearl he needs to work on his abs on ESPN...

The Tennessean scoured through five preseason magazines and the forecast does not look good for the Volunteer state.

Tennessee's average finish is third in the SEC East, while Vanderbilt is unsurprisingly picked to finish in the cellar.

"It's no surprise," said Mitch Light, editor of Nashville-based Athlon Sports, which publishes Athlon Sports College Football. "They lost a lot of talented players and I think they will be very good on defense, especially in the secondary. But from a preseason look, there are just too many holes on offense to fill…There are too many unknown factors on offense to be competitive in the East."

Knoxville deserves to be a finalist in ESPN's "Titletown USA" promotion, but it shouldn't win, writes The Knoxville News Sentinenl's Mike Strange. I agree.

Redshirting remains rare in college hoops, writes rivals.com's David Fox. Only four members of the Rivals150 for the class of 2007 redshirted by choice, one of them being Vanderbilt's Festus Ezeli, who is quoted in the story.

David Price has "it," according to Prattville columnist Jimmy White.

ESPN.com's Chris Low has a few questions to ponder in the SEC East, including "Can Georgia's overall talent overcome a brutal schedule?" and "Will Tennessee win another SEC championship under Phillip Fulmer?"

Low also picks the Commodores to finish last in the SEC East and here's what he had to say:

Similar to Kentucky, Vanderbilt suffered major personnel losses from a year ago, and those losses weren't confined to just one side of the ball. The Commodores have made tremendous gains the past few years, and Johnson deserves a tremendous amount of credit. But getting to five or six wins this season would be his best coaching job yet. Mackenzi Adams and Chris Nickson will battle for the quarterback job. Both are likely to play and will be operating behind a revamped offensive line. The defense also took some big hits, but safety Reshard Langford is one of those players who makes up for others' mistakes. The Commodores will need a bunch of younger players to come through if they're going to win at least four games for the fourth straight year.

Seems like a pretty accurate assessment to me, although I think cornerback D.J. Moore deserved mention.

Who pays coaches' ridiculous salaries? You, of course. [h/t Mr. SEC]

Shan Foster has his work cut out for him this summer as the Mavs have a number of young swingmen vying for a couple of spots.

Also, Derrick Byars scored a team-high 15 points for the Orlando Magic in their 86-74 loss to the Nets.
Photo [SI.com]

Around the SEC (7/7)

Hope you all had a great weekend July 4th weekend. The Sports VU will be back in full force this week as we begin counting down the days until the Commodores' season opener August 28 at Miami (OH).

Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer received a new 7-year contract that averages $2.99 million and includes retention bonuses and incentive bonuses. The Ace Reporter (Jimmy Hyams) at Mr. SEC has three major problems with the deal:

One, he’s getting paid too much based on what UT has achieved recently.

Two, UT should have protected itself by lowering the buyout. Fulmer’s buyout formula is the same as before: One full year of the contract, plus $1 million plus the remaining years of the contract times the base salary.

Third, Fulmer gets an automatic one-year extension if UT wins eight games. Are you kidding? Have Tennessee’s standards dropped that low? Since when is an eight-win season in Knoxville worth rewarding?

The Tennessean's David Climer feels the same way, saying "the bar has been set at 8-4."

Mississippi State is the first school in the country to include Academic Progress Report clauses in the multi-year contracts of their coaches. [Clarion Ledger via Mr. SEC]

Several Volunteers, including Tyler Smith and incoming recruits Scotty Hopson and Bobby Maze, competed in a summer league and Mike Griffith of The Knoxville News Sentinel has the full scouting report.

UK signee DeAndre Liggins is still waiting to hear if he'll be eligible to play for the Wildcats this season. [Courier-Journal]

Around the SEC (6/23)

The football team won the Sugar Bowl. The basketball team came out of the doghouse to win the SEC Tournament. Now the SEC champion baseball team is on the cusp of a College World Series championship. It's certainly good to be a Georgia Bulldog right now. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Georgia and Florida's football teams are getting too much pre-season hype, while Mississippi State and LSU are being underestimated. [The Gainesville Sun]

Tennessee's new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson is tight-lipped about what sort of attack the Volunteers will have this fall. [GoVolsXtra]

Alabama coach Nick Saban was inducted into the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame, which includes coaches Mack Brown and Frank Beamer, and players Brett Favre and Deuce McAllister. [Tuscaloosa News]

First overall pick David Price got promoted to Double-A Montgomery after yet another sparkling outing at Single-A Vero Beach. His new team name: The Biscuits. [MLB.com]

Vanderbilt incoming freshman Chelsea Stewart was honored by being named to the Canadian Under-20 National Soccer Team. [NCAA.com]

Not SEC, but still close to home. Tennessee Titan defensive end Jevon Kearse was arrested on West End Avenue by Vanderbilt campus police when they noticed his Cadillac Escalade driving erratically. He was picked up for DUI and refusing the breathalyzer. [Nashville City Paper]

Around the SEC (6/21)

Want another reason to like Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo? The day after celebrating with his teammates at the championship parade, Rondo hopped on a 6 a.m. flight to Cincinnati to spend time with his fans at Camp Rondo at the Basketball Academy.

