ESPN College Football

Just a few links before the Memorial Day weekend.

• Drama runs high at next week's SEC spring meetings.
• Alabama's Barrett Jones and other SEC players make the Rimington Award watch list.
• Florida coach Will Muschamp finishes up his Gator Club speaking tour.
• There won't be a raise for Mark Richt with his new contract, but bonuses could be coming.
• Former LSU commit Torshiro Davis talks decommitting from the Tigers before signing with Texas last year.
• USA Today takes a look at athletic directors and league commissioners and their salaries.
• Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is moving the Rebels in the right direction.
• Tennessee coach Derek Dooley addresses discipline issues with his team.

David Ching writes : UGA Recruit 411: Get to know the very confident pass-grabbing UGA receiver commit Ty Smith.

Coach's Q&A : Colquitt Co. head coach Rush Propst has plenty to say -- about everything -- and he sees receiver Ty Smith helping Georgia morph into a more gunslinging kind of offense.

Ching: Contracts for Richt, Grantham are not ready to be finalized.

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- The Mark Richt contract news out of Thursday’s University of Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors meeting is that there is still no news.

“We are so close to getting the final T's crossed and I's dotted,” athletic director Greg McGarity told the board. “We’re there. It’s just a matter of legal wording that needs taking care of and deal points that have all been covered.”

McGarity informed the board that Richt’s $2.8 million base pay “basically stays where it is right now,” although the two sides are finalizing several changes to Richt’s deal.

UGA announced on March 12 that it was adding three years to the football coach’s contract, extending his deal through 2016. McGarity said Thursday that while Richt’s base salary will remain the same, his contract incentives -- pay bumps for accomplishments like BCS and SEC championships and bowl appearances -- will double.

“All the important performance bonuses, which means bowls, which means BCS championship appearances, they really increased 100 percent,” McGarity said. “One of the things was basically rewarding excellence. I don’t think anybody has a problem at all when we do great things as far as competing for SEC championships, participating in BCS bowls, so there is a lot of incentive in that.”

McGarity added that “there will be some adjustments” to Richt’s buyout and that the language in the document will be much simpler than in the coach’s current contract.

McGarity said he hopes to have versions of contracts for Richt and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham -- who he confirmed is in line for a raise to his $750,000 salary -- available for public consumption in the near future, but the legal wrangling over final details prevented them from being completed in time for Thursday’s board meeting.

He said the holdup is not the product of contentious negotiations between UGA and the Richt and Grantham camps.

“We all agree on everything,” McGarity said. “It’s just a matter of going through that process of our legal counsel. I don’t know what their caseload is like. As long as it’s all agreed upon, everybody is sort of in a good place.”

McGarity first revealed that UGA would revisit the coaches’ contracts nearly seven months ago and has insisted for months that negotiations moved along smoothly. UGA president Michael Adams reiterated McGarity’s point that the lack of resolution is not a source of frustration on his end.

“This is simple nitpick lawyering at this point,” Adams said. “If it was something else, I think I would tell you. But these things sometimes just take more time than when you get into them you think they’re going to. They’re complicated. These are high-profile people. They have a lot of obligations to us and we require a lot of obligations to them.”

When is a brand new contract not exactly a ringing endorsement of a coach?

When that coach, heading into his 12th season at the school and coming off that school’s first appearance in the SEC championship game in six years, doesn’t get any more guaranteed money in his new deal.

Some of the details of Georgia coach Mark Richt’s new contract started to trickle out Thursday following the UGA Athletic Association board of directors meeting in Greensboro, Ga.

The headline grabber was that Richt’s salary would essentially stay the same, according to Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, although Richt’s incentives package will be sweetened.

Richt’s annual salary is right around $2.9 million.

These contract talks have been ongoing for nearly six months, and McGarity said Thursday that the deal, which will keep Richt under contract through 2016, was still not finalized.

McGarity also said that Richt’s buyout would be adjusted, and it will be interesting to see how that buyout is adjusted.

Extra years on a contract do not amount to much if there isn’t guaranteed money attached to those extra years.

If you’re looking at this whole thing from Georgia’s perspective, it’s understandable that they’re hesitant to load up Richt’s contract with a bunch of guaranteed money. After all, there was considerable rumbling prior to last season that Richt was teetering coming off the Bulldogs’ 6-7 finish in 2010.

