Texas A&M fans will probably flood YouTube with a number of hype videos and 2013 promo videos for the upcoming college football season, and why not? The Aggies have Johnny Manziel and Kevin Sumlin breathing new life in to the program after a rousing SEC debut season in 2012. Now Texas A&M is looking to be built for a potential national championship run, a long time coming for The 12th Man.
Here we have the first hype video to make its way to my laptop screen. Enjoy.
Butch Jones taking over at Tennessee is one of many stories in the SEC this spring. AP Photo.
For folks like you and me, college football never stops. Sure, the games may be months away and we are now two months removed from the final college football game of the most recent season, but there is always something to talk about.
Between recruiting, realignment and players creating headlines through their own fault or not, we always have some college football discussion going on. Perhaps in no other conference is this more true than in the SEC, where fans will eat and breathe college football year round. At times this comes in uncomfortable amounts, but at the core of it all we just want any excuse to talk about the sport we love.
That is why we saw a national debate over whether or not Jadeveon Clowney should play for South Carolina blow up one week. It is why so much attention was given to Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel taking online courses. It is why shirtless photos of Steve Spurrier pop up and why Les Miles does the Harlem Shake.
But once you get past the Johnny Manziel madness and come to grips with the fact that Jadeveon Clowney is in fact going to play football this season, there is still a lot of ground to cover around the rest of the SEC.
When I want to talk about the SEC, Bleacher Report’s SEC writer Barrett Sallee is one of my favorite guys to reach out to. On today’s podcast Sallee discusses with me not only the life of Johnny Manziel but some of the key things to watch this spring around the conference. Some of the topics discussed include:
How does Nick Saban keep his program grounded coming off a second consecutive BCS title?
Manziel’s epic off-season aside, what does Texas A&M have to look forward to and work on this spring?
Are we really overlooking the LSU Tigers?
What is the next step for Ole Miss after making noise in recruiting?
Is Gus Malzahn ready to turn Auburn around?
Is it possible Florida finds an offense this spring?
Can Georgia find a way to lock down on defense?
Will the two-quarterback system be in play for the Gamecocks?
To hear what Sallee has to say about that and more, check out the podcast. Full audio is embedded below, or you can click here to listen.
One thing I did forget to mention was the recent story of Manziel allegedly pushing a graduate assistant after throwing an interception in a spring practice. I will not speak for Sallee, but it seems to have been a moment that blew out of proportion and has since been quieted by comments from Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin chalking it up as a “things happen in practice” incident. I tend to agree with that based on what I have read to this point, but should a similar episode be reported again then there will be a time to take a closer look at it all.
Feel free to share your thoughts on Manziel or any other spring football topic covered here with a comment below.
The sweet 16 stage has been set and now we are starting to see the best programs shine while the underdogs start to fade. But that doesn’t mean we will not see an upset or two before we are all done! With the games starting to dwindle in total it is time to start combining regions in to posts. Here we combine one side of our bracket with the East and South Regions. Tomorrow we will dive in to the West and Midwest regions.
As a refresher and introduction for those just now checking in, these picks are being determined purely on the hypothetical premise that the two schools are playing in football instead of basketball. Schools that have no football program have essentially been placed in no-win scenarios so at this point in the bracket my Sweet 16 looks quite different in some sections than the actual current status of the NCAA Tournament, but it is interesting to see how there are some similarities as well.
How did We Get Here?
East Region: North Carolina State got by Temple in the first round and then took down the region’s number one seeded Indiana after the Hoosiers were able to avoid an upset bid by FCS James Madison. They now face new ACC rival Syracuse, who snuck by a down Cal program, in what should be quite an interesting match-up. In the bottom half of the region we see Miami pretty much waltzing to the regional final after putting away Illinois in the second round. We also saw two Pioneer Football League rivals face off in the second round with Davidson and Butler reaching the second round, but Butler has a mighty tough draw against the Hurricanes in this round.
South Region: North Carolina was able to avoid an upset bid by surprising Western Kentucky after the Hilltoppers ousted the region’s number one seed, Kansas. The Tar Heels now take on Michigan, who has had a breeze to this point with match-ups against Akron and FCS threat South Dakota State. In the other half of the region the Florida Gators have become a favorite after dispatching of FCS Northwestern State and Pac 12 contender UCLA. They take on Oklahoma, who avoided an upset bid by San Diego State in the first round and was able to rest up against Georgetown in the second round.
I did not get any mail today. None. I was like Charlie Brown looking for one simple Valentine in the mailbox, with my voice echoing “Hello in there” to no avail.
Drew Barker, a high school quarterback in Kentucky, got some mail today. In fact, he got a lot of it from the University of Kentucky. Kentucky sent Barker, a Class of 2014 Army All-American, 115 handwritten letters.
115 handwritten letters.
Photo source: Drew Barker Instagram
Getting Barker, one of the top recruits in the state of Kentucky and one of the top ten pro quarterbacks in the country according to 247 Sports, would be a huge pick-up for Kentucky under new head coach Mark Stoops, who knows a thing or two about what it will take to succeed in recruiting battles in the hotly contested SEC. Whether or not Kentucky can keep Barker in state remains to be seen. Following a recent trip to South Carolina it appears Barker is enthusiastic about a possible future with the Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier. But this is high school recruiting. If we know nothing else, nothing is guaranteed until the letter is signed in February. Even then nothing is assured.
This is not the first time we have seen this technique employed by schools, but my question continues to be whether or not this actually works with recruits. Has anyone kept track of these stories to tell if it is worth the time, effort and postage to send so much mail on one day to a kid? Or is it nothing more than a publicity stunt aimed to gain viral attention on social media and spark some interest in the program?
The state of New Jersey continues to pull itself together in some parts in the after math of last year’s Super Storm Sandy forcing many to leave their homes. The effects of the storm left a number of people without a home or business and popular sight seeing destinations were reduced to rubble floating in ocean and storm water. This spring Rutgers football is going to pay tribute to the victims of the storm with specially designed uniforms and helmets to be used during the team’s annual spring game.
Rutgers spring uniforms. Photo via Rutgers Athletics Twitter
In all, players will wear the names of 90 different towns in the state that were affected by the storm last year. It is a nice little way of keeping the destruction and tearing apart of many communities close to the minds of the program. Sports can often serve as a release and an escape for those going through troubling times. College football is no exception, so it is warm to see a football program embrace their role as the state’s college football team reaching out in any small way they can.
The efforts do not cease there though. Rutgers is raising money to donate to Sandy relief efforts, with a new t-shirt with the “R-Strong” label printed on it already raising $148,000 for storm victims.
Rutgers will conclude their spring practice schedule on Saturday, April 27.
