McClain leaving, Smart staying at 'Bama

Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain announced today that he will forego his senior season and enter the 2010 draft pool.
The Tide received some very good news on the coaching front.
Kirby Smart, who was being plied by SEC rival Georgia, has decided to turn down UGA's offer, an offer that would've reportedly doubled his current salary, and will instead remain at Alabama as their defensive coordinator, head coach Nick Saban announced shortly after McClain's decision went public.
The offer made by Georgia would've reportedly made Smart the third-highest paid assistant in the country, behind only Tennessee's Lane Kiffin and Texas' Will Muschamp. It's unknown what "tweaks" the Tide made to Smart's current contract as incentive for him to remain on staff.
As for McClain, it's been thought for months that he was leaving early, and the speculation finally came to fruition this afternoon.
"I'm going to leave the university pretty satisfied with what I've done here," McClain said according to the Mobile Press-Register.
McClain's decision was an easy one as the All-American LB can pretty much punch his first-round ticket in the April draft.

'Bama CB undecided as deadline looms

Kareem Jackson defends Texas' Jordan Shipley during Thursday night's BCS title game. After meeting with family this weekend, Alabama junior cornerback Kareem Jackson has still not reached a firm decision regarding possible early entry into April's 2010 NFL draft.
According to a source close to Jackson, he plans to return to Tuscaloosa in the coming days and meet with Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban before finalizing his plans for next season.
Draft-eligible players have until Friday's deadline to declare for the draft.
Junior linebacker Rolando McClain has not announced a decision since the BCS national championship game, but the Butkus Award winner has been projected as a first-round selection and is expected to turn pro.
Saban said last week that he would advise any player with first-round draft status, but only those projected that high to consider leaving early. Though details have not been made public, it's highly unlikely that Jackson's official grade from the NFL's draft advisory board was in the first round.

UGA going large to get Smart

The Tuscaloosa News was the first media outlet to report that Georgia had an offer on the table for Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to assume the same role in Athens.
In their report, the News stated that Smart had a written contract in hand from UGA, a deal that contained annual salaries well in excess of what he's currently making at with the Tide.
Thanks to Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register, we now have a better understanding of just "well in excess" may mean in this case.
According to Estes, and citing multiple sources, UGA could be willing to pay Smart at least double his yearly salary if he makes the move across SEC divisional lines. Since Smart made around $370,000 in 2009, UGA is apparently willing to pay the 34-year-old assistant somewhere in the neighborhood of three-quarters of a million dollars annually to run their defense.
Such an agreement would make Smart the third-highest paid defensive coordinator in the country, behind Tennessee's Monte Kiffin ($1.2 million in '09) and Texas' Will Muschamp ($900,000).
So, when you add the financials to Smart's Georgia ties -- he was a defensive back for the Bulldogs from 1995-1998 -- it's very easy to see why he might have an interest in leaving a school that just brought home the crystal less than a week ago.
Not to mention the fact that, as pointed out by several readers, the school he might be headed to could very well be in the market for a new head coach following the 2010 season.

Rich Brooks Hands Over the Keys

As I watched Joker Phillips get introduced today as the next football coach at the University of Kentucky, one thing stood out to me above all others, his respect for Coach Rich Brooks. I think Joker's comments about how Brooks' respect amongst the Commonwealth would be even greater once he had left are absolutely true. The ole' man from Oregon came here when no one else wanted to be here. Let me repeat, no one else wanted to be here. He took up the reigns and has developed a program that has to be respected week in and week out and a program of great men. Kentucky fans may not realize it now and may not realize next year or the year after that, but we were truly lucky to have a guy like Rich Brooks come in, pick us back up off the floor after probation and everything else, dust us off and point us in the right direction. You can argue the point that we didn't beat Tennessee, Florida or South Carolina in his tenure, but who would have ever thought seven years ago that Kentucky would be primed to go to four straight bowl games and win three of them while also knocking off the big boys in the process? The high points and the landmarks reached in this program far outweigh the losses and what ifs in my opinion. Because of his experience and age, Brooks was able to tune out the noise and develop a sense of pride back into the program, something not many people could have done and something younger coaches would have done until they could move on. Brooks has helped make this place a program to stay at, not a stepping stone job. As a Kentucky fan who has had season tickets through the 1-11 years and to now, all I can say is thank you. Thanks for making it fun to be a UK football fan again. He got us to this point and now it is Joker's turn to hopefully help us step even farther.
posted by Chris Diggs

