Jack Hoffman, the 7-year-old cancer survivor who made an inspiring touchdown run at the Nebraska spring game this year earning him more than 8 million views on Youtube, made an appearance at the College World Series on Monday and told the crowd his final chemotherapy session was scheduled for today.

That news was greeted with a roar of applause as fans watched his spring game highlight again on the big screens at a game between Mississippi State and Indiana.

Hoffman, who has been fighting brain cancer, and his family have used the fame and attention theyve received from Jacks memorable spring game sprint to try to raise awareness and support for pediatric brain cancer research.

Jack signed a few autographs during his time at the CWS. He was given a baseball glove, batting gloves and a custom baseball with his face on it.

“We dont know why hes had the magnitude of blessings in his life, but we want to do something with them,” Jacks father, Andy, told the Omaha World-Herald.

- - -

_Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleRingo_

_ Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/YahooDrSaturday">@YahooDrSaturday and be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday http://www.facebook.com/DrSaturday">on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you wont see on the blog. _

Billion dollar media rights deals and packed stadiums and arenas have protected students at most of the power conference schools from forking over big bucks in student fees for athletics, but their counterparts at schools in lesser conferences havent been so lucky.

This isnt exactly shocking information, but its another interesting look at how uneven the playing field is in college athletics and the folly of some of the little guys trying to keep pace. It provides more ammunition for those who say its time for another division for the schools with the biggest budgets.

According to research reported in this Bloomberg story, students paid more than $2 billion in student fees for athletics two years ago at only the 227 NCAA Division I public institutions. The research done by Jeff Smith at South Carolina Upstate showed students at schools in power conferences with better academic reputations paid far less in fees than those at schools in other conferences struggling to keep up with the big boys,

While all students pay the fees, only a small percentage participating on intercollegiate athletic teams actually benefit.

Research done at Ohio University by David Ridpath found that students had little knowledge of how much they were paying in fees for athletics.

Some of these students are taking out loans to pay for their education and they arent happy to learn theyre paying more than $1,500 annually at some schools toward athletics fees.

Smiths research showed the students at the six public schools in the Big South were paying 25 times more in student fees than their peers at the public schools in the Big Ten. That is bound to make writing that student loan payment a little more painful each month.

_- - - _

_Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleRingo_

_ Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday and be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you wont see on the blog. _

When someone says “Linebacker U,” what is the first thing you think of?

Is it Penn State, the traditional answer, with legendary players at the position spanning from Jack Ham to Lavar Arrington to NaVorro Bowman? Or perhaps you’d take a program that’s had a lot of memorable names in the last decade-plus, like Miami (Ray Lewis, Jonathan Vilma) or USC (Clay Matthews, Rey Maualuga).

Would you say UCLA? No? Oh, they’d like you to consider it:

#linebackeru pic.twitter.com/psyVu1hswP

— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) June 17, 2013

First question: Why is the “U” in quotation marks? Is it an ironic U? Is it simply playing off the last name of UCLA linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich, who is featured on the image?

Second question: Should a school be proclaiming itself Linebacker U when their last game involved giving up 49 points? Teams with a nickname like that should probably be better at defense, no?

I would wager that the impetus of this campaign is to help hype pass rusher Anthony Barr, who notched 21 tackles for loss (13 sacks) last season and justifiably finds himself on every preseason All-American roll call, Heisman watch list and 2014 NFL mock draft. Returning inside linebacker Eric Kendricks had 149 tackles last year, and while that makes a very potent duo, it’s a long way from this kind of branding or nickname.

Penn State fans – who are sticklers for defending traditions – are handling this well, with their SBNation site simply responding:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... (breathes).. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA RT @UCLAFootball: #linebackeru pic.twitter.com/yG0SUFGb5S — BSD (@BSDtweet) June 18, 2013

UCLA has jumped the gun on this type of premature marketing before, taking out a full-page in the L.A. Times to declare that “The Football Monopoly in Los Angeles is Officially Over,” then losing the next four games to USC by a combined score of 134-28.

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Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema wants everybody to just slow down for a minute.

Bielema, echoing some of his SEC rivals, according to AL.com is proposing a rule change that would mandate a 15-second substitution period after every first down, allowing coaches to make defensive substitutions. This would severely limit the effectiveness of no-huddle offenses, a trend that is continuing to spread around college football.

