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• LSU cornerback Ronnie Vinson leaves LSU for Southeastern Louisiana.
• Raises are coming for Georgia's coaches.
• Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin says Florida coach Will Muschamp needs to worry about his own team before making comments about College Station, Texas.
• The recent pledge from the Fayetteville, Ark., trio has the Razorbacks right were they should be.
• South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney reflects on his first year with the Gamecocks.
• Athlon Sports wonders if Georgia can win the SEC title in 2012.
• Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News writes that the ACC once dreamed of challenging the SEC.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Urban Meyer must have misremembered his stance on a college football playoff.

Leaving one's job can be pretty awkward. For college football coaches, it usually is. Rarely do we see an amiable mutual parting in these situations.

As we continue to take a look at the coaches we love to hate this week, we're looking at SEC coaches who have left their respective schools in a lurch.

We already discussed Bobby Petrino's more than awkward departure at Arkansas, so we're going with three other recent departures that happened unexpectedly.

Let the bad memories return:

Lane Kiffin, Tennessee: He left for USC in 2010 after one season at Tennessee. Kiffin replaced longtime Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer in 2009 and was immediately confrontational with other SEC coaches, and that sort of arrogance was something that had to be a little attractive to Tennessee's fan base. However, his lack of production on the field made his pompous attitude laughable. Through all the chirping, he delivered a 7-6 season, which might go down as the most celebrated 7-6 season in SEC history. He talked so much about all the good things he'd do at Tennessee, but whined about not having enough talent. Then he built up his first signing class, but it eventually turned into nothing more than a paper tiger. Kiffin suddenly left Tennessee for USC just three weeks before national signing day in 2010. During his uncomfortable news conference, in which he announced his departure, Tennessee fans showed up in droves to wish him a not-so-safe trip to Cali. Kiffin left under the protection of police and left Tennessee with an NCAA cloud hanging over its head, which got the school a visit from the NCAA infractions committee. Kiffin and his staff's recruiting practices prompted an investigation that resulted in two years of probation for Tennessee. The NCAA found that Kiffin and his staff had committed 12 secondary violations, but Kiffin wasn't penalized. Derek Dooley took over for Kiffin in 2010 and has dealt with a laundry list of player and attrition issues. He has gone 11-14 in his two years.

Urban Meyer, Florida: He announced that he'd be stepping away from coaching in 2010, but is now coaching at Ohio State. There was no question that Meyer was one of the best coaches to swing through Gainesville. During his six-year tenure, he won two national championships and took the Gators to three SEC championship games. But it was the way he left that sent Gator Nation into a frenzy. First, he announced his retirement for health reasons a couple of weeks after the loss to Alabama in the 2009 SEC championship game. His retirement barely lasted 24 hours, but Meyer and Florida were never the same. The 2010 season was a major step back, as Florida went 8-5, and Meyer stepped away again after the regular season concluded. Meyer said he was taking time off because of his health and his desire to spend more time with his family. Then, he took over at Ohio State (one of his dream jobs) for the fired Jim Tressel. But it wasn't just leaving Florida for a Big Ten school barely a year later that upset Florida fans. It was the fact that he left new coach Will Muschamp with what Meyer himself deemed a broken program. Muschamp dealt with discipline and attrition issues during his first season, in which he went 7-6. While Meyer was the king of winning the recruiting ranking game, he too often missed on character.

Tommy Tuberville, Ole Miss: He left Ole Miss after the 1998 season for Auburn. Tuberville took over a struggling Ole Miss program in 1995 and helped the Rebels to three winning seasons in four years. But four years wasn't what the Ole Miss faithful expected to get from Tuberville; he made it seem that he would be there for much longer when he uttered those now-infamous words: "They’ll have to carry me out of here in a pine box." That pine box apparently had to be filled with money, as just a couple days after he emphatically stated that he wanted to stay in Oxford and be the Rebels' coach, he took a pay raise that doubled his salary and headed off to Auburn. Soon after Tuberville left without so much as telling his players, Ole Miss fans donned T-shirts inspired by the movie "Liar, Liar" with Tuberville's face on them instead of Jim Carrey's. Tuberville went 7-3 against his old team during his time at Auburn. David Cutcliffe, Tuberville's replacement, guided Ole Miss to five winning seasons in his six years, including a 10-win season that ended with a Cotton Bowl victory.