Fifth UK Alumnus to Become Head Coach of Kentucky Football

Designated as UK's head coach of the future in January of 2008, the plan became reality on Wednesday when Phillips was appointed the head of the program after Rich Brooks' retirement.
Phillips is only the fifth Kentucky alumnus to become head coach of the Wildcats and the first since Jerry Claiborne, who led the Cats from 1982-89. Phillips' appointment also has significance in that he is the Wildcats' first African-American head football coach and only the second in the history of the Southeastern Conference.
"I'm excited for the future prospects of Kentucky football under the leadership of Joker Phillips," said UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. "As a native Kentuckian and former UK player, he knows how much this program means to this University and the entire Commonwealth. We previously identified Joker as the best man to build on the successes enjoyed by our football program during the Rich Brooks era, and we are confident that his leadership and direction will take our program to new heights."
"Joker is a native of the Commonwealth, an alumnus of the University, a letterman and a person who has been an integral piece of our last four bowl victories in program history," said Mitch Barnhart, UK Director of Athletics. "He bleeds blue and believes in the foundational principles that Coach Brooks has put in place for the program.
"He has had success as a player, position coach, offensive coordinator and recruiter, and has been sought after by some of the nation's most prestigious college programs and the National Football League.
"Since naming him head coach of the future two years ago, continuity and consistency have become a competitive advantage for UK football, an advantage our program has not enjoyed very often during its history."
Phillips recently completed his fifth season as offensive coordinator and seventh as wide receivers coach in his current tour of duty at his alma mater. Kentucky improved its scoring average and total offense in each of the first three years under Phillips' direction.

Alabama H.S. RB Howard to visit UK

Kentucky might get the final shot to convince three-star Lincoln (Ala.) High School running back D.J. Howard that Lexington should be his future college home.
Howard (5-11, 195, 4.5) is one of several prospects the UK staff has targeted for more than a year to fill the role of "power back" in the Wildcat offense. He originally committed to Auburn, but has since re-opened his recruitment in order to ensure he makes the right choice on national signing day. To that end, he plans to visit Lexington on the weekend of Jan. 22.
"It will be my last visit," Howard said, "so Kentucky will have the last shot to change my mind."
And what are the odds of that?
"I'm still open to them and Clemson," he said. "(Auburn) coach (Gene) Chizik came by the school, and we had a good talk. We had a heart to heart about things I was hearing, that I would be moved to defense, and he promised me that I would get a shot to play running back. He said that stuff wasn't coming from him or his staff, that it was just scouts talking who didn't know what he wanted to do.
"But I told him that I still wanted to take some visits. I could tell that he wasn't happy with that. I could see it in his eyes, but I told him that I owed it to myself to check all of these schools out, to protect myself."
Howard had planned to visit Clemson this weekend, but says he will unlikely make that trip now due to inclement weather that is pounding the southeast with snow and bitter cold temperatures.

Florida Names George Edwards Assistant Coach

George Edwards was added to the University of Florida Football staff as an assistant coach, head coach Urban Meyer announced Friday morning. Edwards will serve as Defensive Coordinator and work specifically with the inside linebackers. Chuck Heater will serve as co-defensive coordinator.
“George is a tremendous teacher of the game of football,” said Meyer. “He has proven himself at the highest level in the National Football League, but his roots started at the college level at Florida and in the SEC. He is a great addition to our staff and will be a great coach and mentor to our players.
Edwards possesses 19 years of coaching experience, including the past 12 in the NFL. Most recently, Edwards completed his fifth season working with linebackers for the Miami Dolphins, the past two focusing solely on inside linebackers.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the UF coaching staff,” said Edwards. “I started my career at the college level at Florida and I enjoy teaching and molding young men. I am looking forward to working with a great group of people at Florida and a great group of players.”

