Posted by Tom Fornelli

You know, in order to continue playing football at a school, a player is expected to perform to a certain level while in the classroom. Grades have to be maintained, or eligibility is taken away. I'm starting to wonder if the coaches and assistants at Georgia shouldn't be held to the same standards. I really think it would be to Georgia's benefit if coaches were forced to take a "How To Use A Phone 101" class.

Remember last week when Georgia was hit with some secondary violations for inadvertant text messages that Mark Richt sent to a recruit's father? Well, guess what? Georgia's inability to properly utilize a phone is going to bite it in the butt once more.

Inadvertent telephone communication once again has forced UGA to report secondary NCAA violations to the Southeastern Conference office.

This time it involves Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon. According to Athletic Director Greg McGarity’s Aug. 1 letter to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, obtained by the AJC via state and federal open records laws, McClendon thought he was calling a friend named Jay Harris when he accidentally called recruiting prospect Drew Harris instead. Harris is a four-star running back prospect from Exton, Penn.

What made this a violation is McClendon’s call was made on May 29, 2011. Fellow UGA assistant coach Scott Lakatos had made a recruiting call to Harris on May 3. Therefore the second call was deemed to be a violation of two NCAA bylaws that restrict telephone contact with recruits.

I generally find when people use the acronym SMH -- shaking my head -- on Twitter to be extremely annoying, but I can't help it, you guys, after reading that I am SMH so hard right now. It's an innocent mistake, yes, but you would think Georgia coaches would learn from their mistake the first time.

Make sure you know who you are calling and texting before you send the call or the text. It's simple. If you need help, seek out one of the players to guide you through the process.

Posted by Tom Fornelli

Georgia was hit with a Level 1 secondary violation by the SEC following some inadvertant text messages that Mark Richt sent to a recruit's father in May. However, there isn't much for Georgia fans to worry about since it isn't likely Georgia will be punished severely considering that the texts Richt did sent contained no content.

In fact, when you read about how Richt ended up texting the father of Jordan Jenkins, Ron Jenkins, you get a nice glimpse of how silly some NCAA violations can be.

In [Georgia AD Greg] McGarity’s May 27 letter of explanation to [SEC Commissioner Mike] Slive, he reports that Richt accidentally sent two text messages from his Blackberry to the father of Harris County defensive end Jordan Jenkins on May 26th. Jenkins is considered by many the top prospect in Georgia. Text messages to prospects or their family members are impermissible per NCAA rules until one day after a prospect has signed a national letter of intent with the school.

In the first instance, Richt received a text from Ron Jenkins asking for camp dates. Since Richt did not have the number programmed in his phone, the text was identified as “unknown.” Richt intended to forward the text to a recruiting assistant for identification but accidentally replied to Mr. Jenkins, which was a violation NCAA Bylaw 13.4.1.2.

Richt immediately reported the inadvertent violation to compliance director Eric Baumgartner, who subsequently asked Richt if Mr. Jenkins had replied. In an attempt to forward Mr. Jenkins’ response to Baumgartner, Richt accidentally replied to Mr. Jenkins again, hence he had to report another text violation.

Such a scandal. Stay tuned next week for when Les Miles gets in trouble for sharing funny photos with a recruit on his Google reader.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

NEW YORK -- While most of the talk this week at Pac-12 Media Days was about the landmark networks that the conference is launching next year, there was always that elephant in the room with the league's two most high-profile programs, Oregon and USC, dealing with the NCAA enforcement process at one stage or another.

As someone who has gotten a crash course in the process recently, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott sees the trend of programs dealing with similar issues to continue over the next few years if things don't end up changing.

"It seems to me, in my two years here, that the cloud, the controversy, isn't going away," Scott said. "What I'm pushing for is aggressive reform at the NCAA level on the way enforcement is done, on the way we treat student-athletes, scholarships and other things like academic standards. I'm hopeful that President Mark Emmert, who is holding a retreat with the presidents, is going to try and drive an agenda.

