ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Tennessee can't seem to keep its receivers healthy, as junior Gerald Jones is the latest to go down.

Jones suffered a high ankle sprain in Saturday's scrimmage and could be out four to six weeks, ESPN The Magazine's Bruce Feldman reports. The Vols are hopeful that he can beat that timetable and get back in time for the UCLA game on Sept. 12 or at least the Florida game on Sept. 19.

Jones led the Vols in receiving last season. They've already lost senior Austin Rogers for the season with a knee injury, while junior Denarius Moore will be out until the middle of September with a foot injury.

It's a good thing Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin was able to pull in Nu'Keese Richardson and Marsalis Teague this first recruiting class, because both are going to have to play early and often in 2009.

Another important component in Tennessee's passing game figures to be Brandon Warren, who played tight end at Florida State before transferring. Warren has trimmed down and moved to receiver and will likely open the season as a starter.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Tennessee is trying to make one final plea on behalf of freshman running back Bryce Brown with the hope of keeping him from missing any games this season.

The NCAA has been investigating his amateur status dating back to his high school days in Wichita, Kan., and Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that the NCAA has handed down its initial ruling.

Tennessee isn't saying for sure what that ruling is, but it sounds like Brown could be suspended for a game or two and have to make restitution for any funds or extra benefits he might have received back in high school as part of his relationship with his adviser, Brian Butler.

Tennessee officials have gone out of their way to clarify that the Vols aren't under investigation. This issue deals with Brown's amateur status and goes back to before Tennessee was even recruiting him.

The whole thing has weighed heavily on Brown and angered Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who feels that Brown is being singled out.

Freshmen have enough distractions just trying to acclimate themselves to practice and college life their first year. But when you start having to answer questions from the NCAA during the middle of camp, it really gets hairy.

Nothing is final in this matter, and Tennessee is still trying to present enough facts and other information to the NCAA that would keep Brown from having to miss any games.

A final verdict should come in the next couple of weeks. The Vols open the season Sept. 5 against Western Kentucky.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

A check of what's making headlines around the SEC:

• Vanderbilt starting defensive end Steven Stone is likely to miss the first four games after breaking his foot in practice.

• Kentucky receiver Randall Cobb misses practice Tuesday to see a back specialist. He hasn't been able to practice this week. 

• Auburn coach Gene Chizik says there will be no meddling into Gus Malzahn's handling of the offense.

• LSU linebackers Perry Riley and Kelvin Sheppard nearly went to Tennessee to play in John Chavis' defense. Now they'll get a chance to play for Chavis at LSU.

• Alabama coach Nick Saban is turning up the heat as the Crimson Tide near the end of preseason camp, writes Cecil Hurt of The Tuscaloosa News.

• Columnist John Adams of The Knoxville News-Sentinel writes that the NCAA's involvement with freshman running back Bryce Brown is just another twist in his circuitous route to Tennessee.

• Replacing Peria Jerry in the middle of that defensive line will be no easy task for Ole Miss, but the talent's in place to do so.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Want proof of how much defensive talent there is in the SEC?

Check out the 2009 Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list, which includes 17 SEC players. The award is presented annually to the nation's best defensive player by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Charlotte Touchdown Club.

Alabama, Florida and Georgia each have three players on the list.

Representing the Crimson Tide were nose guard Terrence Cody, linebacker Rolando McClain and cornerback Javier Arenas. The Gators making the cut were defensive end Carlos Dunlap, linebacker Brandon Spikes and cornerback Joe Haden. The Bulldogs nominated were defensive tackles Geno Atkins and Jeff Owens and linebacker Rennie Curran.

Kentucky had two players -- linebacker Micah Johnson and cornerback Trevard Lindley.

Rounding out the list of SEC representatives were Arkansas defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, South Carolina outside linebacker Eric Norwood, Auburn defensive end Antonio Coleman, Ole Miss defensive end Greg Hardy, Vanderbilt cornerback Myron Lewis and Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

I wondered aloud when Tennessee signed Bryce Brown back in March if he was worth the gamble given the fact that the NCAA was poking around his adviser/handler Brian Butler.