When you start selecting coaching villains, so much of it gets back to who's doing the selecting.

For instance, in the realm of the Alabama Football Nation, good luck in finding somebody who doesn't revere Nick Saban. Of course, the folks in and around the 334 area code in that state probably haven't spent a lot of time posing for pictures with Saban's statue at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Steve Spurrier is one of the most refreshing and funny figures in all of college football. That is, unless your team has been on the wrong end of one of his zingers after he's beaten you a bunch of times in a row.

Something says Urban Meyer isn't as popular these days in Florida as he was in 2008 when he was putting the finishing touches on the Gators' second national championship in three years.

And would anybody in the SEC stop to lend a hand to Lane Kiffin if he were broken down on the side of the road? Alshon Jeffery might pump his gas for him, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Now it's on you, the fans, to tell us via our SportsNation poll who gets the top prize as the SEC's most hated coach -- past or present.

We've come up with five choices.

We'll review the results later this week.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- When Florida defensive tackle Leon Orr violated the terms of his deferred prosecution agreement for his misdemeanor marijuana possession charge by being cited for knowingly driving with a suspended license on Monday, he became the ninth Florida player arrested and the 11th overall arrest during Will Muschamp's short coaching tenure.

Though Orr wasn't taken into custody, his citation did count as an official arrest.

With that, there's a growing perception that Florida has an off-field discipline problem. The numbers are hard to ignore, but Muschamp isn't convinced there's a problem. He acknowledges the run-ins that have taken place since he officially took over for Urban Meyer in January of 2011, but insists that perception isn't his reality.

While he wouldn't comment on Orr's situation, he did say that increased media outlets have placed the microscope closer to college athletes.

"When you're dealing with young people, it's an ongoing educational process, especially in this day and age," Muschamp told ESPN.com shortly before he greeted the Atlanta Gator Club at The Metropolitan Club in Alpharetta Wednesday. "I'm not taking a shot at anyone in the media. It's your job to report and more things are being reported now than 15, 12, eight, five years ago. There's more social media outlets now where there's more information. There's a lot of misinformation out there, too."

Of the 11 arrests, only three have occurred during this calendar year, while five occurred during Muschamp's first spring.

You can see a summary of the arrests here.

The overall number is high for less than two years, but it's obvious the off-field incidents have steadily decreased and Muschamp said there's "no question" the discipline is better now than it was when he first arrived ... and he's right.

It hasn't been an overnight transformation, but the improvement is there. Muschamp took over a team that experienced 32 arrests during Meyer's six-year tenure and feels things are turning around. He especially sees it in the fact that during his first five months on the job he had five arrests on his hands. Since September, he's had three.

"At the end of the day, our players understand that there are consequences for their actions," Muschamp said. "They understand there's a certain accountability within the program. It's not a right to play at Florida, it's a privilege."

Though not all punishments have been made public, action has been taken by Muschamp. Star cornerback Janoris Jenkins was dismissed after his two marijuana-related arrests, while former linebacker Dee Finley didn't play against Tennessee last year following his arrest for driving with a suspended license and resisting arrest without violence. He later transferred to North Alabama last October.

Tight end A.C. Leonard, who was arrested for battery in February, was suspended for part of spring and Muschamp has said there will be further suspension this fall, meaning he could miss multiple games.

Three of the nine players arrested are no longer with the program.

With spring practice over with, Muschamp said the concerns of the offseason are on his mind. Players have less strict class schedules and more time on their hands. More time away from the coaches can be a dangerous time for programs.

Muschamp is putting the team in the hands of the players and strength coach Jeff Dillman. Muschamp said he isn't relying on a select group of players to lead the team, but expects everyone to hold each other accountable for workouts, off-field behavior and classroom work ethic. Muschamp said reports from Dillman have been positive.

Muschamp also said off-field issues haven't affected recruiting. He said conversations concerning that have gone over well with recruits and their parents and he's been able to promote Florida and its players well.

"We've got the right guys in our locker room," he said. "Are they all deacons in the church? No, but we've got a good locker room. I know one thing: My two young boys love being in the locker room."

We all know the truth behind spring games. We know they aren't really games. We know that they are more of a dog and pony show.

