Archive for April, 2014

Alabama LB arrested for DUI

Alabama linebacker Dillon Lee has been arrested for DUI, it has been reported.

The outside linebacker was arrested on Thursday morning on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol by Tuscaloosa police.

At approximately 2 a.m., Tuscaloosa Police responded to the scene of a minor accident with no injuries in the 800 block of 31st street after it was reported one of the drivers was intoxicated. Officers found cause to charge Lee with driving under the influence,AL.com reported.

His arrest photo can be seen here.

“I don’t have all of the details at this point and will handle it appropriately once I’ve had a chance to review all of the information”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said via Alabama media relations.

 

UGA safety transferring to Louisville

Josh Harvey-Clemons, the former Georgia safety, is to transfer to Louisville, it has been reported.

Harvey-Clemons, who was booted from Athens in February after breaking a number of team rules (which earned him an impressive tally of suspensions), was keen to stay with former Georgia defensive co-ordinator Todd Grantham, who left for Louisville and new coach Bobby Petrino in the off-season.

Harvey-Clemons amassed 66 tackles, three fumble recoveries and an interceptions for the Dawgs last season, despite being suspended for two games.

 

Missouri beats Ohio State, UT to four-star QB commit

Four-star QB Drew Lock has committed to the University of Missouri.

Lock, who was pursued by Tennessee, Ohio State, Ole Miss as well as Missouri, is the ranked the 3rd best quarterback in the state and 136th in the country, according to 24-7 Sports.

The Lees Summit, MO QB is 6ft 5, said at his early commitment announcement today: “I could have gone to UT and my parents would have cheered for me. Don’t think it would have been the same kind of cheering as at MU.

He added that Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel’s new extension with the school was a big factor in the decision.

Saban hires former Washington assistant as ‘intern’

Alabama has another addition to its staff: Former Washington assistant Tosh Lupoi.

Lupoi has come on board the Crimson Tide freight train as an ‘intern’, where he will help with coaching as well as recruiting.

Lupoi was investigated by the NCAA after allegations that he paid a high school recruit while he was working at the University of Washington.

He’s going to be an intern, and he’s got a lot of good experience both coaching and recruiting,” Saban said in a press conference. “He didn’t get a job this year, didn’t have any issues relative to the way we checked him out with the NCAA, which we do with everybody that we hire… He’s going to be an intern that helps us some in recruiting. A lot in the electronic media part of recruiting, which is something that we feel like we need to improve.”

Lupoi was meant to be part of Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Washington before Sarkisian jumped ship after allegations of paying recruits.

 

Mizzou star Dorial Green-Beckham suspended

Missouri star WR Dorial Green-Beckham has been suspended “indefinitely” for a violation of team rules, after allegedly being involved in an incident in Columbia on Sunday.

The Columbia Missourian said: “Columbia Police sergeant Joe Bernhard said Monday morning that Green-Beckham was not arrested over the weekend, but according to residents at Brookside Townhomes, Green-Beckham was involved in an incident there sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. Sunday.

He was arrested in a car that contained a pound of marijuana in January.

Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said: “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the right thing to do for our football program, for the athletic department, and also for Dorial…..“We have high standards related to the expectations that come along with being a Missouri Tiger, and Dorial has not met those recently. Representing Mizzou and our fans is a privilege, and we’ll work with him during this process. It’s been disappointing to have this, and other issues which have taken place lately. It’s frustrating, because we work very hard to instill responsibility and discipline in our young men so that our program represents Mizzou the right way. These actions aren’t representative of those expectations, and we are addressing these issues head on.

DG-B is said to be co-operating with police with the investigation about the marijuana. The car was not Green-Beckham’s.

Texas A&M WR arrested

Texas A&M wide receiver Ricky Seals-Jones was arrested on Sunday morning for disorderly conduct.

According to a College Station KBTX: “According to police, Seals-Jones was being “carried away by his friends” as the bars were closing in the 100 block of College Main. An officer says he saw someone bump into Seals-Jones, which led the wideout to reportedly start exchanging words with the person. As the officer moved towards the scene to see and hear what was going on, he says Seals-Jones broke away from his friends and yelled “F*** you! You want some?” The officer also says Seals-Jones motioned to the other person like he wanted to fight. The player was taken into custody on the misdemeanor charge.

Seals-Jones’ lawyer said that Seals-Jones would fight the charges: “Ricky Seals Jones is absolutely fighting these charges. He had nothing to drink and was at home when a friend called him to come to Northgate to give him a ride home. Ricky went to Northgate to help his friend toward the car when someone struck him. When Ricky turned toward him that person cursed him and called Ricky the “N” word. Words were exchanged and Ricky was arrested. The other individual was not arrested. I have personally spoken with an independent witness who confirms these facts. Ricky volunteered to take a breath test since he had not consumed alcohol but this request was never granted.

Seals-Jones played only game for the Aggies, scoring three receptions for 84 yards and a TD. He redshirted the 2013 season after getting injured.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s interesting that College Station PD didn’t charge Seals-Jones with being drunk too. 

Alabama RB arrested

Alabama running back Altee Tenpenny has been arrested for pot possesssion, it has been reported.