"I'm not alone in this. Mike Slive, you'll hear (Jim) Delany, the six of us are aligned. We need some meaningful change, not incremental change. What shape that takes, I don't yet know. Mike and Jim have put out some specific proposals, which I admire them for, but the NCAA is a bureaucracy. There's a process they're going to have to go through. I hope the leadership at the president level is able to make more meaningful change than I've seen been able to be made in the last two years."

Given the fact that the money from television deals has never been higher and the news about violations has never been greater, many have just said to heck with it and the Big Six power conferences should just separate from the NCAA. Scott doesn't feel that's coming in the near future but recognizes that one group schools must be treated different than others.

"I think that would represent a tremendous failure of the NCAA if it comes to that," Scott said of a split. "I'd like to think that we are at a crossroads and at this retreat they'll recognize one size doesn't fit all anymore. There really is no such thing as competitive equity or even playing field. Certain schools obviously have more money than others and have better facilities and can pay more for coaches. Yet a lot of rules are based on one size fits all. That's just something the NCAA leadership is going to have to get over. If that's the standard by which any policy can get made, then I think it's destined to be an ineffective organization long term."

If there's one area that Scott hopes the leadership addresses, it's the legislative process itself.

"It needs to be more nimble," he said. "The thing they need to realize that these so-called clouds or scandals are all about the six conferences. That's what's affecting the image that everyone is talking about. The irony is the six conferences are ready to address those things. If they're held back on the basis that everyone can't do what you to do, then I think there could be challenges to the NCAA down the road."

Posted by Jerry Hinnen

We've got all the important coaching comments highlighted here at Eye on CFB, we've got Dennis Dodd and Brett McMurphy on site, we've got Tony Barnhart weighing in as well.

But even we can't keep up entirely with the flood of quotes and stories coming out of SEC Media Days. So here's some more tidbits from college football's favorite annual media feeding frenzy:

• Don't expect this to be Mike Slive's final rodeo, or next-to-final, or even next-to-next-to-final. Even at the age of 71, he's planning on staying in his position for "some more years" beyond 2011-2012. "I have a couple of things I'd like to accomplish here before I retire," he said, declining to say what they were.

• All-SEC linebacker Danny Trevathan (pictured) said he wants to return kickoffs for his Kentucky team. And he was serious--he handled return duties in high school and posted a 30-yard return in the Wildcat's spring game two years ago.

• Marcus Lattimore's biggest goals for the season are no doubt related to South Carolina getting back to Atlanta -- or more -- but he didn't shy away from setting some high personal bars Wednesday, either. "I want to win the Heisman," he said. (Lattimore also took the time to offer advice to the player billed by many as the next Marcus Lattimore, Georgia's Isaiah Crowell.)

• Has Media Days become so big it's outgrown its traditional home at Birmingham's Wynfrey Hotel? That's the argument put forward by Birmingham News journalist Jon Solomon, bemoaning the state of the Wynfrey's spotty Internet access. Forgive us if we think the better solution might be to simply get some better wifi.

• The most interesting interview of Day 2 had to have been Tennessee defensive tackle Malik Jackson, who said a teammate's haircut made him "look like Thor," that the Vols' top three defensive linemen were "me, me, and me," and that when it came to the Vol freshmen, he couldn't tell you "half their names." Here's some video of Jackson discussing the weather, "looking like a real SEC tackle," and other topics.

• Speaking of video, look who stopped by to discuss his new book and his plans to return to college coaching:

Posted by Chip Patterson

Kentucky head coach Joker Phillips was the first to take the microphone on Day 2 of SEC Media Days in Birmingham. One question offered to pretty much every coach on the podium so far has been their reaction to Mike Slive's proposed changes from Wednesday. Phillips, who played wide receiver at Kentucky from 1981-1984, quickly voiced his support for the discussion of player benefits.

"It's great that we are having dialogue about paying players, or compensating players," Phillips said. "There's a lot of factors involved, I understand that. Having this dialogue has gotten us to the fact-finding phase of this thing. As we continue to find out the facts, and come up with some answers that might fit. We have to understand the answers are not just about football and basketball, but all sports involved. We have to take care of everybody, not just men's football and men's basketball. Whatever solution we come up with, I'll be for."