His reasoning? The health and safety of players:

“Not to get on the coattails of some of the other coaches, there is a lot of truth that the way offensive philosophies are driven now, theres times where you cant get a defensive substitution in for 8, 10, 12 play drives," Bielema said, according to AL.com. "That has an effect on safety of that student-athlete, especially the bigger defensive linemen, that is really real."

The coattails he’s talking about are those of Alabama coach Nick Saban and Florida coach Will Muschamp, who have also spoken out about the potential dangers of not being able to give their defensive players breathers against relentless opposing attacks. The argument is essentially that if players are gassed on the field, they won’t maintain form or protect themselves as well, thus leading to injury.

Not surprisingly, coaches who have found success going up tempo are against the idea of a 15-second cessation of offensive hostilities. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and Tennessee coach Butch Jones have all used or plan to use up-tempo attacks in the SEC and don’t agree with Bielema’s argument.

“Id say thats probably more of an in-shape issue than anything else," said Malzahn, who deployed Cam Newton within a lethal up-tempo attack as Auburn’s offensive coordinator to help win the 2010 BCS title.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who won a national championship with the Fun n’ Gun at Florida, proposed a different solution to dealing with the no-huddle offenses proliferating across his conference.

"Of course, the answer is for the other teams offense to stay on the field and get the other fast-paced team [to] stay on the sideline.

As a newcomer to the SEC after leaving Wisconsin in December, Bielema’s previous job likely tarnishes the proposed rule change in the court of public opinion. The Big Ten is seen – particularly in the south – as the conference without any speed and a bruising, antiquated style of play. Looking at tempo numbers from the last five years, this isn’t necessarily wrong, but the SEC isn’t exactly sporting a go-go tempo, either. (The SEC average is likely to change with the recent influx of pace-pushing coaches.) Bielema’s team played at a crawl, ranking 114 out of 120 teams between 2008 and 2012. The proposed change is a chance of tactics for Bielema, who used to just subvert rules he didnt like.

There are merits to Bielema’s argument, but it comes down to the same basic skill that separates good coaches from great ones: the ability to adjust. Everything from a heavier focus on conditioning to simply recruiting different types of players (less focus on wide, wall-like defensive tackles and more emphasis are more versatile linemen, for example) can contribute to slowing no-huddle offenses. And of course Spurrier’s plan isn’t wrong: If you don’t want to expose your defense to fast-paced assaults, hold on to the ball with your offense, run some clock and keep it out of the opposition’s hands.

The Razorbacks face Ole Miss, A&M and Auburn this fall, so circle those games on your calendar to see if Freeze, Sumlin and Malzahn take special pleasure in demonstrating the power of not huddling to Bielema.

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It turns out that Mike Gundy did lift some of the restrictions on Wes Lunts transfer, but that shouldnt matter.

This should be the case to bring about change, if the NCAA is not too busy screwing up the Miami case to notice that the "student-athletes" it says it protects are being held hostage by some vindictive coaches.

Gundy put significant and unnecessary restrictions on Lunts transfer from Oklahoma State. It was spiteful to a quarterback who wanted to move on (and did, picking Illinois) and go to a school where he thought he had a better chance to play. That happens.

And Gundy should not be lauded for eventually lifting the restrictions, as reported by Channel1450.com (via PistolsFiringBlog.com). Lunt told Channel1450.com Gundy did so only about a week ago, well after they were put in place in mid-May, and by that time it was too late.

By the time Gundy called Lunts high school coach to let him know, Lunt said he had lost contact with the other coaches he had been previously restricted from.

"It was frustrating," Lunt told Channel1450.com. "I understand the Big 12, thats obvious. The others, it was a little frustrating, but thats part of it and I understand it. Its all good."

Lunt deserves credit for taking the high road, but its a mistake to sweep this under the rug just because it seems everything worked out. Lunt grew up about 90 minutes from Champaign, and the fit seems good. Good for him. And maybe thats where he would have gone, restrictions or not. That should not be the point. This case has to show that the NCAA needs to stop siding with powerful coaches and actually help out the young players who generally have no other voice.

Lunt said Vanderbilt and Alabama were two schools that showed interest, but he couldnt talk to.

"Alabama would have been cool to check out, but I couldnt talk to them," Lunt told Channel1450.com.