Fans might say they're interested in seeing their respective defenses play well, but it's obvious that offense wins over fans. And there's nothing wrong with that. A 6-3 spring game is a real yawner. The last glorified practice/scrimmage of the spring should be about entertainment, not progress!

Well, the SEC announced the spring game totals from this year and it sounds like fans are still pretty interested in checking out these "games," as a total of 446,752 fans showed up for them this spring. That's an average of 31,989 a game.

Even with two more teams, the SEC still didn't break its record of 455,232 (37,936 average) set in 2009. Still, fans aren't really tiring of spring games.

While Alabama's numbers were down from last year's record of 92,310, the Crimson Tide led the SEC with 78,526 making it out for the Golden Flake A-Day Spring Game. That number was good enough for the fifth-largest in school history. Only Ohio State, which now has Urban Meyer at the helm, had more people this spring, with a nation-best 81,112.

The most impressive number had to be at Arkansas, though. Days after the whole Bobby Petrino scandal exploded, Razorback Nation came out in full force with a record crowd of 45,250. That ranked second in the SEC and fifth nationally. The Hog faithful had every reason to sit at home after the embarrassment its former coach brought to the program, but that didn't happen. Fans didn't penalize the players for a coach's follies, and for that, we salute you.

Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M all dipped in attendance, while Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt saw improvement.

Here's a look at each SEC team's spring game attendance this year:

• Alabama: 78,526
• Arkansas: 45,250
• Auburn: 43,427
• Florida: 38,100
• Georgia: 44,117
• Kentucky: 4,500
• LSU: 33,000
• Ole Miss: 25,000
• Mississippi State: 22,604
• Missouri: 18,614
• South Carolina: 34,513
• Tennessee: 35,421
• Texas A&M: 15,000
• Vanderbilt: 8,500

The Sports Business Journal Daily also came out with a list of spring game attendance numbers around the country. Feel free to stack up SEC teams with the rest of those in college football.

There was a lot of coaching movement in the SEC last year, but the league entered the 2011 season with just two new head coaches in Florida's Will Muschamp and Vanderbilt's James Franklin.

Both won six games during the regular season, while Muschamp's Gators won their bowl game. Franklin's 6-7 debut was considered far more successful than Muschamp's 7-6 year because of both programs' history and the talent difference.

What's in store for both coaches in 2012? Well, ESPN colleague Ryan McGee took a look at 10 second-year coaches and both Franklin and Muschamp made his list. McGee graded their debuts, looked at needs for 2012 and gave a little analysis. Take a look:

FRANKLIN

Record: 6-7
Grade: B
2012 needs: Offensive traction, kicking game

Franklin attacked his first two national signing days with such vigor he became a Vandy YouTube sensation. He also went after his SEC rivals, including Tennessee, and his players on the sidelines.

Keep in mind, this is Vanderbilt. The Commodores aren't used to that kind of intensity, just as they aren't used to going to bowl games, which the Commodores did for just the second time since 1982 and the fifth time ever.

The biggest immediate needs are offensive consistency and kicking it between the uprights. Solving the first problem comes down to two fixes: A) Getting quarterback Jordan Rodgers (Aaron's little brother) to be more patient and complete more passes, and B) Finding help for senior tailback Zac Stacy, who ran for 1,193 yards one year ago but was visibly gassed late in games.

MUSCHAMP

Record: 7-6
Grade: D
2012 needs: Offensive leadership, turnovers

Here's the thing about screaming and yelling and slobbering all over everyone on your sideline, especially the refs. It's kind of like Crash Davis' explanation of fungus on one's shower shoes. If you win, people think such rants are just part of your colorful personality. If you fail to beat an FBS team with a winning record and spend all season flirting with your school's first losing season since 1979, however, it comes off as a little thin.

There's no doubt that injuries on offense hurt, but it's not as if the Gators' roster was suddenly barren of athletes. Muschamp, heralded as a defensive guru, watched his D give up 133 rushing yards per game, ranked 40th nationally.

Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has departed for Kansas. That might not be a bad thing. Neither is the number of seniors who have departed -- only 11. But a roster packed with youth needs to buy into what the coach is selling. If they don't soon, The Swamp will get ugly in a hurry.