Here are some more highlights from Phillips' comments to the media Thursday morning:

-The second-year head coach enters the 2011 season returning only 15 starters from 2010's squad, and will be looking to replace starting quarterback Mike Hartline, leading rusher Derrick Locke and Mr. Everything Randall Cobb. But with 9 of those starters on defense and a lot of confidence in the next group he still thinks they should be competitive in the upcoming season. Their theme this year is "RISE" and that is his challenge to the players. With so much production, particularly on offense, gone - new stars need to rise to the occasion for the Wildcats to succeed.

- Although last year did finish with a bowl berth, Phillips pointed out that the 6-7 finish was a drop-off from two straight 8-5 seasons. His goal for the Wildcats is to be able to hang in the SEC East race as long as possible. When asked about how close they were to "getting over the wall," Phillips believes that his squad is approaching that level.
"We're very, very close," Phillips responded. "We lost a lot of close games. Things that will get us over the hump will be being the most disciplined team, being the most physical team, and having mental toughness."

- Several mentions were made to the Wildcats strength and conditioning program under Rock Oliver. He wants the team to be attacking, aggressive, and display the aforementioned mental and physical toughness. He thinks this team has done well in the two years under Oliver in offseason preparation, and the squad looks leaner and stronger than they have in a while. Phillips also praised new co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter, who actually got to to work with the team for the 15-16 practices leading up to the BBVA Compass Bowl on Jan. 8 in Birmingham.

Keep it here at the Eye On College Football for more updates from media days from all conferences in the upcoming weeks.

Posted by Jerry Hinnen

After a few ho-hum seasons at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier had been turning in a few ho-hum performances at SEC Media Days the past few years -- ones nearly all observers agreed were a far cry from his charismatic, entertaining turns during his Florida salad days. Spurrier admitted as much in his appearance Wednesday. "I haven't won enough to be very talkative lately," he said.

But Gamecock fans have to be encouraged that, for the most part, Spurrier today was at his charming, engaging best. Here are the highlights from his comments, organized by topic:

Expectations. In his opening statement, Spurrier said "we feel like we've probably assembled maybe the best group of players we've had in the seven years now that I've been there."

But asked later about being the presumptive SEC favorite, Spurrier responded with a question of his own: "You know we lost our last two games last year? We're not sitting around patting each other on the back too much." He mentioned twice that the Gamecocks finished seventh in the conference in both total offense and total defense, so they were "not a great team by any means." In short: He doesn't believe egos or motivation will be a problem as the team looks to "win the game in Atlanta" for the first time.

"We've accomplished a few firsts," he said, referring to last year's SEC East title (among other accomplishments), "but there's still plenty more out there for us to go after."

Garcia. Spurrier said wayward quarterback Stephen Garcia had "done everything we've asked" and was still "set to return" come fall camp. Noting that Garcia's recent issues haven't been of a legal nature -- "no arrests, no DUIs" -- Spurrier explained his willingness to keep his troubled star on the roster by saying, "I guess we just don't want to kick him out for stupidity."

But Spurrier also defiantly refused to name Garcia the starter, saying he would "have a little competition" between the senior and 2010 backup Connor Shaw. "Whoever our quarterback is, he needs to go out and earn it in preseason practice," Spurrier said. (The number of people convinced that quarterback might be Shaw likely remains in the single digits, however.)

Scholarship proposals. Spurrier made it clear he is no fan of Mike Slive's reform proposals, even addressing his reponse to Slive when it came to offering multiple-year scholarships. "That's a terrible idea, Commissioner," he said.

He also slammed the proposed new standards for freshman eligiblity, saying he felt they were "pretty good the way they are right now." "For some reason," he added "we seem to want to try to make it more and more difficult for these young men who come from difficult backgrounds and difficult academic settings."

Clowney. When will No. 1 overall recruit Jadeveon Clowney see the field at defensive end? "Early and often," Spurrier said. "We think he's really going to be a super player and a real good guy for us."

