Octopus Overlords

by **PLW** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:32 pm

Let's get things rolling. Signing day is just around the corner. We still have one spot of fill, but it's going to be a let down after the last two years (Lattimore/Clowney). I bet we'll get another DE.

by **DragonKP** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:28 pm

What position do you play, or what position do you coach?

For that matter, what team?

by **PLW** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:07 am

Just a fan and alum.. of the South Carolina Gamecocks.

by **pr0ner** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:31 am

Looks like DragonKP is trolling again.

by **triggercut** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:32 am

Oh look, Dragon KP in a college football thread. What could possibly go wrong?

by **DragonKP** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 1:46 am

hahahaha!

just having some fun. :tjg:

by **Inverarity** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:34 pm

Reports are circling that Chip Kelly will be the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs. That's some seriously bad news for Oregon if it's true.

http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports. ... 8/34522956

by **msduncan** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:03 am

Inverarity wrote:Reports are circling that Chip Kelly will be the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs. That's some seriously bad news for Oregon if it's true.

http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports. ... 8/34522956

Now reports are that he has decided to stay at Oregon.

by **msduncan** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:56 pm

Intro has been updated:

link

by **Remus West** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:56 pm

Interesting article on Landon Collins signing. Landon Collins is the number 2 safety prospect and is headed to Alabama. The part I found interesting was the mother being upset that Saban came in and pitched the NFL to the kid rather than pitching Alabama. Shows the focus of the program if he is essentially ignoring the school itself in favor of where the kid can go after the school. This is not surprising and I'm certain that close to if not all schools that can will recruit that way. It is kind of sad to me though that they no longer even bother talking about what they can do to help prepare the kid for life if the NFL does not work out. What happens if this kid or others like him get injured and can no longer play? I really wish the NCAA would do away with the over signing thing and force the schools to honor the offers they make to players - for the full term of the offer.

edit: this is not meant to single out Alabama. As I said, I'm certain that it is happening well beyond just Alabama.

by **Lassr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:49 pm

Remus West wrote:Interesting article on Landon Collins signing. Landon Collins is the number 2 safety prospect and is headed to Alabama. The part I found interesting was the mother being upset that Saban came in and pitched the NFL to the kid rather than pitching Alabama. Shows the focus of the program if he is essentially ignoring the school itself in favor of where the kid can go after the school. This is not surprising and I'm certain that close to if not all schools that can will recruit that way. It is kind of sad to me though that they no longer even bother talking about what they can do to help prepare the kid for life if the NFL does not work out. What happens if this kid or others like him get injured and can no longer play? I really wish the NCAA would do away with the over signing thing and force the schools to honor the offers they make to players - for the full term of the offer.

edit: this is not meant to single out Alabama. As I said, I'm certain that it is happening well beyond just Alabama.

It is highly doubtful Saban said that. She wanted her son to go to LSU since she is an LSU fan. Bitter grapes.

It is fairly well known, from the mouth of parents, that Saban emphasizes education, developing skills, and developing as a person. And adds that could lead to a life in the NFL or benefit you in Life. If he said what she said then it is the first I have ever heard of him using that tactic.

by **Lassr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:58 pm

This subject was talked about in a Bama forum and a lot of the insiders said this to quote one of them:

It's just not very consistent with what other parents of recruits have said about his method. The consistent theme coming from parents who've spoken have said he talks about them getting an education, becoming better people, having the opportunity to play for NC's etc. This is the first I'VE HEARD a parent who's spoken out say anything like this. So I have to go with he may not have said it.

by **Remus West** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:31 pm

Which simply goes towards defending Alabama when I said it wasn't meant to be about Alabama. I really was interested in the idea of how coaches in general approach recruiting in this age of entitlement were recruits are going to be so very certain of the NFL hall of fame future.

As for Alabama, they are as guilty or more so of over signing then cutting players as anyone. The "we want to offer you a scholarship" whoops, to late---or worse, we've decided to give your ride to that guy over there. Again though, that is an across the board problem.

by **Lassr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:27 pm

Remus West wrote:Which simply goes towards defending Alabama when I said it wasn't meant to be about Alabama. I really was interested in the idea of how coaches in general approach recruiting in this age of entitlement were recruits are going to be so very certain of the NFL hall of fame future.

As for Alabama, they are as guilty or more so of over signing then cutting players as anyone. The "we want to offer you a scholarship" whoops, to late---or worse, we've decided to give your ride to that guy over there. Again though, that is an across the board problem.

I can't recall Alabama pulling a scholarship under Saban, I know they have asked them to grayshirt which is delaying their enrollment for a year. One this year was asked to grayshirt because he blew out his knee and Saban wanted him to rehabilitate a little more before starting football. They over sign knowing their will be academic casualties, etc. If there aren't enough that fallout then they ask some to grayshirt. But they don't cut them. Kind of sucks to grayshirt if you are capable of playing but with the limit on scholarships now if you didn't oversign you could find yourself in trouble depth wise if some of the players don't make it.

by **Remus West** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:35 am

I don't have an issue with greyshirting - assuming I understand it correctly - as it allows the kids to go to school on scholarship while preserving a year of eligibility but can be applied to anyone rather than making them pay for something the school and team had previously agreed to. The issue for me is that a lot of these kids are getting a shot at school only due to these scholarships and yanking them away through oversigning is pulling the rug out from under them.

by **msduncan** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:56 am

Alabama claims another recruiting national title.

