By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:
ALL QUIET ON THE RECRUITING FRONT
Unless he’s got some recruits carefully hidden from plain view, the early signing day rankings for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators are going to rank dead last in the Southeastern Conference. Commitments started bailing on the Gators even before Dan Mullen was fired but they have continued to look elsewhere since Napier took over. When he spoke at his first UF press conference last Sunday, Napier didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the fact the ESD numbers will probably be very, very slim.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t sign many at all, to be honest with you but there may be a few out there that are willing to jump in her in the last minute,” Napier said.
Napier can continue to recruit in January for the February National Signing Day so he will have a chance to at least top Steve Spurrier’s last recruiting class of 2001, which is perhaps the lowest ranked (No. 47 nationally) in school history. Spurrier had an abundance of seniors and while this class didn’t have the numbers it also lacked quality. It included a non-qualifier (Dallas Baker), one who passed away (Eraste Autin), five that transferred out (Ingle Martin, Sylvester McGrew, Larry Kendrick, Wesley Bryant and Antoine Sharp) and one who was on scholarship five years but never played a single down of football on game day (Jonathan Marvin).
Urban Meyer’s transition class of 2005 ranked 12th but it didn’t produce a lot of quality, either. Of the 15 signees, only Ryan Stamper, David Nelson, Louis Murphy, Kestahn Moore and Jonathan Phillips finished their playing careers as Gators.
One thing for certain, Napier isn’t going to take a lot of chances. Thanks to the transfer portal, he doesn’t have to. There is an advantage in the transfer portal. High school kids who come to Florida or any other school who don’t like it or find themselves buried, can transfer out after one or two years. A transfer portal player has to sit a year if he elects to transfer a second time.
GATORS COME UP SHORT AGAINST MARYLAND
It came down to a final shot for Tyree Appleby, and unlike the 3-point dagger that beat Ohio State in Fort Myers a couple of weeks ago, this one rimmed out at the buzzer. Instead of another heart attack finish, the 20th-ranked Gators (7-3) dropped a 70-68 decision to Maryland in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Appleby hit all five of his 3-pointers in the second half including two in a row after Maryland took a 59-52 lead with 6:26 to go and threatened to blow the game open. It was Appleby’s pull-up three on the fast break at the 1:16 mark that put the Gators up 66-65 for their final lead of the night. After Maryland re-took the lead at 68-66, Anthony Duruji tied the game on a driving layup with 43 seconds left, but Maryland took the lead again with 16 seconds to go and Appleby’s last second shot wouldn’t go.
Although the Gators shot better from the 3-point line (11-27) than they had in any of the previous three games, it was another poor shooting performance that did them in. Florida was 11-31 on 2-point shots and just 22-58 (37.6 percent) for the game.
It was particularly surprising that CJ Felder and Jason Jitoboh played so little after being so effective in the first half. Felder played nine minutes in the first half and hit 3-4 from the 3-point line but he played only four minutes in the second half. Jitoboh matched his career best with six points in nine first half minutes but he played less than a minute in the second half.
The Gators are idle until Saturday when they play host to South Florida.
SEC Basketball
Sunday’s scores: Maryland (6-4) 70, No. 20 FLORIDA (7-3) 68; South Carolina (7-2) 66, Florida State (5-4) 65
Saturday’s scores: No. 8 Kansas (8-1) 102, Missouri (5-5) 65); No. 9 Alabama (8-1) 83, Houston (8-2) 82; Notre Dame (4-4) 66, No. 10 Kentucky (7-2) 62; Oklahoma (8-2) 88, No. 12 Arkansas (9-1) 66; No. 13 Tennessee (7-2) 76, UNC-Greensboro (7-3) 36; No. 18 Auburn (8-1) 99, Nebraska (5-6) 68; No. 25 LSU (9-0) 69, Georgia Tech (5-4) 53; Colorado State (10-0) 66, Mississippi State (6-3) 63; TCU (8-1) 68, Texas A&M (7-2) 64; Western Kentucky (6-4) 71, Ole Miss (6-3) 48
Tuesday’s games: South Carolina-Upstate (2-7) at No. 13 Tennessee (7-2); Northwestern State (2-8) at No. 25 LSU (9-0); Allen University at South Carolina (6-2); Georgia State (5-3) at Mississippi State (6-3); No. 9 Alabama (8-1) at Memphis (5-4); North Alabama (6-3) at No. 18 Auburn (8-1); CANCELLED DUE TO COVID Tulane (3-6) at Texas A&M (7-2)
OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC
Alabama: Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy and Will Anderson finished fifth in the voting. How Aidan Hutchinson of Michigan finished second in the voting and Anderson finished fifth is beyond belief. Both Young and Anderson will be back next year as neither one is draft eligible (both just two years removed from high school).
Arkansas: Sam Pittman, one of the lower paid head coaches in the SEC at $3 million a year, is asking for a reworked contract that is in the 7-year, $50 million range. Jimmy Sexton (who else) is his agent.
Auburn: Running back Shaun Shivers is transferring to Indiana. He ran for 1,020 yards and eight touchdowns during his time at Auburn. The 2022 season will be his final year of eligibility ... A couple of names that have surfaced prominently in Auburn’s search for a new offensive coordinator are Seattle Seahawks QB coach Austin Davis and Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee.
Georgia: Defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is leaving for Oregon but will remain with the Bulldogs for the College Football Playoff. Kirby Smart has named former UF/South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann, his top recruiter, as co-defensive coordinators.