It only got worse after the Bulldogs started 0-2 last season before reeling off 10 straight wins and playing their way into the SEC championship game.

So here we are, and the position of the Georgia brass is pretty clear at this point: They don’t mind paying more money to Richt, but only if he wins SEC championships and goes to BCS bowl games.

As McGarity was quoted as saying, it’s about “rewarding excellence.”

But it’s also a telltale sign that McGarity and the movers and shakers at Georgia aren’t convinced that Richt is their coach for the long-term future.

Otherwise, this deal would have been done a long time ago.

Kipp Adams writes : Talented O-lineman Brandon Kublanow has long considered an offer from UGA to be a dream, but a host of other programs thought the same of him. He took his time through the recruiting process, but followed his heart Wednesday and became a Bulldog.

Adams : Super competitive, strong and intense, Kublanow will afford Georgia great versatility on the O-line. It also doesn’t hurt that his HS coach says Kublanow is the best lineman he has seen in 16 years of coaching.

Video interview: Brandon Kublanow

DawgNation Roundtable : UGA tied for the second biggest NFL class in the 2012 draft, and it could've been bigger. Who among the newest Bulldogs to go pro will have a banner career?

It's been a while since I tackled links. I hope I remember how to do this ...

• President Barack Obama mentions Missouri's football team during his commencement speech at Joplin (Mo.) High School.
• Arkansas lands commitments from Fayetteville trio.
• The shifting conference landscape could benefit Kentucky and hurt Louisville.
• Athlon Sports takes a deeper look at South Carolina's 2012 season.
• Alabama commit Jonathan Allen brings versatility and potential as a defensive end and a Jack linebacker.
• Seth Emerson of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph takes a look at Georgia's fourth-most important in 2012: cornerback Damian Swann.
• Don't expect Georgia coach Mark Richt to use social media any time soon.
• Tennessee coach Derek Dooley gets a boost from new athletic director Dave Hart.
• Tennessee gets its seventh commitment in its 2013 class from safety Kameron Miles.
• LSU gets a commitment from quarterback prospect Hayden Rettig.

We're once again taking an early look at the 2012 college football season and colleague Mark Schlabach yet again provides us with a few talking points. On Friday, he unleashed his Way-Too-Early To0-Early 2012 Top 25 and it has six SEC teams in it:

1. LSU
2. USC
3. Alabama
4. Oregon
5. Georgia
6. Oklahoma
7. FSU
8. West Virginia
9. Michigan
10. South Carolina
11. Michigan State
12. Stanford
13. Arkansas
14. TCU
15. Wisconsin
16. Clemson
17. Ohio State
18. Kansas State
19. Texas
20. Florida
21. Washington
22. Oklahoma State
23. Virginia Tech
24. Nebraska
25. Georgia Tech

Some thoughts:

• LSU and Alabama are ranked where I'd have them. Both look like they'll once again be two of the most talented teams in the country this fall. It seems hard to believe that LSU's offensive won't be better and more balanced with juco transfer Zach Mettenberger taking over at quarterback. LSU's defense has a couple of holes to fill, but it doesn't look like that will be too hard for the Tigers. Alabama should also see an offensive boost in the passing game with an older AJ McCarron and coach Nick Saban is making sure this year's defense doesn't go the way of the 2010 group.
• Georgia has the schedule to make it back to Atlanta and that team that Mark Richt has isn't too bad either. But suspensions to four defensive starters to begin the season is a concern, especially with a trip to Missouri coming in Week 2. Quarterback Aaron Murray said this spring that despite the distractions that have come with the suspensions, this team is still very focused on its goals, but the pressure will surely be on the Dawgs in 2012.
• South Carolina should probably be a little higher, but with Marcus Lattimore coming off of that knee injury, it's tough to know what this team will do this fall. The defense returns a handful of talent, while quarterback Connor Shaw picked up where he left off last season, which is a good thing for the Gamecocks' offense. South Carolina does face LSU and Arkansas this season, meaning the Gamecocks will have to at least split those to challenge Georgia for the East title.
• The loss of Bobby Petrino has Arkansas trending down a bit, but if players rally the way they said they would under interim coach John L. Smith, the Razorbacks will be dangerous this fall. The offense is still loaded, led by quarterback Tyler Wilson and running back Knile Davis, and new defensive coordinator Paul Haynes should help Arkansas have a more aggressive defense. There will still be questions surrounding this team with Petrino out and Smith in, but the Razorbacks are still very confident and don't anticipate taking steps back. Having Alabama and LSU at home this year will play in the Hogs' favor as well.
• The Gators saw improvements on and off the field this spring and coach Will Muschamp is much happier now than he was a year ago. I think Florida is a little high on this list, but an improved offensive line and more confidence in Gainesville could go a long way for the Gators. While Muschamp was happy with the strides made on the field, he was even more pleased with the chemistry of his team. Players are stepping up as leaders and buying into the program more. Muschamp is in charge of a tougher team this fall, but will play his first two SEC games on the road this year.