"I had to be here for this," he said. "I couldn't let the kids down." [The Courier-Journal]

Auburn hired College of Charleston coach John Pawlowski to lead its baseball program, and it looks like the Tigers got it right. [Tracking the Tigers]

LSU saw its magical run in the CWS come to an end last night against North Carolina, while Georgia plays Stanford today. [The Advocate, Dawg Sports]

Mississippi State football coach Sylvester Croom got a well-deserved raise. [Clarion-Ledger]

Former Gator slugger Matt LaPorta is a star in the making. [Gainesville Sun]

Top statistically returnees in the SEC by points, rebounds and assists. [UK Sidelines]

Not related to the SEC, but this was too good to pass up. Bruce Weber: "I think Indiana will suck." [Fanhouse]

Photo [NBA.com]

Around the SEC (6/20)

A few links to pass along on this lazy Friday. Once you stop staring at that photo, feel free to check them out.

The best part about signing Emmanuel Negedu? Tennessee now has the hottest fan in the SEC in Marisa Miller, who is only No. 1 on Maxim's Hot 100 List. (Sorry Ashley, but it's not even close). Negedu went to the same school as Miller's husband and is very close with both of them. You know Bruce Pearl is loving this. [Verno's Blog]

SI's Luke Winn discusses how the new 3-point line (from 19 feet, nine inches to 20 feet, nine inches) will affect the game next season. 33.4 percent of Vanderbilt's points came from 3-point range, the ninth-highest percentage in the nation, but don't expect the Commodores to as reliant next season without Shan Foster and Alex Gordon. [SI.com]

Quarterback Stephen Garcia hopes to rejoin South Carolina this summer. [The State]

Billy Gillespie said he will comply with a recommendation from the National Association of Basketball Coaches that coaches stop recruiting eighth-graders. The best part about this story? The president of the NABC is none other than Tubby Smith. [Herald-Leader]

Florida guard Nick Calathes is going Greek. [Gainesville Sun]

Around the SEC (6/19)

I'm off to Rhode Island in a minute to play some golf with my dad and then catch the Team USA-Newport baseball game tonight, but here are a few links for the road.

Tennessee forward Wayne Chism walked out on his summer league game early. [Go Vols Extra]

School President Jay Gogue discusses the state of Auburn athletics. [The Birmingham News]

Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson, who A.J. Ogilvy said was the toughest player to guard, is well on his way to recovery after suffering an ankle injury late in the season. [Advocate-Messenger]

Auburn is still looking for a new baseball coach.[Track 'em Tigers]

Q&A with South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. [Go Gamecocks]

LSU faces North Carolina in another do-or-die game today in the CWS. [The Advocate]

Enjoy the day, everyone.

Around the SEC (6/18)

Tennessee scored a big coup yesterday, landing prized recruit Emmanuel Negedu, a four-star forward ranked No. 40 overall by Rivals.com.

A Nigerian native, Negedu (6-foot-8, 255) prepped at Brewster Academy (NH) and originally committed to Arizona but received a release after feeling uncomfortable with the Wildcats' coaching situation. He chose the Vols over Memphis, Indiana and Georgia Tech. [Tennessean]

CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish broke the story and added this:

It not only solidifies Tennessee as a preseason top 10 team, but it's an example of Pearl -- aided by assistant Steve Forbes -- beating rival John Calipari and Memphis on a "national" recruit as the two programs continue to compete for supremacy in the state. [CBS Sportsline]

Alabama point guard got some advice from legendary coach Larry Brown before making his decision to return for his senior season. I'm surprised Brown didn't tell him to transfer. [Advocate-Messenger]

New South Carolina coach Darrin Horn is trying to build a pipeline to rebuild the program. [Go Gamecocks]

Those LSU Tigers did it again as Blake Dean's walk-off three-double lifted them to a 6-5 victory over Rice in a CWS elimination game. [Baseball America]

Vanderbilt pitcher Mike Minor pitched four scoreless innings to pick up his second victory for Team USA. [TCBB]

Jackonsville State players are excited about their new quarterback Ryan Perrilloux. [Birmingham News]

Which SEC teams have the best odds of winning the national championship? Florida and Georgia are 6-1, while LSU is 12-1. [Mr. SEC]

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings seems to be here for the long haul. [Nashville City Paper]

Around the SEC (6/17)

In case you missed yesterday's, Around the SEC will become a daily feature here at The Sports VU as we'll provide links to the top stories from blogs and newspapers across the South.

I'm starting with some startling news that should serve as an eye-opener for all the college students reading this blog.

A Georgia baseball player who did not accompany the team to Omaha for the College World Series is facing several alcohol-related charges after an accident resulted in serious injuries to a University of North Carolina player.