My thoughts:

• What Franklin did in 2011 was very impressive, but it wasn't good enough for him. He wasn't happy with the close losses or the bowl loss. He wasn't happy with the losing record. He has made that perfectly clear this spring and is looking for Vandy to take the next step right now. There are some veteran leaders that aren't around anymore, but Franklin recently said that he's found a few players on both sides of the ball who stepped up more as leaders this spring. The expectations are going to be higher and teams won't overlook the Commodores this fall.
• Making sure Stacy has a solid, consistent running partner will be key for Vandy's offense. I think you'll see Warren Norman take that role. Remember, he was once Vandy's top running back until he was injured. The coaches feel he'll be 100 percent this fall and if he plays like he did as a freshman, he'll add another talented offensive weapon for the Commodores.
• Franklin has a lot of support from Vandy's program and community. A dip in Year 2 won't totally hurt him, but if he wants to keep the momentum going, making another bowl is the goal. He's recruited well, but prospects want to continue to see progress. A sub-par season might turn recruits off.
• Muschamp got sort of a mulligan in-house when Urban Meyer told bigwigs at Florida that he left the Gators' new coach a "broken" program. But that won't help him in Year 2. Spring went much better for the coaching staff and players, as more guys bought in. That might be more important than players improving on technique at this point in Gainesville. The Gators had major discipline issues when Muschamp first arrived and it took some time for those issues to be squashed.
• Florida has to find out who is going to be the guy at quarterback, but what might be more important is how the offensive line performs and how downhill the running game can be. Florida's line was below average for most of last season, making it tough for anything to happen on offense. Though it was just 15 practices, Florida's line looked better, Muschamp said, because guys were more mature and tougher.
• Muschamp says he's happier with this team and sees a ton of improvement. However, no 2011 mulligan will help another losing record in conference play.

The sixth annual Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge golf tournament is being played today at Reynolds Plantation outside Atlanta, and five SEC head coaches are part of the event.

The tournament consists of a 16-team field of NCAA head coaches and celebrity alumni. They compete in a two-man scramble format over 18 holes, vying for a first-place prize of $125,000 in scholarship funds. All participating teams will receive a portion of the $520,000 total scholarship purse.

The five SEC coaches playing are Alabama's Nick Saban, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier and Tennessee's Derek Dooley. Spurrier and his playing partner, former South Carolina and Green Bay Packers star receiver Sterling Sharpe, won the event in 2008 and 2009. The defending champions are Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson and former Georgia Tech basketball star Jon Barry.

This year, the Ole Miss and Mississippi State teams are paired together, which makes you wonder if there will be many "school up north" references from Mullen.

Also, the North Carolina State and Tennessee teams are paired together. The Wolfpack and Vols will meet again in the 2012 football season opener in Atlanta.

Ohio State's Urban Meyer is the lone coach from outside the ACC or SEC playing. His team is paired with Georgia Tech. If the Chick-fil-A Bowl organizers really wanted to be creative, they would have put Meyer and Spurrier in the same pairing. Now, that would have been pure entertainment.

The tournament is being taped by ESPN and will be broadcast in August.

Here's a look at the pairings:

GROUP ONE	COACH/CELEBRITY
Tennessee	Derek Dooley / Stanley Morgan
NC State	Tom O'Brien / Tom Gugliotta
GROUP TWO
Alabama	Nick Saban / Johnny Musso
Virginia Tech ('07 champions)	Frank Beamer / Dell Curry
GROUP THREE
Florida State ('10 Champions)	Jimbo Fisher / Terrell Buckley
Miami	Al Golden / Gino Torretta
GROUP FOUR
Maryland	Randy Edsall / Stan Gelbaugh
Virginia	Mike London / Jim Dombrowski
GROUP FIVE
Wake Forest	Jim Grobe / Riley Skinner
Clemson	Dabo Swinney / Steve Fuller
GROUP SIX
Georgia Tech ('11 Champions)	Paul Johnson / Jon Barry
Ohio State	Urban Meyer / Jeff Logan
GROUP SEVEN
North Carolina	Larry Fedora / Roy Williams
South Carolina ('08, '09 Champions)	Steve Spurrier / Sterling Sharpe
GROUP EIGHT
Mississippi State	Dan Mullen / Fred McCrary
Mississippi	Hugh Freeze / Sean Tuohy

Urban Meyer is long gone from Florida, but he’s sure not forgotten.

We were reminded of that earlier this month thanks to Matt Hayes’ piece in The Sporting News, a piece that painted the end of Meyer’s otherwise ultra-successful tenure at Florida as pure bedlam with select players doing pretty much as they pleased and the program spiraling downward as a result.