From the sound of it, he might even start. Addressing his defense, Spurrier said, "We're hoping with Devin [Taylor] coming on one end and Jadeveon coming from the other end or up the middle or somewhere, we're gonna have a good pass rush this year."

Spurrier credited his team's improvement in large part to better in-state recruiting, of which Clowney is a part -- between him, Marcus Lattimore and All-SEC corner Stephon Gilmore, Carolina has landed the last three South Carolina Mr. Football winners. According to Spurrier, Clowney's decision "sends a message" as the first No. 1 overall recruit to choose a program that has never won a national title.

Honesty. As usual, Spurrier (to his everlasting credit) answered questions with nothing less than his honest opinion. Lobbed a softball question about star receiver Alshon Jeffery being "underappreciated," Spurrier cited Jeffery's many accolades (including a first team All-American nod) in saying he didn't feel like Jeffery was underappreciated at all.

Asked what had made the difference between the 2010 Gamecocks and their previous editions, Spurrier discussed Lattimore and other factors -- but also started his reponse by saying his team benefitted from the East's "three top teams not having the years they usually have."

Spurrier was also questioned about the departure of Bryce Sherman, the former Gamecock walk-on whose 2010 scholarship was not renewed and who left the team in a flurry of angry Tweets. "We gave him a year and a half [of scholarship money], which I thought was pretty nice of us," Spurrier said.

Special teams. Spurrier revealed he was sorely disappointed in his special teams units, noting that they have yet to score a touchdown during his seven-year tenure. "Some day, I want to win a game with a blocked punt," he said.

Practice. Asked about the Ivy League's new policy limiting full-contact practices and whether it would work at the FBS level, Spurrier offered a surprising response for an SEC coach -- he said the Gamecocks would be fine with that policy in place.

"To me, it doesn't make any sense to get your own players hurt in practice," he said. "When the Army guys practice against each other, they don't use live bullets. Why do football teams use live hits?"

Money. Spurrier mentioned that the Gamecocks spend less on recruiting services than any other SEC school (just $12,000 a year), then spun that into a discussion of the massive amounts of money in the league these days ... and a dig at Mississippi State, with Dan Mullen waiting in the podium wings.

"Mississippi State's got a jet airplane," Spurrier said. "They've got all kinds of money at Mississippi State. Everybody's got a lot of money."

Posted by Chip Patterson

Florida head coach Will Muschamp has never been confused as one to lack emotion. In fact, some have even said that the former Texas defensive coordinator would have to "tone down" some of his sideline behavior now serving as the head coach - particularly at one with the prestige of the Gators. But making his first appearance at SEC Media Days, a fire was lit under Muschamp when he was asked about the roster status of Jeff Demps.

Muschamp addressed Demps as one of the few unknowns on the roster, but said it was only because of his involvement with track and field. Demps has won a national championship already this offseason, and is currently competing overseas in Italy. A reporter asked Muschamp to address some rumors regarding Demps' status and why there were no certain answers.

"I don't deal in rumors and I don't deal in message boards, I don't know any good coach who does," Muschamp snapped. "I deal with people eyeball to eyeball, and I ain't ever been to Italy."

Boom.

Other highlights from Mushcamp's first day on the microphone:

- Muschamp repeated several times that "you can't be someone you are not." Which is his reasons for hiring Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator. "I've coached defense, I've coached special teams, I hired Charlie to coach our offense." Muschamp believes that the SEC is a "line-of scrimmage" league, which only further supports the hiring of a multiple/pro-style offensive mind like Weis. In the words of Muschamp, "you have to be multiple, or your quarterback won't survive the season."

- Other than Demps, the only other roster question is Neiron Ball who will not compete in 2011 after being diagnosed with a vascular condition. He said that Ball is going to be a member of the program, and they will have a better idea about his future in January or February.

- Early in the day, Muschamp deflected much of the John Brantley criticism by acknowledging that "we need play better around him." The new system will be a better fit, but he knows that Brantley needs to play better for the Gators to succeed in 2011.