DE Willis: 'I think Tennessee is the best fit for me'

Brandon Willis fretted, then pondered and finally re-committed to Tennessee.
“It’s just the total package for me,” the defensive end from Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C., said after announcing his commitment to be a Vol for the second time. “Me de-committing was me kind of being scared about the violation and the probation.
“But as the total package, I think Tennessee is the best fit for me.”
Willis’ concern came from an NCAA review of the Vols’ use of recruiting hostesses. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder and his teammate, Corey Miller, were visited by two UT hostesses following one of their high school football games this past season.
That prompted Willis to pull his UT commitment and consider North Carolina and UCLA. Willis considered himself an undeclared prospect until he announced his decision Saturday during the second half of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
“I just prayed about it,” Willis said, referring to the NCAA’s review. “That’s what my gut feeling was (that the violation was minor). When I went forward with that, I was comfortable with it.
“They say it will be a secondary violation so I’m not really worried about it anymore. I just put it behind me.”
The violation would be considered minor if the two hostesses, Lacey Earps and Dahra Johnson, traveled to South Carolina on their own. If UT’s football program instructed the two to travel to see the players, the violation would likely be deemed more serious.

UF coach pulls name out of CMU job search

Florida Quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler is no longer a candidate to become the next Central Michigan head football coach. Loeffler emerged as an early frontrunner, but with changes at Florida, Loeffler has seen an increase in play calling duties with the Gators and his aspirations to someday return to NFL coaching have caused the talks between he and CMU to die down. Sources close to Loeffler in Florida also indicated to me that if Loeffler was offered the job, he would be "50/50" on taking it.

Bama's Smart offered UGA job

University of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has been formally offered the same position at Georgia since returning from Pasadena, Calif., multiple sources have told The Tuscaloosa News. Bulldogs coach Mark Richt fired former defensive coordinator Willie Martinez on Dec. 2, sparking speculation since then that the Bulldogs would target Smart, who played and coached at UGA, as the replacement for Martinez. According to sources, Smart has received a written contract from UGA but has neither signed it nor made a decision regarding the opening. The offer is believed to be well in excess of Smart’s current contract at Alabama, under which he earns just under $400,000 in base pay per year.
The Crimson Tide defeated Texas 37-21 in the BCS title game in Pasadena's Rose Bowl Thursday night, and the team returned to Tuscaloosa Friday night.
Built-in pay increases approved by the Alabama Board of Trustees last spring would put Smart's compensation above $400,000 by the end of his current contract, which expires in 2012. When the BOT renewed contracts for UA’s assistant coaches last spring, those of Smart and offensive coordinator were extended through 2012, one year longer than most of the position coaches.
Following Alabama’s win over Texas, UA head coach Nick Saban made some general remarks about losing assistant coaches that would suggest he would not be thrilled if Smart were to accept a coordinator's job elsewhere.
“I'm always happy and interested for our coaches to be able to advance professionally,” Saban said Friday, “especially if it's a professional advancement in terms of a guy being a coordinator who can go be a head coach in a situation where he has a chance to be successful.
“I'm not pleased when guys make lateral moves because it's a little bit human nature to think – like my dad used to say, the grass is always greener on top of the septic tank. You always think it's better someplace else. You kind of let your ego get involved and you make moves that you shouldn't make that really aren't in your best interest from a career standpoint. So I'm not happy when guys do that. But anybody on our staff who can move up, we would like to help them do that.”