Meyer has since defended his time at Florida, which in fairness, included a pair of BCS national championships.

But it’s the mess he left for Will Muschamp to clean up that hasn’t won him a lot of fans in the Sunshine State, be it fans, some former players, media members or Florida administrators.

In short, most people simply didn’t realize how “broken” that program really was when Meyer stepped aside following the 2010 season. Remember, too, that the term “broken” was the term Meyer himself used.

Here’s the other thing: There hasn’t been an outpouring of Florida administrators coming forward and disputing the things alleged in Hayes’ piece.

Even former running back Chris Rainey wasn’t exactly going to bat for Meyer in a recent interview, and it was Meyer who gave Rainey a second chance in 2010 following Rainey’s infamous “time to die” text to a woman he’d been dating.

The columnists in the state of Florida haven’t held back, either.

Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel wrote last week that Meyer was more “duplicitous and dishonest” than Bianchi ever thought possible. Bianchi went on to write that Meyer wasn’t just “Urban Liar,” but that he was also “Urban Hypocrite.”

And then Tuesday, Bianchi’s colleague at The Orlando Sentinel, George Diaz, lowered the boom.

Among other things, Diaz wrote that Steve Spurrier would always be the king of Florida football and that Meyer is a “bit like the emperor with no clothes.”

Pat Dooley, the longtime columnist with The Gainesville Sun, weighed in on all the uproar as well. It’s worth noting that Dooley had an excellent relationship with Meyer, probably better than any media member in the state of Florida.

Nonetheless, that didn’t keep Dooley from sharing this little nugget in his column last week:

"I know Muschamp felt he inherited a mess when he took over and it has taken him a year to get it headed back in the right direction. All you need to know about players' sense of entitlement was the meeting between Muschamp and Janoris Jenkins after multiple arrests and failed drug tests by the cornerback. When Muschamp told Jenkins he would have to be suspended, Jenkins replied, “Do you know who you're talking to?” And that was the end of his career at UF."

If you'd just landed from Mars and didn't have cable TV there, you'd think this Meyer fellow was the worst thing to ever happen to Florida football.

The truth is that he won two national championships in a span of three years, and when you're winning at that level, even the most hardened skeptics and cynics tend to lose their peripheral vision. They see what's right in front of them, as in crystal footballs starting to fill up the trophy case.

It happens among fans, media, administrators, all of us.

It's obvious now that Meyer's handle on the program was slipping away from him when he quit for good in 2010. Perhaps he sensed it the year before when he tried to quit the first time following his health scare.

Now that he's at Ohio State, Meyer has a chance to write a new legacy there.

I'd be shocked if he didn't win big. Nobody's ever accused him of not being able to coach football.

It's his tendency to preach one thing and practice another, at least in the eyes of more than a few Floridians, that he might want to work on.

One of Alabama's players' might have to find a real offseason job this year because any leftover scholarship money he has might be going back to the university.

Well, probably not, but it would be pretty funny if coach Nick Saban tortured him with the thought. After all, the father of a current player is responsibly for $30,000 worth of damage after accidentally knocking over and shattering the Coaches' Trophy from the 2011 Allstate BCS National Championship Game Saturday afternoon.

Thank goodness for insurance policies.

The player's father's foot got caught on a rug that sits beneath the trophy display. One false move sent the Waterford crystal trophy, which was on display in the Mal Moore Athletic Facility halls, tumbling toward the floor.

No word on whose father did the expensive damage.

This isn't the first time a BCS trophy fell at the hands of an onlooker. Back in 2008, Florida's 2006 BCS National Championship trophy was knocked over and shattered outside of Urban Meyer's office by then-recruit Orson Charles.

Charles apologized for his clumsiness, but eventually signed with Georgia, not Florida, so Meyer never had the chance to really, really dig at Charles.

That won't be the case for this Alabama player. Saban will be able to have all the fun he wants with the culprit's son. If I'm Saban, I milk this accident for all it's worth. And $30,000 isn't chump change.