- In comparing the Big 12 and SEC, Muschamp mentioned that there is much more spread offense in the Big 12. He once again returned to his recurring theme of complimenting SEC defensive lines, and how they dictate what offenses can and can't do in the conference.

- Muschamp's email inbox has been "filled with suggestions for the Gators," but the new head coach went out of his way to mention former head coach Urban Meyer early. He thanked Meyer for his suggestion and called the former coach and current commentator a "first class" help to his transition into the head coaching ranks.

- "Let's play hard, fast, and physical. We'll be a blue-collar unit that can play well enough. When the tough decisions come we'll figure that out" (Not a ton of commentary there, just sounded really cool when he said it)

Posted by Jerry Hinnen

The SEC's feeling pretty good about itself these days, and you don't even need to see the league's impressively unsubtle media guide cover (or equally to-the-point Media Days T-shirt) to know it. When you're in the middle of a streak of five-straight national titles, distributing record amounts of revenue to your member schools, watching your most prominent critic scramble in the wake of the Ohio State scandal, and just generally becoming more and more college football's resident 500-pound gorilla, a little bit of chest-puffing is going to come naturally.

In fact (assuming the continuing NCAA investigation into Cam Newton's eligibilty doesn't gain any more traction), there's really only one black lining to the SEC's giant silver cloud: its television contracts.

Yes, the same contracts primarily responsible for all that record-breaking revenue. The money they're generating today isn't a problem; it's the money they'll generate in the year 2023 that might be, when the 15-year deals the SEC signed with CBS and ESPN in 2009 will still be in effect.

As the even-more-lucrative deal signed by the Pac-12 this year illustrates -- a deal that still allows Larry Scott's league the right to start its own network, an option the ESPN-locked SEC doesn't have -- by the time 2015 or 2016 rolls around, the SEC will be being paid far less than market value for its product ... to say nothing of the start of the next decade. That the Big Ten's and Pac-12's conference networks promise to produce exponentially increasing revenue during the life of the SEC's (finanically static) contract must make the situation even more uncomfortable for Mike Slive.

Which is why he addressed the topic head-on in yesterday's chat with the Associated Press, promising that his conference would not be simply twiddling its televised thumbs for 13 more years (emphasis added):

"Obviously when we did our deal we set the pace, and in our contract we have a concept called look-ins," Slive said. "At periodic points during the life of the contract, we can sit down with ESPN and take a look-in and look at the status of television, technology, all aspects of television, and at that point make adjustments that the parties agree are appropriate to make sure that everything that we intended to achieve with the contracts would in fact be available to us."

Are we wrong in thinking this is Slive's veiled attempt at asserting that, yes, they will be asking ESPN for more money? That once that "status of television" has changed, the "look-in" will give him the opportunity to renegotiate the deal?

We don't think so. And if that's Slive's intent, it could make for some very interesting discussion at these "look-ins." Because when asked to comment on the SEC's contract in June, ESPN official Burke Magnus didn't sound particularly open to altering the basic terms of the contract (emphasis added):

"We knew when we made a 15-year deal that time was not going to stand still so we purposely built in these look-ins," Magnus said. "They don't reopen the deal. There's no outs. It's an opportunity for both of us to really take stock of where we are and see what we could be doing better."

There's a lot of wiggle room in both of these statements, of course, even before we account for the possible game-changer that would be SEC expansion. Slive could simply be referring to digital distribution or kickoff times on ESPN2 or any of a dozen other things. Magnus could simply be indicating that the SEC won't be jumping to another network, not ruling out his network giving the SEC a raise. But the plainest reading, we think, is that Slive is going to want some fundamental monetary change to the contract ... and that ESPN may dig in its heels against "reopening the deal."

As SEC Media Days begins today, Slive will have plenty to celebrate. But until he secures the same financial footing for his league that the Big Ten and Pac-12 enjoy -- not just today, but for the future -- he'll still have one major question hanging over his tenure. Here's to hoping SEC Media Days gives us something approximating an answer to it.