BCS Championship...Alabama 37...Texas 21

The sure thing was looking shaky for Alabama.
Hanging onto a precarious three-point lead and with momentum on the other side, linebacker Eryk Anders made sure the championship wouldn't slip away.
Anders forced a fumble on his blindside sack of Texas backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert with 3:02 left Thursday night to help the top-ranked Crimson Tide hold on for a 37-21 victory in the BCS title game - a win that figured to be much easier when Alabama knocked out Colt McCoy early in the first quarter.
With McCoy on the sideline nursing a shoulder injury, the Tide rolled to a 24-6 lead at halftime, the final touchdown coming when lineman Marcell Dareus picked off a shovel pass and returned it 28 yards for the score late in the second quarter.
The second half figured to be a laugher with Gilbert in the game - a freshman who was Texas' "quarterback of the future" but had thrown only 26 college passes.
The kid almost did it, though.
He threw two touchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 6:15 left, and after an Alabama punt, he had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most improbable comeback stories in the history of the game.
But after an Alabama holding penalty moved the ball to the 17, Gilbert dropped back to pass and got rocked by Anders, a senior who plays in the shadow of All-Americans Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain. The ball went flying and Courtney Upshaw recovered.
Three plays later, Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram surged into the end zone from the 1 for the 10-point lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert's third interception of the night, Trent Richardson scored his second touchdown to make it 37-21.
Then the party began. Glory came back to one of the country's most storied programs, the football factory that Bear Bryant built, courtesy of Nick Saban, who resurrected this team in the short span of three seasons.

Critical late turnovers cost Texas 21...Alabama 37

After overcoming obstacles throughout the game, Texas' late hope was undone by a pair of critical late mistakes by freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert. Alabama got a clinching 1-yard touchdown by Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram with 2:01 left to ice the Tide's 37-21 victory. The Crimson Tide took advantage of a short field after a blindside sack by linebacker Eryk Anders. The fumble was recovered by Courtney Upshaw at the Texas 3. On the ensuing drive, Javier Arenas returned an interception to the Texas 27 that led to a 2-yard TD run by Trent Richardson with 47 seconds left. And Tyrone King produced the final interception with a pick at the Alabam 31 with 26 seconds left. Those two late scores make the final margin of victory for the Crimson Tide a little misleading. The Longhorns had a chance to take the lead with 3 minutes left before the sack on Gilbert. Before the late struggles, Gilbert had shown promise and moxie. But in the end, he couldn't overcome those late miscues so deep in his own territory in the end. The SEC Rocks!

Top Florida recruit flip-flops yet again

Last week around this time, amidst all of the uncertainty swirling around the Urban Meyer situation, the top recruit in the state of Florida -- wide receiver/defensive back Matt Elam -- decommitted from Florida and gave a verbal commitment to in-state rival Florida State.
It's a new week and Elam, whose waffling is rapidly reaching epic proportions, has flipped his commitment yet again.
According to Rivals.com by way of the Florida Times-Union, Elam has decommitted from FSU. Additionally, Elam says that the Gators are back in the lead for his services.
There's a chance that Elam could make an official (chuckle) decision this Saturday during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl this weekend in San Antonio. (Incidentally, that game will be televised on your local NBC affiliate.)
Of course, that would still leave roughly 25 days for Elam to decommit, recommit, uncommit his decommit, re-recommit, decommit, then recommit again before signing his letter of intent.

Ole Miss QB Snead declares for NFL draft

As of late this morning, Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said that his quarterback, Jevon Snead, was leaning toward leaving school early.
This afternoon, that lean has turned into a full-blown leap.
In a release issued through the school, Snead announced that he was making himself available for the 2010 NFL draft.
"After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to forego my final year at Ole Miss and enter the NFL Draft," Snead said in the statement. "The fans, coaches and my teammates have been unbelievable and I want to thank them for an incredible experience.
"In the end, I had to do what is best for me and my family. Having finished my degree, I look forward to the challenge and hard work that comes with pursuing my dream of playing quarterback in the NFL."
In leading the Rebels to back-to-back 9-4 seasons, Snead completed just over 55% of his passes and threw 33 interceptions. He also threw 46 touchdowns and 5,394 yards.