Making the rounds in the SEC:

• Urban Meyer preaches discipline, but practices dishonesty, writes Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel.
• Ole Miss' quarterback battle is down to Bo Wallace and Barry Brunetti.
• Auburn's receivers are learning a new game with offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler.
• Mike Herndon of The Mobile Press-Register writes that the case for firing Bobby Petrino was open and shut.
• Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long has had this task before.
• There's no hesitation this spring for Tennessee running back Marlin Lane.
• Jalston Fowler adds toughness to Alabama's running game.
• Vanderbilt's Warren Norman participates in his first full practice this spring.
• Texas A&M's Steven Terrell has been a leader this spring in the Aggies' secondary.
• Mississippi State takes a look at some different offensive line combinations.
• Georgia's Marc Deas is glad he decided to stay.

Matt Hayes of The Sporting News has an extensive piece on Urban Meyer leaving what Meyer himself once described as a "broken" program at Florida.

Quoting sources and former players, Hayes paints a picture of a program that had a serious drug problem and one that had a different set of rules for star players.

Former Florida safety Bryan Thomas told Hayes, "The program was out of control."

Meyer, now the Ohio State coach, reportedly told top receiver prospect Stefon Diggs during the recent recruiting cycle that Meyer wouldn't allow his son to go to Florida because of significant character issues in the locker room. Diggs was considering Florida, Maryland and Ohio State at the time and wound up choosing Maryland.

Meyer denies that he ever painted Florida in a bad light to Diggs or his family.

Either way, it's not a pretty picture that Hayes paints in his piece, which was the culmination of a three-month Sporting News investigation.

One former player told Hayes, "Over the last two years (Meyer) was there, the players had taken complete control of the team."

Hayes' investigation uncovered what was called a "Circle of Trust," where select players were said to be given preferential treatment and not punished the same as others, which rocked team chemistry.

For instance, Hayes writes that former receiver Percy Harvin physically attacked then receivers coach Billy Gonzales during the 2008 season and threw him to the ground and had to be pulled off of Gonzales by other coaches. Sources told Hayes that Harvin was never disciplined. Meyer said he'd never heard of a "Circle of Trust."

Also, to open the 2008 season -- the Gators' second national championship season under Meyer -- he said publicly that Brandon Spikes, Aaron Hernandez and Harvin all missed the opener because of injuries, but sources told Hayes that they were suspended and missed the game after testing positive for marijuana.

Current Florida coach Will Muschamp declined to be interviewed for Hayes' story. But it was obvious when Muschamp took over the program following the 2010 season that he had some major disinfecting to do. He dismissed his best player, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, following Jenkins' second drug-related arrest, and Jenkins later told The Orlando Sentinel that if Meyer were still the coach at Florida that he'd still be playing.

So even though Muschamp inherited some talent from the Meyer regime (although not nearly as much as some of the recruiting rankings would suggest), he also inherited some serious headaches, which probably explains as well as anything why the Gators in the past two seasons have lost 11 games, gone 0-9 against nationally ranked teams and haven't beaten an SEC team that finished the season with a winning record.

Florida is looking to revamp its offense in 2012, but the quarterback spot has the biggest hole to fill:

OUT: Quarterback John Brantley: Brantley had a rough last two years in Gainesville. He couldn't effectively run the spread offense in 2010, and while he improved under Charlie Weis, the middle part of his senior season was taken away by an ankle injury. Brantley finished the 2011 season with 2,044 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. He certainly had his off moments in the pocket, but he was Florida's best option. Even through his struggles, players continuously rallied around Brantley. He was more comfortable running Weis' pro-style offense, but never really had the confidence or consistency needed to be truly effective in the SEC. The Gators now have three underclassmen with little experience vying for the starting spot.

IN: Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Driskel or Tyler Murphy: These rising sophomores are in for an intense battle this spring. Brissett enters the competition with the most experience of the three, after backing up Brantley for most of the 2011 season. Driskel began the year as the No. 2 quarterback, but fell behind Brissett after a rough showing in the second half of the Alabama game (the game Brantley was injured). Drikel also suffered an ankle injury in that game. Brissett eventually started and played the entire LSU game. He and Driskel both played in the loss to Auburn. Brissett finished the season with 206 passing yards, two touchdown passes and four interceptions, and filled in for Brantley a number of times last season when the Gators went under center because of Brantley's lack of mobility after the ankle injury. Driskel arrived at Florida last season as the nation's top high school quarterback, but was better suited to run Urban Meyer's spread offense. He was recruited by Meyer, but stayed on and enrolled early even after Will Muschamp took over. As for Murphy, he has been on campus a year longer than the others, but has yet to take a collegiate snap. He fits a spread offense much better, but has earned praise from his teammates for his passing ability. Still, it seems as though he's looking up at both Brissett and Driskel. Heading into spring, Brissett held the edge in experience, and seemed to have the most confidence in his play and his understanding of the offense. However, he and Driskel have been getting almost equal reps in practice.