Lunt was a highly regarded recruit and looked good at times as a freshman before getting hurt. He could still have a NFL future. Transferring doesnt mean a player cant make it big in the NFL, ask Joe Flacco about that. And you can easily make an argument that going to Alabama would be better for Lunts NFL future than going to Illinois, but he didnt have that chance. Or, maybe he would have gotten a better education at Vanderbilt. But he couldnt talk to those schools for a few weeks as Gundy flexed his power over a teenager. Gundy should have never, ever been allowed to put those sweeping restrictions place if the NCAA wasnt more worried about a coach avoiding the very small chance hed have to play a transfer in a bowl game than a 19-year-olds future. Its going to happen again to another player, unless some rules are put in place to prevent coaches from having too much power in this situation. Maybe the next player wont be fortunate enough to have a school 90 minutes from his hometown to settle at.

Coaches should not be allowed total control over restricting a player who wants to transfer. When they do, it shows the absolute worst side of college sports. But does the NCAA and its conferences even care? There are the petty interests of millionaire coaches to protect, after all.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIDEO FROM YAHOO! SPORTS:

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Top recruit chooses South Carolina because of easy classes • Week 2s top five college football games to watch • Johnny Manziel tweets he wants out of A&M

_The college football offseason is long and arduous, but its end is almost in sight. We’re going to take a look at five games you have to look forward to for every weekend of the season. (This is also a handy guide to decide how to RSVP for any autumn weddings.)_

_ _

_All times are Eastern and all games are played on Saturday unless otherwise noted. _

THESE GAMES TAKE PLACE THE WEEKEND OF SEPTEMBER 7TH.

[RELATED: WEEK 1S TOP FIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES TO WATCH]

FLORIDA AT MIAMI (12 P.M., ESPN) – As it currently stands, this is the last scheduled regular season match up between these two teams, who last met in 2008. That should add some extra drama to the proceedings, as Al Golden continues to mold what was an extremely young Hurricane team in 2012. Will Muschamp’s Gators were ahead of schedule last year with 11 wins, and while they have to replace big playmakers like Matt Elam and Sharrif Floyd on defense, they seem to have finally solved the post-Tebow quarterback conundrum with Jeff Driskell. The Miami offense could be elite this year, as they return all five starting linemen, senior quarterback Stephen Morris, most of their productive wide receivers and all-everything tailback Duke Johnson. There will be a lot of youth on the field, but a whooole bunch of talent, per Sunshine State requirements.

Additional note: Heaven help those who attend this game, as I can only imagine how awful it will be sitting in early September afternoon heat. Why isn’t this a night kickoff?!

SOUTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA (TBD) - You’ll notice this isn’t the easiest opening slate for the Bulldogs, who go from facing Clemson in week one to taking on the other South Cackalacky power in week two. The Gamecocks absolutely embarrassed the Dawgs last year, going up 35-0 before Georgia finally got on the board in the waning minutes of the game. This is the SEC opener for both teams, and neither can afford starting the conference gauntlet 0-1 or being on the wrong side of a head-to-head tiebreaker in the tightly contested the East Division. It will be extremely enjoyable to see Jadeveon Clowney going against Aaron Murray and the UGA offense, but much like Week 1, this game may come down to how well a young Bulldogs defense can slow down the Ol’ Ball Coach’s Connor Shaw and Mike Davis-led attack.

TEXAS AT BYU (7 P.M., ESPN2) – BYU is fully embracing life as an independent, crafting a 2013 schedule that features games against Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boise State, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and the Longhorns. This is an opportunity to see one of the best defensive players in the nation, as Kyle Van Noy looks to replicate the success of his 2012 season without Ziggy Ansah (the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft) occupying blockers in front of him. Texas is not without star power in the front seven as end Jackson Jeffcoat and linebacker Jordan Hicks both have five-star pedigrees and productive seasons on their resume.

NOTRE DAME AT MICHIGAN (8 P.M.) – Similar to Florida/Miami, this is the last game in Ann Arbor scheduled between these two schools. (They will meet next year in South Bend to conclude the current series.) Their last four meetings have been decided by a total of 19 points, and the night atmosphere at the Big House ought to be reminiscent of the 2011 edition, a classic that saw the Wolverines rally to victory in the final seconds. Devin Gardner looked good in the bowl game against South Carolina, and he’ll need to be crisp facing one of the better defensive lines in the country, including All-American candidates Louis Nix and Stephon Tuitt. Nix added some fuel to this game’s fire last month when he responded via Twitter to Brady Hoke’s claim that the Irish were chickening out of the series.