College Football Live's panel of experts preview Georgia's upcoming season.

David Ching writes : Recruiting is always a boon for Georgia’s perpetual appearance in the preseason top 25, and this year is no different.

Radi Nabulsi writes: After an exhaustive search over several months, Georgia hires longtime Peach State coach/AD Darly Jones as its new director of on-campus recruiting.

Kipp Adams writes : UGA signee John Theus pens his own “Dawg Blawg,” and discusses his excitement for joining the Bulldogs amid a bittersweet last semester of high school.

Recruiting : Georgia’s early interest in DE Davin Bellamy has helped attract offers from more than 25 schools.

Time for some links.

• Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News writes that the late Derrick Thomas was a major snub for the College Football Hall of Fame.
• Missouri dismisses safety Tavon Bolden ... again.
• Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and new athletic director Dave Hart laud new Hall of Famer Phillip Fulmer.
• Alabama coach Nick Saban says wide receiver DeAndrew White is "doing fine" after last month's late-night altercation outside of a Tuscaloosa, Ala., bar.
• Georgia coach Mark Richt talks space for the 2013 class.
• Mike Herndon of the Mobile Press-Register writes that Auburn has a chance to be much better in 2012.
• Florida coach Will Muschamp talks Texas A&M and his quarterback situation.
• Florida defensive tackle Leon Orr was cited for knowingly driving with a suspended license.

DawgNation Roundtable : After Mark Richt vacated the hot seat this past season, some of his fellow SEC coaches are starting to sweat. DawgNation wonders: “Which SEC coach has the most pressure on him going into the 2012 season?”

Kipp Adams writes : With names like Brice Ramsey and Derrick Henry, Georgia either has landed commitments from or is in hot pursuit of some of the top prospects of 2013 in the backfield.

Adams : Georgia CB target Brendan Langley holds steady with his top three: Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

Some Monday linkage for your viewing pleasure:

• Former Alabama linebacker Eryk Anders is making hits in mixed martial arts.
• Former Georgia safety Terreal Bierria begins trial on Monday and is accused of killing his childhood best friend in a bloody fight over drugs.
• The Big Ten's Jim Delany needs to get over his SEC obsession, writes David Climer of The Tennessean.
• College football isn't done yet with realignment, writes Tommy Hicks of The Mobile Press-Register.
• The 2013 signing class for Georgia will be one of the Bulldogs' larger ones, as they have room to back-count some players.
• Mike Strange of The Knoxville News-Sentinel wonders who will be the top-ranked college football coaches in 2022.
• The three Arkansas players that were arrested and charged with felony residential burglary are released from jail on bond.
• Auburn receiver Trovon Reed is arrested and charged with failing to appear in court in his hometown of Thibodaux, La.
• Will Muschamp leads the revival of Florida football.
• Former Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline is trying to make the most of his time learning under Tom Brady.
• What will become of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry when the games end?

We're just one day closer to the college football season, so enjoy some links!

• Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News writes that the SEC will soon get a nice pay bump from TV deals.
• For Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, championships have been the norm.
• A few SEC players make CBSSports.com's Freak List.
• Texas A&M hires a firm to search for new athletic director.
• Kevin Sumlin is one of two coaches that Texas A&M's new athletic director needs to have succeed.
• Georgia coach Mark Richt anticipates a little "vinegar" for Vanderbilt this fall.
• Florida's Tevin Westbrook is moving from defensive end to tight end, and Graham Stewart is headed to UConn.
• Tennessee coach Derek Dooley talks transition for the Vols.

ATHENS, Ga. -- Complacency is always a concern when bringing back a top-rated team or unit. Players can’t hide from the fact that they’re good and everyone around them will make sure they know it and make sure they remember what they did.

Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham doesn’t want his defense, which ranked fifth nationally in 2011, to forget either. But it’s what he doesn’t want his players to forget that has this unit ready to pick up and surpass last year’s success.

“You don’t let guys forget where they came from,” Grantham said. “Don’t let guys forget what got them there and you build from there.”

That’s why Grantham is making sure he gets back to the basics with his players. We’re talking hustling to the ball, right form and playing physical basics. Every year, his plan has always been to go right back to simple fundamentals.

Losing those loses a defense.

“To me, you break it down into five phases and you go back every year and you start over,” Grantham said.

Five phases:

1. Pre-spring workouts
2. Spring practice
3. Summer workouts
4. Fall camp
5. Regular season

Fundamentals 101 comes in right when spring ball starts. Proper footwork is harped on. Correct field placement is set up over and over. The right tackling technique is perfected … and then perfected again.

In order to combat complacency, the same motions run by All-American linebacker -- and sack master -- Jarvis Jones are run by wide-eyed nervous freshmen. The goal is to have the older guys pick things up quickly and then assist the youngsters. Grantham wants his players to get better individually, but then focus on improving the team as a whole from the ground up.

That’s why Grantham thinks his defense was much better in 2011. Fundamentals made that group even more comfortable in Grantham’s 3-4 and helped it evolve as the season progressed. The Bulldogs allowed 277.2 yards per game (51 yards less than 2010), forced 32 turnovers and recorded 100 tackles for loss for minus-439 yards.

“Yeah, we knew our system better, but I thought we were a more mentally and physically tough team and we played defense the way you’re supposed to play it -- physical and aggressive,” Grantham said. “When you’re all on the same page and speaking the same language, those things can happen.”

This spring, players bought right into what Grantham preached. Rising senior linebacker Christian Robinson said no one seemed concerned about being content. He said players looked at what they didn't do last year as a spark for the spring. Players dwelled on the 35 points given up to Boise State, the 45 to South Carolina, the 42 to LSU and the 33 to Michigan State -- all losses.

Even when players felt good, Robinson said coaches directed them to video screens to bring them down a notch.

“We’re not perfect, so when we go in our meeting rooms we watch the tape and there are always things to get better at,” Robinson said.

And if film work doesn’t help, coach Mark Richt can cut into the confidence when needed.

“You’re really not a great defense until you play great and we haven’t done that in 2012,” he said. “We haven’t had a chance to do that yet. There’s an anticipation of having a chance to be pretty good if everybody keeps it together, stays healthy and does their part.”

One humbling thought is that Georgia will be without four key starters suspended early for poor off-field behavior. The secondary takes the biggest hit with All-American safety Bacarri Rambo and cornerbacks Branden Smith and Sanders Commings out. Inside linebacker Alec Ogletree is also suspended.

Grantham and his players agree that while they’re disappointed in the boneheaded decisions made, they aren’t dwelling on the situation. Grantham used it as an opportunity to create better depth by inserting younger players. He’s no stranger to changing lineups, as he had 11 different ones in 14 games in 2011.

He also received a boost when star wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell moved to corner. He should start the season on defense.

Richt hopes this turns into a situation like last year when linebackers Michael Gilliard and Amarlo Herrera stepped up when Robinson and Ogletree were injured. It also gives coaches a chance to cross train players more, something Grantham prides himself on. (Look at safety Shawn Williams playing linebacker last year).

Earlier this spring, Jones proclaimed that Georgia had the nation’s best defense. Time will tell on Jones’ statement, but after going through the spring motions, at least one of his teammates sees where Jones is coming from.

“We have an opportunity to do something special, as a defense and as a team,” Robinson said. “If we go out and do what we know and what we’ve learned, we could be one of the best ever to play at Georgia.”

David Ching writes : Richt says concussions issue could change the sport.

DN Roundtable : This week’s DawgNation Roundtable discussion centers on the outstanding players in the SEC who stand between the Bulldogs and another division title. The question: “Which opposing player are you most excited to see this fall?”

Kipp Adams writes : Four-star D-line prospect Antonio Riles maintains that Florida and Georgia are his top two, and he sports enough polarizing gear to keep up the confusion.

Adams : In demand now more than he thought he would ever be, OL prospect Brandon Kublanow says he'll delay his decision and more thoroughly consider all his options.