Kentucky: Quarterback Will Levis is organizing UK athletes to help with the relief effort for communities hammered by tornadoes in Kentucky.
LSU: Kerry Cooks, who spent the last two seasons as a defensive analyst at Notre Dame, is joining Brian Kelly’s staff as a defensive assistant.
Mississippi State: Mike Leach has blasted players who opt out of bowl games. Speaking to the Clarion-Ledger, Leach said, “You’ve got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl. That’s part of it. You owe it to your team, you owe it to your fans, you owe it to your coaches and it’s the most bizarre thing in the world to me. Somebody says, ‘Well, I can’t play one more game.’ They think they’re going to have a storied 10-year NFL career, and then they can’t play one more college game. Well, that’s ridiculous. I mean, guys will go to the NFL, they’ll make the Pro Bowl and they they’ll play in the Pro Bowl. It’s one of the biggest absurdities that I’ve seen, and it’s selfish, too.” Amen preacher. Left tackle Charles Cross, who has made some All-America teams and is projected a first rounder, did not practice Saturday for MSU’s upcoming Liberty Bowl game with Texas Tech.
Ole Miss: Incarnate Word QB Cameron Ward, who won the Jerry Rice Award as the best freshman in D1AA, visited Ole Miss over the weekend. Ward threw for 4,648 yards and 47 touchdowns … Joe Brady, who was the passing game coordinator for LSU’s phenomenal national championship offense in 2019, is mentioned prominently as the offensive coordinator to replace Jeff Lebby.
South Carolina: The South Carolina recruiting class is expected to take a hit with safety commitment Jy’Vonta McClendon reportedly facing felony charges for a road rage incident in which he shot into an occupied vehicle. He faces charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill.
Tennessee: Quarterback Hendon Hooker will return to Tennessee in 2022. After transferring to UT from Virginia Tech, Hooker threw for 2,567 yards (9.8 yards per attempt) and 26 TDs (only three INTs) while running for an additional 561 yards (3.8 per carry) and five TDs … Defensive back Alontae Taylor has opted out of the Music City Bowl game with Purdue to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Texas A&M: Defensive lineman Jayden Peevy, who had 43 tackles and two sacks in 2021, is entering the NFL Draft. Safety Leon O’Neal will declare for the draft and will not play in the Gators Bowl against Wake Forest … Derek Mason, the former Vanderbilt head coach who is Auburn’s defensive coordinator, is one of the names being mentioned to replace defensive coordinator Mike Elko, who is now the head coach at Duke.
FOOTBALL IN THE MINOR LEAGUES
Oregon: Oregon went a surprising route by taking Dan Lanning, who has no west coast experience and has never been a head coach. He has offered the offensive coordinator job to Kenny Dillingham, the Florida State offensive coordinator.
Oklahoma: Brent Venables has added former Troy defensive coordinator Brandon Hall to his defensive staff. Hall was a graduate assistant for Venables early in his coaching career ... The OU defensive coordinator will be Ted Roof, who has been the defensive coordinator at 10 difference schools previously including Duke, Minnesota, Auburn, UCF, Pen State, Georgia Tech and Appalachian State.
BYU: Kilani Sitake signed a contract extension that will keep him at BYU through the 2027 season.
Ohio State: At $1.9 million per year, new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is now the highest paid assistant coach in Ohio State history.
Texas: Quinn Ewers, who got a million dollars from NIL but wasted a year at Ohio State, is transferring to Texas. He took two snaps and handed the ball off both times at OSU.
Florida State: Randy Shannon has been named co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach after spending the 2021 season in an off-the-field role at FSU.
Penn State: Quarterback Sean Clifford will use the COVID year exception and return for a sixth season in 2022.
Clemson: Don’t be surprised if Dabo Swinney brings back Chad Morris as his OC. Clemson went 42-11 with Morris calling the plays from 2011-14.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Florida State and the academic scandal that spanned several sports, but especially football. North Carolina and the academic scandal that spanned several sports, but especially basketball. The college basketball scandal in which 11 schools were caught red-handed by the FBI in the buying and selling of players market. What do they have in common? They are living proof that the mess we have in collegiate athletics is largely because other than the federal government, there is no more ineffective organization in the entire United States than the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Florida State got caught with a cheating scandal that spanned 10 sports and involved 61 athletes in 2007. Track and field got hit the hardest with two NCAA championships vacated, but football, which had the most athletes involved, got a slap on the wrist although 14 of Bobby Bowden’s wins were vacated. It could have been and should have been worse.
North Carolina’s cheating scandal dated back 18 years and involved bogus classes attended by players who won three NCAA basketball championships (1993, 2005, 2009). UNC challenged the NCAA and basically won. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, concluded that the academics were troubling but didn’t merit penalties. Well, women’s basketball and women’s soccer got hit, but not men’s basketball. This should have been nuclear winter but it wasn’t.
And now we have the college basketball cheating scandal that dates back six years ago. Auburn got a big slap on the wrist over the weekend. LSU, whose coach Will Wade is caught on wiretap bragging about buying players, is going through an independent trial process. If it’s anything like the NCAA delivered to Auburn, it will result in a slap on the wrist again as will the cases against Louisville, Arizona, North Carolina State and Kansas. How can it be when there is wiretap evidence that the NCAA can’t drop the hammer on people?
How is it that Mark Emmert has a job? More important, why haven’t the Division I football schools seceded from the NCAA to form their own organization with their own rules? It’s about time.
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