Sophomore Vanderbilt TE loses fight with cancer

In news far bigger than any football game, Vanderbilt tight end Turner Cockrell has died of cancer aged 21, the school has announced. Cockrell was a redshirt sophomore, missing the entire 2018 season after he was diagnosed with melanoma. When the disease spread to his lungs, there was little the doctors could do. He passed away on Thursday. “My heart is broken for Randy, Noelle and the Cockrell family, for all of Turner’s teammates, and for all who came in contact with Turner,” Vanderbilt head football coach Derek Mason said in a statement released by the university. “Turner had a wonderful spirit and fought an incredible fight. He was a Vanderbilt Man through and through, and he will always be remembered here.”

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Vanderbilt Preview 2018: Will the Commodores improve?

Derek Mason is a great speaker. He made us all want to walk through walls during his Media Days speech this year in Atlanta. He made you want to root for this Commodores team. You almost felt: “Screw this, I’m going to Nashville to see them play”. Of course, what Mason failed to discuss is the fact that since James Franklin left, Vanderbilt – under his charge – haven’t had a winning season. His record at Vanderbilt has been at best poor and worst atrocious (18-31), and his SEC record (6-26) would at least have had people talking about the end of the road. But for some reason – and this may be because people don’t think a lot of Vanderbilt football

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Missouri’s the worst team in the SEC: Week 8 rankings

OK, so I’m still trying to work out who the worst team in the conference (Missouri, South Carolina or Vanderbilt). I know one thing for certain: Missouri’s got the worst offense (and one of the best defenses). South Carolina got a win after Spurrier left, but they are still awful. And Vanderbilt is still….Vanderbilt. And that’s despite beating Missouri. Jeez, it’s difficult. Anyway, I took some smelling salts (sold to me by Maty Mauk) and came up with the answers…. After a lay-off of rankings last week, here’s our rankings after Week 8: Alabama (1): Derrick Henry will be a Heisman candidate. If it wasn’t for him – and some horrific Tennessee field goal kicking – this game against Tennessee

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Mark Richt comes out combative over Georgia drug rules

Mark Richt is used to criticism as head coach of the University of Georgia. Every year people place him on the hot-seat for either not beating South Carolina, or not beating Auburn, or losing a game they should win, or not beating a team by enough, and 2015 won’t be any different – although after beating Clemson and LSU, maybe the seat’s a LITTLE cooler. Richt’s also had his fair share of criticism about Georgia’s drug policy, which has seen the school suspend or boot a number of players over his time between the hedges. However, at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, AL, he was unrepentant. He said: “We don’t want our guys to do drugs, okay? I don’t

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ESPN: Nick Saban’s agent spoke with Texas regent, Saban rebuffs story

Nick Saban’s agent spoke with a Texas regent, according to a report from the Associated Press. The AP report – which does nothing to scotch rumors that the Alabama coach might become the next coach at Texas after Mack Brown leaves at the end of the season – said: “Regent Wallace Hall of Dallas told the AP he spoke by telephone with agent Jimmy Sexton a few days after the Jan. 7 title game. Tom Hicks, a former regent who is the brother of current regent Steve Hicks, also was on the call. Tom Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Stars and the English professional soccer team Liverpool, was a regent in 1997 when Brown came to Texas and

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SEC Week 2: Power Rankings – Georgia rises, Florida falls

It was a weird and wild weekend in the SEC. Georgia and South Carolina played a classic that Georgia finally one (it’s been the opposite direction at Sanford between these two recently), Texas A&M struggled with mighty Sam Houston State in the first half of their game (mainly thanks to some terrible defense), LSU’s Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham were bringing the circus to ‘circus-like catches’ in Death Valley against UAB, and, er, Florida lost at Miami. Anyway, here are your SEC Power Rankings after Week 2. And yes, we know Alabama isn’t on top. 1) LSU (2-0): Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry were exceptional, and Zach Mettenberger’s looking comfortable in defense. In the proclaimed ‘run first’ offense, suddenly

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LSU RB Hill not going to jail or getting kicked off team

Jeremy Hill’s immediate future is not behind bars, it seems. The star LSU running back was given extra community service after admitting simple battery in a fight outside a bar in Baton Rouge earlier this year – despite violating the terms of a parole given to him as a high schooler. Jeremy Hill called a press conference, which he went to with Les Miles, his coach in tow. Miles had indefinitely suspended the player for the fight. In a statement at a press conference (thanks, Tigerbait.com), he said: “I would like to thank Coach Miles and this university for giving me another chance to play football. I would like to apologize to my teammates and the community.” Miles added that Hill

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Losing badly: Bad SEC memories

—- OUR GUEST WRITER ALEX FERGUSON WRITES FROM BLOG ‘VIEW FROM AMERICA’ WRITES——  It’s not the only time that I’ve written an anti-SEC piece – I’ve been going on and on about the SEC’s lack of red-hot non-conference schedule competition since God was a boy (and will probably continue to do so!!), but this article comes because as college football fans, we remember the bad times just as well as the good times. And as June 18th in my birthday – I’m 35 today (so remember to say Happy Birthday! to me after reading this) – I thought it was a bit of time to remember the bad times. I’m going through EVERY SEC team – that includes you too,

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