AL.com reported that Tenpenny was stopped by police in Little Rock, AR on March 21 because of an unoperational license plate light, and then police looked in the bar, smelled marijuana, and searched car, finding “a clear plastic bag filled with 2.1 grams of marijuana“, which the player admitted to knowing about.

He was later charged.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said: “I’m aware of the situation with Altee and this is obviously not the kind of behavior we expect from our players. In addition to any punishment he may receive from a legal standpoint, we will have some internal discipline as well as education that he will be responsible for working through.

He will appear in court April 10th.

LSU Spring Game Preview: The unset jigsaw

The LSU Spring Game is on Saturday, but it seems like a late April Fool’s piece without the jigsaw.

Anyway, here’s some Spring Game thoughts:

WHO CAN FILL THE QUARTERBACK HOLE?

Let’s get this straight: Anthony Jennings started his career with LSU in pretty impressive fashion, leading the Tigers to a breathtaking last-ditch win over Arkansas last year, before not particularly impressing anybody in the Tigers 21-14 Outback Bowl win. He hasn’t had a game where he’s passed over 100 yards, and he’s hasn’t actually excited anyone either.

It’ll be interesting to see how Jennings, freshmen Brandon Harris and Hayden Rettig play in the Spring Game – Les Miles is going to give all of them chances to impress (you hope).

RUN OR NOT TO RUN?

 

Their top running back signee and potentially No.1 starter at the position, Leonard Fournette is the most intriguing…..but he’s at high school still. Terrance Magee and Kenny Hilliard will be vying to replace the fantastic Jeremy Hill, who’s going to the NFL early, armed with a hell of a lot of skill, a bad temper, and a terrible blindside. So that means that all eyes should be on the Magee-Hilliard battle for a place, if LSU are going to have a 1-2 punch. Magee averaged 7.28 yards per carry last season, although that number probably is a little inflated due to Hill’s suspension for his ‘BlindSide At TigerLand’.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

The sad news for LSU is Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry – two of their best wide receivers – are gone. Both are exceptional receivers and hopefully will be top picks in the position. Some people bemoaned Landry’s speed at the Combine, but the kid’s got some of the best hands in the nation.

To replace them is going to be difficult. Travin Dural and redshirt freshman John Diarse will be well-watched on Saturday. They’d better make an impression, because LSU’s loaded freshman class coming in in the summer, which includes Malachi Dupre and Trey Quinn, could take immediate No.1 and No.2 spots.

Rob Bolden’s apparently still playing college football. He’s moved out to wide receiver. Offensive Co-Ordinator Cam Cameron must see something in the former Penn State starting quarterback. We look forward to seeing (if he’s got) some skills on Saturday.

OH, AND ABOUT THE D….

LSU’s ‘D’ was pretty horrible last year. That’s not to say that they didn’t have a ton of talent, but the missed tackles, unwillingness seemingly to catch up with a runner and giving quarterbacks too much time to throw made a formerly predictably excellent defense look, well, poor. And yes, we realize that large components of the 2012 decided to go to the NFL, but lookit: What were the back-ups doing practice when the starters were playing so well?

We can’t believe Anthony ‘The Freak’ Johnson is going to the NFL. He was one of the biggest disappointments in college football – and that’s saying a lot when Jadeveon Clowney didn’t exactly live up to scratch (although Clowney was double-teamed at every opportunity).

Anyway, we can’t wait to see how good Kendall Beckwith is at linebacker, although there are worries about his weight. We can’t wait to see how he teams up with started DJ Welter. And taking Johnson’s place we’ll see a battle between Christian LaCourture, Quentin Thomas, Greg Gilmore and Maquedius Bain for starting DT spots. I think Johnson’s going to be pretty replaceable.

And as for the secondary? That could be a bunch of fun in itself come Saturday. It was poor all season long, and it’ll be interesting who John Chavis has to make sure the mess is a little less messy this time around.

Manziel: “Leaving Texas A&M was a horrible mistake”

Leaving Texas A&M after just two years of being the starting quarterback for the Aggies was a massive mistake, Johnny Manziel has revealed.

The Heisman-winning quarterback of 2012 said in an interview: “After the Pro Day at College Station, and I realized: I made a horrible mistake leaving College Station a year early. I could have stayed another year, got through some of my errors – I still regret some of those turnovers- and won the Heisman again.”

And let’s face it: Manziel is from a family who doesn’t exactly need the money, either.

Manziel’s career with Texas A&M was sparkling: He threw for 7,820 yards and 63 TDs. And ran for 2,169 and 30 TDs. And missed an extra point. He won the Heisman in 2012 and led Texas A&M to two straight bowl games, including a virtuoso performance against Duke.

BOTTOM LINE: Not only that, Johnny, but you would have played your first game of the season against a Jadeveon Clowney-less South Carolina, and 50% of SEC teams you’re facing are low on quarterbacks. Plus, bearing in mind 2014 is such a strong draft for quarterbacks, you could have waltzed into 2015 as the top QB pick in the land. And maybe the No.1 Draft Pick.

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