Now we learn that an NCAA representative is in Knoxville talking to Brown as part of an investigation into whether his amateur status has been violated.

I'm not going to say that I told you so.

Rather, I say let's allow this whole thing to play out before any of us jump to conclusions.

Brown was one of several players whom Butler was advising and helping to raise money to visit college campuses when he was in high school, assuming that's what all this is about.

Brown is also hardly the first player to have a middle man, adviser, street agent or whatever you want to call them at his side in recruiting. Check out the basketball recruiting scene. They set up shop at AAU events.

The fact that this is an issue now, two weeks into preseason camp, suggests that another school likely provided the NCAA with some information warranting a trip to Knoxville. It was pretty obvious in reading between the lines of Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin's comments on Tuesday that he feels Brown is being singled out.

As a college coach once told me, it's never a good thing when the NCAA comes to see you.

Tennessee officials remain optimistic that this will all be cleared up and that Brown's eligibility won't be an issue this season. But nobody knows for sure. I don't think the NCAA representative is in town to visit Dollywood.

One thing we do know is that advisers/handlers in recruiting are a huge red flag. For every guy who's genuinely doing it for the good of the kid and simply trying to make sure he makes an informed decision, there are four or five guys with their hand stuck out at every turn.

Let's hope for Brown's sake that it's not the latter with Butler.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Columnist Gary Shelton of The St. Petersburg Times recently spent some time with Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and has a very telling piece on Kiffin.

Kiffin might be getting up there in age, but he still knows his way around a defense and what putting together a good defense entails.

He also seems to be relating just fine to college kids. You gotta love the staged near-fight between Ed Orgeron and Jim Chaney and how Kiffin gigged the players for being "punked."

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

You've spoken, loudly in some cases, and here's some of your input on who's a villain and who's not a villain in the SEC.

Again, it's important to remember that being labeled a villain in some cases can be the highest compliment:

• Michigan a villain for the entire SEC: The Wolverines are 19-5-1 all-time against current members of the SEC. But before Big Ten apologists get too full of themselves, keep in mind that 10 of those victories have come against Vanderbilt.

• Phillip Fulmer a villain at Alabama: This one is a no-brainer. The Alabama fans will never forgive Fulmer for "ratting out" the Crimson Tide to NCAA investigators. He wasn't too kind to them on the field, either, compiling a 11-5 record against the Tide.

• Eric Ramsey a villain at Auburn: It's doubtful Ramsey has spent much time on the Plains lately. His secretly recorded tapes brought down Pat Dye and landed Auburn on NCAA probation. A starting defensive back at Auburn in 1989 and 1990, Ramsey wore a bullet-proof vest when he went through graduation ceremonies on campus.

• Bobby Lowder and the board of trustees villains at Auburn: Some of the Auburn fans think Lowder has long had too much power and that the board has meddled too much in Auburn athletic affairs. There was this one plane trip that comes to mind.

• Charley Pell a villain at Florida: Pell, who died in 2001, built Florida into a power in the 1980s, but was also forced to resign three games into the 1984 season after widespread cheating landed the Gators on NCAA probation, rocking the program for the rest of that decade. Florida was stripped of its 1984 SEC championship because of the violations.

• Vince Dooley a villain at Florida: Dooley, according to Florida fans, was one of the ones who led the charge to have the Gators stripped of their 1984 SEC championship. Dooley was also 17-7-1 against Florida.  

• The Cocktail Party a villain at Georgia: The Gators have owned the Bulldogs the last two decades and won 16 of the last 19 meetings in the series. Georgia has only won four times since Dooley retired following the 1988 season. 

• Jan Kemp a villain at Georgia: Kemp, who died in 2008, blew the whistle on Georgia back in the late 1970s and said football players were being pushed through the system there just to remain eligible. She was fired from her position as an English professor, but sued the university and won her job back along with a $1 million settlement.

• Linda Bensel-Meyers a villain at Tennessee: She was Tennessee's version of Kemp, although more recent. Bensel-Meyers took on the Vols' football program right after the national title in 1998 and said tutors were doing the football players' work for them.

