Each week during the off-season we will be doing this feature that will simply be called “This Week In College Football”. We will cover the biggest news and stories of the past week and give some opinions and analysis. Let’s not waste any more time, let’s talk college football.
Allegations Against Auburn
Last week we talked about Auburn for the Toomer’s Corner disaster and the fact that the NCAA was snooping around Louisiana inquiring about two recruits that Auburn had signed and if they committed violations to do it. This week there are are few more things for the Auburn brethren to fret about. Former player Stanely McClover went on the record with HBO to discuss extra benefits he was provided while a player at Auburn. The good news is that this happened prior to 2006, which means it was a different coaching staff. The bad news is that the NCAA could view this as a culture of non-compliance and failure to monitor if they ever get anything concrete on the Newtons. Next up, there is a radio host in Alabama that says he heard Kenny Rogers tapes of Cam Newton’s recruitment. He claims that on the tapes were offers from Tennessee of $150,000 and from Auburn for $180,000 (best $180,000 ever spent?). From what is said, there is nothing that incriminates Mississippi State on the tapes and there is no word on how much Georgia was offering to bring in Cam as a Tight End. My apprehension with this story is that we still don’t have the “tapes” and this guy is running around the south doing radio shows trying to make a name for himself. Where there is smoke there is almost always fire but I just wonder why we haven’t seen any proof/facts yet.
Arizona State’s Threet Retires Due to Concussions
Unexpectedly, this week ASU finds itself down one QB. Steven Threet has suffered four concussions during his career, two last year, and was told by doctors that a fifth could be debilitating. Last year Threet had decent numbers, putting up 2534 passing yards with 18 TD and 16 INT and a QB rating of 133.42. Threet’s back-up, Brock Osweiler, was expected to push him for the position this year as he put up numbers very comparable to Threet’s last year (and in some areas- like TD/INT ratio- much better). I think this might work out for both parties. Threet gets to keep his health and stay around the program and work with the QBs, maybe even launching into a different career path and ASU gets to see what Brock can do as “the man”.
Washaun Ealey Is Out Of The Dawghouse
News broke yesterday that Georgia’s leading rusher for the last two years has been reinstated to the team. Ealey was suspended earlier this month for failing to show for a penalty run. Despite rumors of an impending transfer, Washaun did everything he needed to do to get back into the good graces of the Georgia coaching staff and is back and ready to compete during spring practice. The Georgia RB picture will be one of the most interesting position battles in the SEC this year as Washaun Ealey will compete with Senior Caleb King, RS Freshman Boo Malcome and True Freshman Isaiah Crowell (once Crowell gets on campus) to see who will be getting carries against the Broncos of Boise and the Gamecocks of South Carolina to start the season. Competition breeds success and knowing that the young bucks are coming for their jobs should have King and Ealey working harder than they ever have before.
Strength and Conditioning
I’m not a big NFL Combine guy. In fact, I haven’t watched a minute of it this year. It’s not because I’m opposed to it. I just haven’t had the time but I have been following some of the headlines and one of them stuck out to me. It was a comparion’s made between AJ Green and Julio Jones. Basically, Julio Jones was said to have a well-sculpted impressive looking body and AJ was said to have looked skinny and needing to hit the weights. In my mind, this comparison is the exact difference between the Strength and Conditioning programs over the last few years at Alabama and at Georgia. At Alabama they have been owning the line of scrimmage (or at minimum not getting pushed around on it) and at Georgia we have been getting pushed around for the last couple of years. Georgia made changes in their S&C program this year but we will have to see if it will bear the fruit that the fanbase so desperately desires. I think both Jones and AJ will be great pros and I think this comparison is more on Georgia than it is on AJ.
OU’s Jamell Fleming Is Not In School
Our Pre-Spring Top 10 Number One team has been having a rough off-season. The lastest news for the Oklahoma Sooners is that CB Jamell Fleming (he of 5 INT and 1 INT return for TD) is not currently en-rolled in school and will not participate in Spring Practice. Much like the situation involving Tennessee star Janzen Jackson “personal issues” were cited and Bob Stoops, like Derek Dooley, is hoping his defensive star can work out his issues and get back to the team to play this fall. Interestingly enough, Fleming also missed spring practice in 2009 because of academics but was able to take classes at a junior college and rejoin the team in better academic standing.
This Week In College Football Archives:
February 20th: Toomer’s Corner, Savage, Saunders and Assistants
February 13th: Clowney, Forcier, Janzen and Washaun
February 6th: National Signing Day, QB Transfers, Weslye Saunders and Uga VIII
January 30th: Iowa, Recruiting, Paul Johnson, Will Muschamp and Herschel
January 23rd: Coaching Changes, Recruiting, Oversigning, Forcier
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