Linking our way around the SEC on a Friday:

• Former Georgia tight end Orson Charles is arrested early Friday morning and charged with DUI.
• With minimal experiments, Alabama kicks off spring practice on Friday.
• Eric Russell says all the uncertainty at Tennessee was a reason he left to join Mike Leach at Washington State.
• LSU's Kenny Hilliard values the time he spent at fullback last season.
• LSU women's soccer player Mo Isom says her tryout as the Tigers' place-kicker isn't just a publicity stunt.
• Central Arkansas athletic director Brad Teague could be a candidate for the Ole Miss athletic director's job.
• Urban Meyer sends a letter of apology to a lesbian and gay advocacy group.
• Former Texas A&M Aggies Cyrus Gray and Jeff Fuller draw impressive reviews at the Aggies' pro day.
• Missouri coach Gary Pinkel expects a backlash with the Tigers' new uniforms, which includes the removal of the block "M" from the helmets.

A check of what's shaking in the SEC:

USC's Lane Kiffin jokes concerning Tennessee's struggles: "Are you sure I didn't get blamed for the Kentucky game."

Former LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson will get a chance to show what he can do at the NFL combine.

Former Tennessee running back Tauren Poole is acting on the feedback of the scouts.

Auburn is reportedly pursuing former Maryland offensive lineman Max Garcia.

Georgia intends to offer multi-year scholarships in time for the spring signing period.

There's some chatter that Georgia's Ray Drew could be moving to defensive end.

New Ole Miss offensive line coach Matt Luke is ready to do some experimenting.

Pat Washington, who previously coached in the SEC at Tennessee and played at Auburn, is reportedly Tee Martin's replacement at Kentucky.

Florida's Will Muschamp hosts a Texas-style roundup.

Urban Meyer's old home in Gainesville, Fla., is on the market for $1.7 million.

We've come to the end of our postseason position rankings. Special teams don't get a ton of credit when things go right, but we all know how much grief they get when things go wrong. Just look at all those shanks we saw from kickers last season.

Fortunately, there are other aspects of special teams that involve more exciting plays, like returns that can change the dynamic of a game or are just really easy on the eyes (just take a look at what Joe Adams did to Tennessee last fall).

You can see how we ranked the SEC's special teams units before the season here.

Here are our final rankings:

1. LSU: All-American punter Brad Wing averaged 44.4 yards per kick, had 20 punts of 50-plus yards and pinned 27 kicks inside the opposing 20-yard line. His long of 73 yards completely changed LSU's first game with Alabama. Tyrann Mathieu had two clutch punt returns for touchdowns against Arkansas and Georgia at the end of the season and was fifth nationally averaging 15.6 yards per return. Morris Claiborne also returned a kickoff for a touchdown and averaged 25.1 yards per return. Opponents averaged 3.7 yards per punt return and just 20 yards per kickoff against LSU. Drew Alleman led the SEC in field goal percentage (88.9), hitting 16-of-18 kicks.

2. Arkansas: Adams was one of the best punt returners in the country, averaging 16.9 yards per return and taking four to the house for scores. The Hogs were just as dangerous on kickoffs, as Dennis Johnson and Marquel Wade both returned kicks for touchdowns and ranked in the top five in the SEC in return average. Zach Hocker hit 21-of-27 kicks and led all kickers by averaging 9.1 points per game. Dylan Breeding led the SEC in punting (45.3) and downed 16 inside the 20. Arkansas was one of the best in the SEC in kickoff coverage, but did allow two punt returns to go for scores in the two biggest games of the season.

3. Auburn: Auburn had Onterio McCalebb and Tre Mason take kickoffs back for touchdowns, as the Tigers led the SEC in kickoff return average (24.7) and also in kickoff coverage. Auburn wasn't great returning punts, but punter Steven Clark was a Ray Guy Award finalist and pinned 33 punts inside the 20. Cody Parkey ranked sixth in the league in field-goal kicking, connecting on 13-of-18 kicks (72.2).