• Houston Nutt a villain at LSU: He's won his last two against LSU and also bumped the Tigers out of the 2006 SEC Championship Game. Nutt's final game at Arkansas, a 50-48 three-overtime victory over LSU in the 2007 regular season finale at Tiger Stadium, nearly cost the Tigers a chance to play for the national title that year.

• Jackie Sherrill a villain at Ole Miss: He refused to refer to them as "Ole Miss," a real point of contention with the Ole Miss people. Instead, Sherrill always called them "Mississippi."

• Charles Woodson a villain at Tennessee: Rewind to the 1997 Heisman Trophy race. The Vols' beloved Peyton Manning was beaten out for college football's top individual honor by the first and only defensive player to win the award.

• Rick Loumiet a villain at Vanderbilt: Loumiet was the back judge who called the excessive celebration penalty on Vanderbilt receiver Earl Bennett following his touchdown catch in the 2005 game against Florida at the Swamp. The Commodores had just pulled within a point with 54 seconds remaining, and coach Bobby Johnson was planning to go for the two-point conversion and the win. But inexplicably, Loumiet threw the flag when all Bennett did was a slight shimmy after catching the ball and then chest-bumping a teammate. The Gators would go on to win 49-42 in overtime, and the bitter loss kept the Commodores from going to a bowl game during Jay Cutler's senior season.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Some SEC linkage for your reading enjoyment:

• LSU defensive end Pep Levingston isn't trying to be the next Tyson Jackson. He's just trying to be himself.

• The attorney for Mississippi State running back Anthony Dixon has entered a guilty plea on his behalf for his DUI charge. Coach Dan Mullen has been mum on what Dixon's punishment will be.

• Suspended Florida linebacker Dustin Doe is expected to rejoin the team this fall.

• After forcing just 16 turnovers last season, Georgia's defense vows to get more takeaways in 2009.

• Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer plans to be back on the "big stage" next season.

• South Carolina outside linebacker Eric Norwood could miss a week with a sprained wrist, but the injury isn't believed to be serious.

• Kentucky true freshman Larry Warford is pushing for playing time at one of the offensive guard spots this season.

• Paul Gattis of The Huntsville Times writes that the SEC nonconference schedules are an absolute joke.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

The readers of the SEC blog are some of the most astute football fans in America.

If you don't believe so, just ask them.

Matt from Atlanta makes a great point about Alabama coach Nick Saban.

In delving deeper into this trend that has plagued the Crimson Tide since 1996 of following up a 10-win or better season with a losing season, Matt points out that Saban has never won 10 or more games in back-to-back seasons in his head coaching career.

That's right. Never.

As good as Saban has been in his 13 years as a head coach, he's never been able to put together back-to-back seasons where he's won at least 10 games.

Of course, the irony here is that one of his sticking points is being able to sustain success.

Saban, a two-time national coach of the year, is one of the most successful coaches out there, and he's rejuvenated Alabama's program in just two years.

Still, it is surprising that he hasn't had two consecutive seasons where he's won big. Part of that is that he hasn't stayed anywhere long enough to reel off three or four 10-win-plus seasons in a row.

At LSU, he was faced with a major rebuilding job when he arrived there, and in five seasons at Michigan State, he only won more than seven games one time.

This topic got me to thinking about how many current and recent coaches in the SEC have actually won 10 or more games in consecutive seasons.

Here's a look:

• Mark Richt has won 10 or more in six of his eight seasons at Georgia. He did it four years in a row from 2002-05 and has also won 10 or more in each of his past two seasons.
• Les Miles, taking over for Saban after he went to the NFL, did it three straight years at LSU from 2005-07.
• Urban Meyer did it at Utah when he won 10 in 2003 and 12 in 2004, but he's yet to do it at Florida in four seasons.
• Steve Spurrier won 10 or more games for six straight seasons at Florida from 1993-98 and then did it again in 2000 and 2001. He's yet to win more than eight games at South Carolina.
• Bobby Petrino, entering his second season at Arkansas, never did it at Louisville, although he won 11 or more in two of his four seasons there.
• Houston Nutt, entering his second season at Ole Miss, only won 10 or more games once during his 10 seasons at Arkansas.
• Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, ousted following last season, won 10 or more games for four straight seasons from 1995-98. He also did it in 2003 and 2004.
• Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who parted ways with the Tigers following last season, never did it. He only won 10 or more games twice in his 10 seasons at Auburn.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Like nearly everybody else in the SEC with the exception of Florida and Ole Miss, Tennessee is faced with some uncertainty at the quarterback position.