SAN JOSE STATE AT STANFORD (10:30 P.M., PAC-12 NETWORK) – Each week I am going to attempt to find you a night cap to watch while you’re out at the bar or on the couch recovering from your favorite team’s loss earlier in the day. This is an easy one, as last season the Spartans pushed the Cardinal before falling 20-17. They return quarterback David Fales, a possible first-round pick in next year’s draft who threw for 41 touchdowns and 4,193 yards last year, all while completing 72.9 percent of his passes. Stanford also brings a quarterback they like into the game, as Kevin Hogan started and won the final five games of the season for David Shaw. San Jose State lost head coach Mike McIntyre to Colorado, but if Fales can stay upright – no small task against a Cardinal defense among the best in the nation at getting to the quarterback – they’ll have a chance to pull off the upset for new coach Ron Caragher.

OTHER GAMES CONSIDERED:

SYRACUSE AT NORTHWESTERN (6 P.M., BIG TEN NETWORK) – All of your favorite sportswriters will have a vested interest in this clash because 80 percent of them attended one of the two schools.

WEST VIRGINIA AT OKLAHOMA (TBD) – This will be presumptive Sooner quarterback Blake Bell’s first real test of the season. But considering how the Mountaineer defense has played during the Dana Holgorsen era, this is like a quiz where someone gave you an answer key before you walked in the door.

OREGON AT VIRGINIA (3:30 P.M., ABC/ESPN2) – I used to work with a guy who had Virginia season tickets. The Monday morning after they played USC in 2008 (a 52-7 Trojan victory), he came into the office and said “Nobody told me we were playing the [bleeping] Redskins.” The Cavaliers are in a better place, but this could still get bloody.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIDEO FROM YAHOO! SPORTS:

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Former Oklahoma State QB Wes Lunt lands at Illinois • Top recruit chooses South Carolina because of easy classes • Little-known Elfrid Payton emerges at U-19 basketball tryouts

President Barack Obama spoke of a sexual assault issue at the Naval Academys commissioning ceremony last month, which makes the latest accusation of sexual assault involving Navy football players look even worse.

The academys superintendent decided to move forward with the sexual assault case to Article 32 proceedings, the Associated Press reported. That hearing will determine if theres evidence to proceed to a court-martial.

A female midshipman said she woke up after a night of drinking with bruises, and found out that three football players she considered friends claimed to have sex with her while she was passed out, the AP said. She claims the incident took place last year in an off-campus house.

The incident is concerning because, as AP writes, there have been a string of sexual assault cases in the military, and many involve alcohol.

Military.com reported that all three football players will face an Article 32 hearing, although their names havent been made public (because service academies have their own judicial system it is very difficult to get information on cases, which seems odd because unlike civilian schools, taxpayers are picking up almost the entire cost of the education of these individuals).

Navy football went 8-5 last year and played in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

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Rich Rodriguez is your huckleberry.

The Arizona staff got together, dressed up in full old West garb and did a promotional video in an old Western theme for the 2013 season. This is the beauty of the offseason.

Check out the video for "Hard Edge" (we especially like tight ends coach Charlie Ragle showing off his acting chops getting thrown out of a saloon, and the executive producer credit at the end to Rita Rodriguez, Rich Rods wife):

GoAzCats.com points out that Rodriguez has said hes a fan of the 1976 Western "The Outlaw Josie Wales," so he probably had a blast doing the video. It actually looks like the entire staff was having fun, which makes it entertaining. And, theres Rich Rod in a full costume, which is worth it by itself.

So, to honor "Tombstone," which obviously takes place in Arizona and ranks somewhere in the "Caddyshack," "Animal House," "Rounders," "Old School," and "Big Lebowski" annals among most quotable movies, we have to wonder how they could miss a scene with Rodriguez yelling, "The Sun Devils are finished, you understand? I see the devil horns, I kill the man wearing it! So run, you cur. Run! Tell all the other curs the Wildcats are coming! You tell em Im coming, and hells coming with me, you hear? Hells coming with me!"

Maybe theyre saving the Tombstone dialogue for the sequel.

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Wes Lunt is heading home.

The former Oklahoma State quarterback has chosen to transfer to Illinois, deciding on the Illini over Louisville. Lunt hails from Rochester, a 90-minute drive from Illinois’ campus in Champaign.

[RELATED: DONT PRAISE MIKE GUNDY FOR FINALLY DOING THE RIGHT THING]

From ESPN’s Joe Schad:

"I know its a team game and I cant do it all by myself," Lunt said. "I do hope we can add some more good recruits."

Lunt called Illinois coach Tim Beckman on Monday to inform him of his decision.

"I am OK with how I left Oklahoma State," Lunt said. "God had a plan for me. No hard feelings with Coach (Mike Gundy)."