Recruiting services:

Rivals: #1
ESPN: #1
247Sports: #1
Scout: #2

This class is as talented as the one that brought us Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, etc. Maybe more talented.

by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:09 pm

We just hired our new OC, and it's 24-year-old former QB Brian Johnson. He'll be the youngest OC in the country (by a wide margin).

While I generally trust Coach Whittingham, I think this a risky (at best) and possibly disastrous (at worst) move. All Utah fans love Brian Johnson - he's the winningest QB in school history - but I think this is a really strange choice. Johnson has been the QB coach for the last couple years and his results have been mixed. There is significant upside if this experiment works, but I'd rather not have an unproven commodity leading the best recruiting class in Utah history.

by **Lassr** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:35 pm

Skinypupy wrote:We just hired our new OC, and it's 24-year-old former QB Brian Johnson. He'll be the youngest OC in the country (by a wide margin).

While I generally trust Coach Whittingham, I think this a risky (at best) and possibly disastrous (at worst) move. All Utah fans love Brian Johnson - he's the winningest QB in school history - but I think this is a really strange choice. Johnson has been the QB coach for the last couple years and his results have been mixed. There is significant upside if this experiment works, but I'd rather not have an unproven commodity leading the best recruiting class in Utah history.

kind of like when Alabama hired Major Applewhite as OC several years back. Offense was lacking. Luckily Texas hired him as QB coach and we moved on to McElwain. Maybe it will work out better for you guys.

by **Scuzz** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:50 pm

Skinypupy wrote:We just hired our new OC, and it's 24-year-old former QB Brian Johnson. He'll be the youngest OC in the country (by a wide margin).

While I generally trust Coach Whittingham, I think this a risky (at best) and possibly disastrous (at worst) move. All Utah fans love Brian Johnson - he's the winningest QB in school history - but I think this is a really strange choice. Johnson has been the QB coach for the last couple years and his results have been mixed. There is significant upside if this experiment works, but I'd rather not have an unproven commodity leading the best recruiting class in Utah history.

That is young for a position like that.

by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:13 pm

msduncan wrote:Alabama claims another recruiting national title.

Recruiting services:

Rivals: #1
ESPN: #1
247Sports: #1
Scout: #2

This class is as talented as the one that brought us Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, etc. Maybe more talented.

That would be impressive...if you weren't #1! Show me those numbers when you're at #19 or so, and I will literally respond "Wow! Nice job!"

by **Remus West** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:17 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:
msduncan wrote:Alabama claims another recruiting national title.

Recruiting services:

Rivals: #1
ESPN: #1
247Sports: #1
Scout: #2

This class is as talented as the one that brought us Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, etc. Maybe more talented.

That would be impressive...if you weren't #1! Show me those numbers when you're at #19 or so, and I will literally respond "Wow! Nice job!"

Well, thats really a double standard since recruiting classes keep you ranked high which in turn gets you better recruits. I hate Saban's public persona but you have to tip your hat to the guy's ability to bring talent in to where ever he is coaching. Although he is also doing that by having left every where he was before to find the biggest name school to coach at. One of the reason's he left MSU back in the day was he felt they would never be able to compete with Michigan for the in state talent.

by **PLW** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:22 pm

Meh... there's a reason we don't have movies about the team loaded with all the "best" players in the country winning the championship. Because it's boring and the only people who want to root for them are those that are totally in the tank with them to begin with.

by **msduncan** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:26 pm

PLW wrote:Meh... there's a reason we don't have movies about the team loaded with all the "best" players in the country winning the championship. Because it's boring and the only people who want to root for them are those that are totally in the tank with them to begin with.

What is remarkable about it is that we are in uncharted waters here with Saban. The recruiting analysts can't remember a team (in modern times under the modern restrictions) bringing in the #1 class 3 out of 4 years, and being ranked in the top 5 the other year.

And Alabama was 5 minutes away from playing for the national title 3 out of the last 4 years. That last 5 minutes of the 2008 SEC Championship game where Tebow brought Florida from behind to beat Alabama is what I'm referring to. In all likelihood Bama will be in a good spot talent wise to contend again a couple times over the next 4 years.

Edit: And it is actually a good Hollywood story if you take the Alabama of 2006 and the turnaround that had to happen to bring them to this point. We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:50 pm

Scuzz wrote:
Skinypupy wrote:We just hired our new OC, and it's 24-year-old former QB Brian Johnson. He'll be the youngest OC in the country (by a wide margin).

While I generally trust Coach Whittingham, I think this a risky (at best) and possibly disastrous (at worst) move. All Utah fans love Brian Johnson - he's the winningest QB in school history - but I think this is a really strange choice. Johnson has been the QB coach for the last couple years and his results have been mixed. There is significant upside if this experiment works, but I'd rather not have an unproven commodity leading the best recruiting class in Utah history.

That is young for a position like that.