The Vols have a little more than two weeks remaining until their first game, and coach Lane Kiffin still can't tell you who his quarterback will be.

At least, not publicly.

He said following Monday's practice that the competition between Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens was "extremely close" and he wasn't ready to name a starter.

Few coaches go into a season wanting to play two quarterbacks. But if nobody has won the job to this point and they're genuinely that close, I would imagine the Vols will play both guys this season.

There's also the theory that with Crompton being a fifth-year senior that Stephens may get the benefit of the doubt since he's also going to be around for 2010. If you've looked at Tennessee's quarterback situation lately for the future, it's not real pretty.

Crompton has looked more comfortable in this offense and just sounds the part after struggling to gain any confidence in what the Vols were doing last season under offensive coordinator Dave Clawson.

But I still think the Vols are going to need both quarterbacks this season. Kiffin knows that as well as anyone, which is why he's making sure both Crompton and Stephens are as ready to go both physically and mentally as they possibly can be.

One of the most telling signs of where this offense is and where the quarterbacks are is that Kiffin was still in the offensive huddle during Saturday's scrimmage. He wasn't in there quite as much Monday in practice, but it's reaching that point where you have to turn everybody loose.

I don't think Kiffin is interested in getting into a quarterback carousel again this season, but it's looking more and more like both guys may play.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Cecil Hurt, who's covered Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News longer than any of the players on this team have been alive, pointed out an alarming trend for the Crimson Tide in one of his recent columns.

Since 1996, every time Alabama has won at least 10 games in a season, it follows it up with a losing season.

Yes, the Crimson Tide won at least 10 last season (12 to be exact), which means they're due for another letdown.

Now I know what you're muttering there at the Capstone: It ain't happening this year. Not with this coach, this talent and this team.

But as Hurt points out, nobody saw it happening in 1997 or 2000, either. The Tide were coming off an SEC championship in 1999, which remains the last one they've won.

The difference now, of course, is Nick Saban's hold on the program. That and the way he's recruited.

And based on the time I spent around the program last week, it's pretty obvious that this is a mentally strong bunch. I can't see too much of what's happened in the past (good or bad) or what's happened off the field affecting this team.

The best teaching tool Saban has along those lines is last season's Sugar Bowl.

Still, the rollercoaster ride that Alabama has been on since 1996 is a reminder to everybody that there are no sure things in this league. The Crimson Tide wouldn't be the first team to go from a top 10 team in the preseason to average (or even worse) by the end of the season.
And that's just this decade. Consider:

• Last season, LSU was coming off a national championship and ranked No. 6 nationally in the preseason. But the Tigers underachieved on defense and finished out of the polls with an 8-5 record.
• Also last season, Georgia was No. 1 in virtually every preseason poll, but wound up losing its three most important games -- Alabama, Florida and Georgia Tech -- and didn't even make it to the SEC championship game.
• In 2005, Tennessee opened the season ranked No. 3 nationally, but bumbled its way offensively to a 5-6 season, which at the time was the Vols' first losing season in 17 years.
• In 2003, Auburn opened the season ranked No. 6 nationally, but lost its first two games to Southern California and Georgia Tech and finished with an 8-5 record.
• In 2002, Tennessee opened the season ranked No. 4 nationally. But the Vols were drilled at home by Florida the third week of the season and were out of the Eastern Division race by the second week of October. The result was a ho-hum 8-5 finish, including an embarrassing 30-3 loss to Maryland in the Peach Bowl.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

We've examined the villains through the eyes of each team in the SEC. How about the Top 5 villains in all of college football right now? Again, it's important to remember that sometimes the best way to attain villain status is to be exceptionally good at what you do. Here's my list:

1. Notre Dame -- The self-proclaimed greatest and most storied college football program of all-time is pretty mediocre right now (and has been for a while) for a crowd with such a high opinion of itself.