The hard feelings with Gundy could have potentially sprung from the fact the Cowboys’ head coach put restrictions on Lunt’s potential landing spots last month. Despite Oklahoma State being in the Big 12, Gundy refused to let his freshman quarterback transfer to Vanderbilt and Tennessee, which are in the SEC. He also restricted Lunt from transferring within the conference or to Southern Miss, where former OK State offensive coordinator Todd Monken is now the head coach. Gundy hasnt elaborated on the reasons for the specific restrictions.

Lunt won the starting job out of camp last year as a true freshman, replacing Brandon Weeden as the trigger man in Gundys vaunted offense. He battled injuries all year, which led to a quarterback carousel in Stillwater, featuring Lunt, J.W. Walsh and Clint Chelf. Lunt threw for over a thousand yards (including a 436-yard effort against Arizona) in his six games of action. Walsh, Chelf and transfer Daxx Garman will compete for the job, although Chelf – who started the final five games of the season – was briefly named the starter by Gundy earlier this year.

Lunt will have to sit out this fall, per NCAA rules on transferring.

This is quite a coup for Beckman, whose team ranked 104^th in the nation in pass efficiency during last year’s 2-10 season, his first as head coach in Champaign. (Another of Beckmans previous stops was at Oklahoma State, where he served as defensive coordinator in 2007 and 2008.) Lunt was the seventh-ranked pro-style quarterback coming out of high school and will likely be competing against incoming freshman Aaron Bailey, one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation, for the starting gig.

Although it is unlikely Beckman would find his job in jeopardy after two seasons, it will certainly help his case to be able to point to a bright future under center.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIDEO FROM YAHOO! SPORTS:

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Top recruit chooses South Carolina because of easy classes • Week 2s top five college football games to watch • Knee injury puts Greg Whittingtons season in jeopardy

When youre the best college football program in the nation, how do you improve the experience for your players? Apparently, by adding a waterfall to the locker room.

The news of Alabamas new waterfall got out when quarterback prospect David Cornwell tweeted about it ("That waterfall in Bamas locker room is about to be legit! Cmon who has a waterfall.. No one!" he wrote). And in fairness, Twitter was pretty much invented so people could tweet about football teams installing a waterfall in the locker room, right?

Now heres where we get serious, but only for a second.

We asked Alabama spokesman Jeff Purinton, who confirmed that yes theres a waterfall coming in, but its not a big deal. There will be a system that will allow water to fall over into the hot and cold tubs from a few feet, he said.

So yeah, theyre not exactly building Tuscaloosa Falls in the Crimson Tide locker room.

Even though its a nice little stream of water that will probably look nice and be very feng shui and in the long run is not a very big deal, were going to just turn off reality and imagine this is AJ McCarron jumping into the Alabama hot tub after practice:

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If you wanted to be a curmudgeon and complain about how back in the day teams didnt need seven different uniform combinations and walked uphill in snow both ways to the stadium, pointing to this video could really help your case about the sartorial absurdity in college football. The folks at Compete4ever - an eSports community - put the above together, taking the time to scroll through every preset uniform in EA Sports upcoming game.

It takes 35 minutes. I think watching the entire thing would put you into some sort of trance, so maybe just check on your favorite school and of course Oregon, which has approximately 20 designs to choose from.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Top DE recruit commits to South Carolina because of classes where ‘you have to try to fail’ • Rich Rodriguez and the Arizona staff dress up for an old Western video • SEC fans say average fans being priced out of attending games

Theres an interesting book if youre a fan of football history called "Blood, Sweat and Chalk" which traces the history of various formations and famous plays from Pop Warner through the Wishbone triple option to the modern day spread offenses. A theme throughout the book is that its almost impossible to figure out the true origin of any Xs and Os innovation because every coach borrows at least part of their schemes from someone else.

So when Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin gets credit for his offensive brilliance (which he should), just know that he had to steal some of his ideas from another coach. Thats how it has gone throughout football history.

And in Sumlins case, it seems his offensive lineage started with Mike Price.

Price, who unfortunately is probably better known for the fiasco that led to him being fired at Alabama before he ever coached a game, was in the middle of a great run at Washington State when Sumlin learned the offensive foundation he uses today. Sumlin, who played linebacker in college, wanted a defensive coaching job but Price thought he should be on the offensive side of the ball.