The two players - sophomore pitcher Ryan Woolley of Georgia and sophomore pitcher Brandon Dail of North Carolina - are competing in the Cape Cod summer league in Massachusetts.

According to a news report at www.capecodonline.com, Dail sustained major injuries when he was pinned beneath a truck driven by Woolley. Dail reportedly had jumped onto the hood of Woolley's 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck as Woolley was moving the vehicle out of the driveway and onto the street. The two players were at the home of their host family in Brewster, Mass., the newspaper reported.

Dail was taken to Cape Cod Hospital, then flown by medical helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His condition was serious Monday night, a hospital spokeswoman told the Cape Cod News. He sustained injuries to his legs and head.

According to newspaper accounts, Woolley and Dail had been drinking beer and watching the CWS on television at the home of their host family. Police said Woolley failed field sobriety and alcohol breathalyzer tests he took at the scene and again at the Brewster Police Station. An 18-pack of beer was found in his truck, police said.

We hear it all the time -- don't drink and drive -- and yet far too many people (young and old) continue to do it. Maybe, just maybe, after reading this story that will change. [AJC]

In other news, Georgia beat Stanford 4-3 to move within one game of the College World Series final. [AJC]

UT football coach Phillip Fulmer is not going anywhere for a while. He is on the verge of getting a big raise. He's also going to sign a seven-year extension, which means that you can expect Fulmer to be here at least eight to 10 more years. [Tennessean]

While Fulmer's contract will average more than $3 million annually, Bruce Pearl will also get a new six-year deal worth more than $2 million annually. He's now paid more than Vanderbit's Kevin Stallings. Only Florida in the SEC will pay its football and men’s basketball coaches more in combined money than UT. [Mr. SEC]

Mr. SEC wanted to see if there was a real correlation between recruiting rankings and on-field performance. While there is no exact science, here's what they found:

The top five teams in recruiting from 2003 to 2007 just happened to be the only five teams in the SEC last year to post winning conference records.

Divide the conference into fourths and the recruiting rankings become even more telling. Teams one through four in recruiting (Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee) combined to post a 24-10 record in conference play. That’s a winning percentage of .705.

The teams ranked five through eight in recruiting (Auburn, South Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas) combined to finish 16-16 in conference play. That’s a .500 winning percentage.

And the teams that ranked nine through 12 in recruiting (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt) finished 9-25 in league play. That’s a winning percentage of only .264.

The top four in recruiting won 75% of their games, the middle four in recruiting won 50% of their games and the bottom four in recruiting won just 25% of their games.

Nothing earth-shattering, but interesting nonetheless. [Mr. SEC]

The Alabama basketball team went 1-1 yesterday. Point guard Ronald Steele will return, while forward Richard Hendrix will leave early for the NBA. Looks like Steele and head coach Mark Gottfried might end up saving each other next season. [Birmingham News]

Former UK player Derrick Jasper is transferring to UNLV. [Herald-Leader]

A look inside Florida's 2008-09 athletic budget. Looks just like Vanderbilt's, doesn't it? [Orlando Sentinel]

For Vandy links, check out today's Commodore Banter.

Around the SEC (6/16)

We're starting a new feature here at The Sports VU. Each morning we'll provide links to the top stories from blogs and newspapers across the South so let's get right to it.

The College World Series is in full swing and the SEC is well-represented. LSU is on the brink of elimination after falling to UNC 8-4. It was just the Tigers' second loss in 27 games. [Baseball America]

Georgia, meanwhile, upset top-ranked Miami over the weekend and says there will be no letdown when it plays Stanford tonight in a winner's bracket contest. [AJC]

Nobody knows who wrote it, but there is a hilarious (and well-researched) piece floating around the Internet called The SEC as the Middle East.

A couple of notables:

TENNESSEE: Iraq. Got a bunch of history but the country as a whole is going in the tank and they will kill themselves off before it is all over.

VANDERBILT: Israel. Just leave them alone for God’s sake. What did they ever do to you?

Definitely check it out. [Junkyard Blawg]

Alabama forward Richard Hendrix must decide by today whether to stay in the NBA Draft or return for his senior season. The Tide have a chance to win the SEC West if he returns, but it looks like Hendrix might roll the dice and hope that he lands late in the first round. [Huntsville Times]

ESPN's Chad Ford has a great breakdown of who's in/out and who's still on the fence. He said it's probable that Hendrix and Miss. State's Jamont Gordon stay in the draft. [ESPN.com]

Former Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk is bitter, spiteful, juvenile, ridiculous and unbelievable. [Sun Herald]

Alabama has the fifth-wimpiest mascot in the nation. Guess who's No. 1? And no, it's not Big C if that's what you were thinking. [College OTR]

Kevin Stallings makes more money than Bruce Pearl. Stallings is the third-highest paid coach in the SEC behind two guys named Billy. [Razor Bloggers]

Where are they now? Former Wildcat player and Vanderbilt fan-favorite Patrick Sparks is out of basketball and getting DUIs. [Herald-Leader]