4. Florida: Even without Urban Meyer running the show, the Gators were still pretty successful in this department. Florida was first in the SEC and tied for sixth nationally with six blocked kicks. Two punt blocks went for touchdowns. Caleb Sturgis was a Lou Groza Award finalist, hitting 22-of-26 field goals, including three from 50-plus yards. Florida was also solid in kickoff coverage and got kickoff touchdowns of their own from Andre Debose, who was third in the league in return average, and Jeff Demps. Florida averaged 7.2 yards per punt return and averaged 39.8 yards per punt.

5. Ole Miss: If not for special teams, Ole Miss would have been even worse in 2011. Tyler Campbell averaged 43.6 yards per punt on his 72 attempts and pinned 28 inside the 20. The Rebels also had two different players -- Nickolas Brassell and Jeff Scott -- return punts for touchdowns and Ole Miss was near the top of the league in kickoff coverage and had a net punting average of 38 yards. Bryson Rose also hit nine of his 11 field-goal attempts.

6. Vanderbilt: It was a mixed bag for the Commodores when it came to special teams. Vanderbilt was second in the league in opponent punt return average (3.9), but allowed a touchdown, and gave up another touchdown on kickoff coverage. Vanderbilt also blocked two kicks. Missed field goals haunted Vanderbilt, as the Commodores missed two in the six-point loss to Tennessee and one at the end of regulation in a three-point loss to Arkansas. Andre Hal logged a kickoff touchdown, but Vandy was 11th in the league in punt return average.

7. Alabama: Before the national championship game, Alabama's field-goal kicking game received a ton of criticism, especially for the four misses in the 9-6 loss to LSU. But Jeremy Shelley redeemed the unit by hitting 5-of-7 in the rematch. Alabama's kickers missed 13 kicks. Marquis Maze only had 12 kickoff returns, but averaged 28.5 yards per return, was third in the SEC in punt return average (13.2) and had that nifty touchdown against Arkansas. However, Alabama was 11th in the league in kickoff coverage and 10th in punt average.

8. Kentucky: Punter Ryan Tydlacka was fourth in the league in punting (43.6), had 20 punts of 50-plus yards and had 19 of his punts downed inside the 20. Craig McIntosh connected on 12-of-14 field-goal attempts (.857). Kentucky was in the middle of the pack in kickoff coverage. The Wildcats weren't so good at returning kicks, ranking 11th in the SEC in kickoff returns and last in punt returns, averaging 1.8 yards per return.

9. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs were last in the league in kickoff returns and were the only team to average fewer than 20 yards a return. The Bulldogs were better on punts, getting touchdowns from Chad Bumphis and Johnthan Banks, and ranked fifth in the league in punt return average. Punter Baker Swedenburg ranked seventh in punting and pinned 19 punts inside the 20. Derek DePasquale hit 12-of-18 field goals.

10. Tennessee: The Vols didn't record any special teams touchdowns, but were fifth in the league in kickoff returns and seventh in punt returns. As far as defending returns, Tennessee allowed just 18.1 yards per return, but was 10th in punt return coverage and gave up a touchdown. Michael Palardy hit of nine of his 14 field-goal attempts and punter Matt Darr was 10th in the SEC in punt average (38.1).

11. South Carolina: The Gamecocks struggled in the kicking game, but did have a bright spot in Ace Sanders recording a touchdown on a punt return and South Carolina blocked two kicks. However, South Carolina was seventh and eighth in the SEC in kickoff and punt returns, respectively. South Carolina was last in kickoff coverage and gave up a touchdown. Jay Wooten missed four field goals and three extra points, while punter Joey Scribner-Howard was ninth in the SEC in punting, averaging 38.9 yards per punt.

12. Georgia: Outside of Brandon Boykin's 92-yard touchdown return in the Outback Bowl, his 22.4-yard average on kick returns and Drew Butler's 44.2 yards per punt, Georgia didn't do much at all on special teams. The group that was supposed to be first in the league allowed two kickoffs and punts to go for touchdowns and allowed a fake punt for a touchdown against South Carolina. Blair Walsh entered the season as one of the nation's top kickers, but hit just 21-of-35 kicks, including missing two in overtime in the bowl loss to Michigan State.