As perspective, Norm Chow (our previous OC) had been a coordinator for 14 years before Johnson was even born. :shock:

by **Remus West** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:42 am

msduncan wrote:Edit: And it is actually a good Hollywood story if you take the Alabama of 2006 and the turnaround that had to happen to bring them to this point. We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

No. The only people that would watch that are over the top Alabama fans such as yourself. I'll give you the recruiting being impressive and I'll even stand behind your statements on that but this is not even remotely appealing as a movie idea.

by **msduncan** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:29 am

Remus West wrote:
msduncan wrote:Edit: And it is actually a good Hollywood story if you take the Alabama of 2006 and the turnaround that had to happen to bring them to this point. We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

No. The only people that would watch that are over the top Alabama fans such as yourself. I'll give you the recruiting being impressive and I'll even stand behind your statements on that but this is not even remotely appealing as a movie idea.

Does it help that you'd be guaranteed 2 million viewers?

It would have to be a low budget film I guess....

by **noxiousdog** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:24 am

msduncan wrote: We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

The mythical English department recruiting national championship, however, continues to elude the Tide.

by **Lassr** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:29 am

noxiousdog wrote:
msduncan wrote: We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

The mythical English department recruiting national championship, however, continues to elude the Tide.

Bear Grylls saved us!

by **Remus West** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:03 pm

noxiousdog wrote:
msduncan wrote: We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

The mythical English department recruiting national championship, however, continues to elude the Tide.

Awesome!

by **The Meal** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:14 pm

Remus West wrote:
noxiousdog wrote:
msduncan wrote: We were literally lost in the wilderness for 10 years prior.

The mythical English department recruiting national championship, however, continues to elude the Tide.

Awesome!

That deserved two :lol:

!

by **coopasonic** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:32 pm

Over time usage becomes meaning so it's only a matter of time before literally means figuratively, literally.

What am I doing in a NCAA thread?

by **The Meal** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:35 pm

coopasonic wrote:What am I doing in a NCAA thread?

Becoming a grammarian apologist. Duh!

by **Pyperkub** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:22 pm

Looks like TCU is going to bring a lot of baggage to the Big 12:

Four players - linebacker Tanner Brock, safety Devin Johnson, tackle Ty Horn, and defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey — all were arrested and dismissed from the football team, but the affidavits of their arrests suggest drug abuse throughout the entire program, not just those four players....

...In the arrest affidavit for Johnson, he told an undercover officer regarding the drug test, "what can they do, 82 people failed it."...

...However, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram cited a source saying that a high-level recruit told Patterson he would not attend TCU because of drug use by players. That's what prompted Patterson to spring the pop drug test — on National Signing Day of all days.

The results of the tests are not known and TCU does not have to share those results since it's a private university and the drug tests were not NCAA mandated.

by **Pyperkub** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:24 pm

Which of course gets us an update:

by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:43 pm

ThCU?

by **Pyperkub** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:54 pm

Sounds like Leach is already turning heads @ Wazzu:

WSU players are enduring their most grueling offseason, courtesy of the provocative new hire the school made three months ago. Leach, who never met a forward pass he didn't like, likes to emphasize speed, quickness and agility training.

And a diabolical routine called Midnight Maneuvers....

Midnight's the time for Pirates! Arrr!

by **triggercut** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:14 pm

Missouri and A&M both will have $12.41m withheld from their TV monies paid as their exit fees for leaving the Big XII.

Documentation in the settlement also strongly suggests that no school in the Big XII has pledged their Tier 1 and Tier 2 revenues, contrary to what interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas suggested last month.

Finally:

West Virginia pays $20m to get out of the Big East.

Mizzou and A&M pay $12.4m to get out of the Big XII. I'll let someone else write the jokes.

by **Skinypupy** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:43 pm

triggercut wrote:West Virginia pays $20m to get out of the Big East.

Holy shit.

by **Pyperkub** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:31 pm

Looks like the NCAA really doesn't like a Mountain West/Conference USA merger:

Last week, I reported that the Mountain West and Conference USA would merge sometime next months.

Turns out, the merger plans could very well be shelved in favor of an alliance between the conferences.

According to sources:

* The NCAA told the MWC and C-USA that it would award the merged league only one AQ berth to postseason events. So instead of two 8-10 team leagues and two AQs, there would be one 16+ team league with only one AQ.

(Think that went over well with MWC/C-USA officials?)

* In addition … and I don’t claim to understand the legal nuances involved … the exit fees owed to the conferences by departing members would be deemed null and void if that conference merged with another.

* It also turns out that, because one conference would have legally dissolve itself in order to join the other — or they’d both have to dissolve to form a newly-named league — the NCAA Tournament revenue would be returned to the schools that earned it.

by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:38 pm

* The NCAA told the MWC and C-USA that it would award the merged league only one AQ berth to postseason events. So instead of two 8-10 team leagues and two AQs, there would be one 16+ team league with only one AQ.

(Think that went over well with MWC/C-USA officials?)

Why in the world would one league have been entitled to 2 AQs in any event? Was that really what they were expecting? No one else gets multiple AQs - not even the massive Big East basketball conference.

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