2. Barack Obama -- Granted, the BCS is a flawed system to determine college football's national champion, but the President might be better served to stick to more important matters like, say ... national security.

3. Tim Tebow -- They love him in Florida. And why not? He's the perfect player and a perfect role model. But everywhere else, they're sick of hearing about him and even sicker about him beating up on their teams.

4. Lane Kiffin -- Has there ever been a coach in any sport to stir it up more, say more controversial things or generate more ill will among his future opponents before he even coached in his first game?

5. Jimmy Sexton -- All the coaches he represents -- Nick Saban, Butch Davis, Steve Spurrier, Houston Nutt and Frank Beamer -- swear by him. But Sexton is a hard-nosed negotiator, and he's gotten the best of a few athletic directors over the years.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

A few SEC links for your lunch hour consumption:

• Arkansas' Michael Smith is following in his father's footsteps. Back in the 1980s, Michael Smith Sr. was dubbed "Mr. Excitement" at Florida A&M.

• Chris Todd moves in as Auburn's starting quarterback, and Kodi Burns moves to receiver.

• Former Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin couldn't be prouder of Todd's reslience, writes Tony Barnhart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

• Challenged by Lane Kiffin and the new Tennessee staff, senior center Josh McNeil has finally bought into the program.

• There's another twist in the legal saga of Ole Miss freshman Tig Barksdale. The woman who accused him of stealing her car was convicted of false reporting of a crime.

• It looks like Vanderbilt will have its own version of the Wildcat package this season. The Commodores used it several times during Thursday's scrimmage, and a couple of the freshman running backs made big plays.

• LSU coach Les Miles is considering closing his practices completely to the media because of all the injury information that's getting out.

• Despite three surgeries, linebacker Brandon Thurmond is determined to see it through at Kentucky.

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Remember all the controversy caused by the coaches' preseason All-SEC team?

The initial ballot Steve Spurrier turned in didn't include Tim Tebow as the first-team quarterback. As it turns out, Spurrier didn't even fill out the ballot, later apologized for not having Tebow on the first team and changed his vote.

I don't know if my preseason All-SEC team will create that kind of stir, but here goes:

OFFENSE

QB Tim Tebow, Florida
RB Charles Scott, LSU
RB Michael Smith, Arkansas
WR Julio Jones, Alabama
WR A.J. Green, Georgia
TE D.J. Williams, Arkansas
OL Ciron Black, LSU
OL Mike Johnson, Alabama
OL John Jerry, Ole Miss
OL Clint Boling, Georgia
C Maurkice Pouncey, Florida

DEFENSE

DL Greg Hardy, Ole Miss
DL Terrence Cody, Alabama
DL Antonio Coleman, Auburn
DL Carlos Dunlap, Florida
LB Rolando McClain, Alabama
LB Brandon Spikes, Florida
LB Eric Norwood, South Carolina
CB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky
CB Joe Haden, Florida
S Eric Berry, Tennessee
S Chad Jones, LSU

SPECIALISTS

PK Joshua Shene, Ole Miss
P Chas Henry, Florida
RS Brandon James, Florida

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Tennessee received word Thursday that one of its key signees, defensive tackle Marlon Walls, had been certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse and was cleared to begin practice.

Walls spent last season at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy and has bulked up to 290 pounds after being recruited as a linebacker out of high school. The Vols need more depth at tackle, and even though Walls has missed the first part of preseason camp, he gives them another big, athletic body in there.

Senior Dan Williams should be one of the better interior defensive linemen in the league. But after him, it gets dicey for the Vols inside. Senior Wes Brown has battled persistent knee problems, while Rae Sykes and Montori Hughes will both be making their SEC debuts this season along with Walls.

Sykes, a junior college newcomer, recently made the move from end to tackle.