Alabama is ready for up-tempo pace of Texas offense

Speed of the players on the field is often a deciding factor in football games. One other way speed could be a factor on Thursday night is the up-tempo pace of the Texas offense and how Alabama adjusts to it.
The Tide defense has not faced another team that moves as quickly between snaps as the Longhorns. The approach of the Texas offense can wear down the opposition as drives continue. It also limits the ability of the defense to make situational substitutions depending on the down and distance.
The Alabama players are certainly aware of the unique challenge that Colt McCoy and the Texas offense will bring.
"We've been talking about it ever since they won," linebacker Cory Reamer said. "It's definitely up tempo, and whenever they make big plays, they're quick on the ball to try to get another one in on you, try to catch you off your guard, try to catch you guessing what you did wrong, how you messed up. You're really worried about the play before instead of focusing on the next play. That's really where they take advantage of you with their quick pace."

Despite Texas coach Brown's preferences, the season isn't getting shorter

This year's championship game will come almost one week after New Year's Day, the traditional end of the season before the BCS system was implemented.
That creates almost five weeks between the end of the regular season, which is not something Texas coach Mack Brown thinks is in the best interest of the players.
"For the coaches it's probably not. We can use it all," Brown said. "For the players, they lose part of their Christmas, they lose part of their new year, and as we all talk about trying to take care of the players, our guys go back to school here in about a week, and then we have spring practice at the end of February."
Brown said that even if the game was played on the 4th of January it would be manageable for all parties, including schools that start their semesters early. But he won't be getting his wish. The next with games in the BCS series will be even later with next year's on Jan. 10 and the 2012 contest being played on Jan. 9.

SEC Football Online Sportbook Pick...Bama vs Texas

Alabama -4, Total Points 45
After a full season of college football action, this is the one we’ve all been waiting for. No. 1 vs. No. 2. SEC vs. Big XII. Texas vs. Alabama for the National Championship.
When breaking down these two teams, everyone starts with the offensive weapons, but it’s the defenses which got them here.
First for Alabama, they’re simply the best: First in scoring defense (11 points per game), second in total defense (271 yards per game) and second in run defense (just 78 yards per game). They have an extremely fast and athletic front-seven led by All-American linebacker Rolando McClain, as well as All-American defensive tackle Terrence Cody. And their defensive backs are just as good, with All-American (sensing a trend here?) Javier Arenas at cornerback and safties Justin Woodall and Mark Barron.
Here are some NCAA football betting trends which may impact this game:
Texas: 2-3 ATS in their last 5 games
Texas: 5-0 SU in their last 5 games
Texas: The total has gone OVER in 4 of their last 6 games
Alabama: 2-3 ATS in their last 5 games
Alabama: 5-0 SU in their last 5 games

Bama's Smart doesn't rule out Georgia DC job

Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has a lot on his mind this week, as his defense prepares to take on Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns tomorrow night. So maybe that could explain why he wasn't willing to say yes or no to the rumors that he could be moving to Georgia to take the vacant defensive coordinator job under Mark Richt.This quote from ESPN's Chris Low certainly keeps the door open for a potential move."I haven't really talk to Mark much," said Smart who was the Broyles Award winner as the top assistant coach in the country this year. "To say I said 'no' to Mark... he's not offered me anything. So that's not really accurate. To be honest, with this game coming up, I haven't even thought about it.You don't ever know what's going to happen, but I'm certainly excited about the opportunity to be back at Alabama," Smart said. "We've got a lot of good players coming back."Either way, Smart is likely in for a big pay raise, whether he stays at Alabama or decides to join Richt (or another coach looking to pay for a new DC) next season.