The San Antonio Express-News talked to Sumlin about it, and this is what he said Price told him:

“First thing I want you to do is move to offense, and were a little bit different than a lot of people on that side of the ball. Well have one back and no backs and motion and all kinds of stuff that a lot of people dont really do, and a lot of them dont understand. But it gives us a chance to win. If you learn what were doing and you want to coach, youll have a job forever.”

Sumlins ascent to coaching stardom is interesting because hes known for dynamic offenses even though he played on defense ("What position did Tony Dungy play in college?" Sumlin said in an interview this month, waiting to hear that defensive genius Dungy played quarterback in college). It turns out Sumlin owes plenty to Price, who probably picked up his philosophy from another coach who cant remember which coach he took it from.

- - - _ Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday and be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you wont see on the blog. _

_The college football offseason is long and arduous, but its end is almost in sight. We’re going to take a look at five games you have to look forward to for every weekend of the season. (This is also a handy guide to decide how to RSVP for any autumn weddings.) _

_All times are Eastern and all games are played on Saturday unless otherwise noted. _

THESE GAMES TAKE PLACE THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 31ST.

[RELATED: WEEK 2S TOP FIVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES TO WATCH]

OLE MISS AT VANDERBILT (9:15 P.M., ESPN, THURSDAY) – Two of the trendiest coaches and programs in the game squaring off in their conference opener on the first night of football? That will do nicely. James Franklin is cleaning up on recruits (19^th in the Rivals rankings in 2013 after finishing 70^th in 2011) and wins at Vanderbilt, guiding the Commodores to a 9-4 record and Music City Bowl victory in his second season. At Ole Miss, Hugh Freeze is bringing in five-star recruits left and right, building off of a debut season as Rebels head coach that saw the program appear in (and win) its first bowl game since 2009. Both of these programs have bright futures but razor-thin margins of error in the loaded SEC, which should make this a dandy of a game to help kick off the 2013 season.

GEORGIA AT CLEMSON (8 P.M., ABC) – We are blessed with a great crop of quarterbacks this season, as a lot of talented, productive signal callers either chose to skip the draft or were too young to have the option. This game features two that could have left but decided to come back, and their opening week matchup will almost surely include plenty of fireworks. For Georgia it’s Aaron Murray, who came painfully close to shedding the “Can’t win the big one” monkey from his back against Alabama in the SEC title game, but comes into 2013 with a myriad of weapons to utilize.

On the other side you have Tajh Boyd, who was masterful for most of 2012, including a come-from-behind win against the vaunted LSU defense in the Tigers bowl game. The Tigers may have a slight advantage here, as they return some key players to their defensive front seven (Georgia loses almost all of their top contributors from that side of the ball), they’re at home and they’ve already scouted the Dawgs.

LSU VS. TCU AT COWBOYS STADIUM (9 P.M., ESPN) – Both of these teams had down 2012 seasons when compared to their lofty standards. LSU has to replace a wealth of departed talent from their defense, but when is the last time that side of the ball was a problem for Les Miles? New offensive coordinator Cam Cameron will continue to develop QB Zach Mettenberger, a top recruit who improved over the course of last season. Gary Patterson had a ton of youth in his defense last year, an issue that was compounded by the Horned Frogs’ jump to the Big 12 and the arrest and suspension of starting quarterback Casey Pachall. Neither team will be at full strength, as TCU has suspended star defensive end Devonte Fields and LSU tailback Jeremy Hill is out indefinitely following an April arrest.

NORTHWESTERN AT CALIFORNIA (10:30 P.M., ESPN2) – How about a little late-night nerd clash to close out the first Saturday? The Wildcats take an offense that returns nearly all of its skill players, including two capable quarterbacks in Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian. It’ll be a tough test for Sonny Dykes’ debut as Cal head coach, as he attempts to get the “Bear Raid” (amazing name) offense up to speed as quickly as he can. The Wildcats are double-digit favorites, but considering it is their first game of the season, it’s a late kickoff two time zones from home and Dykes knows how to quickly put an offense together, this one might get weird in an entertaining way.

OHIO AT LOUISVILLE (3:30 P.M., ESPN, SUNDAY) – Louisville is going to be a preseason top ten team, and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater should be counted among the Heisman favorites. However, their schedule is comically awful, partly due to a weak non-conference slate but mainly because of dealing with one more year of the neo-Big East American Athletic Conference before they jump to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014 (yes, for those keeping score, Louisville is changing from the AAC to the ACC). Frank Solich’s Bobcats, who went 9-4 last season and enter 2013 as one of the MAC favorites, could end up being the best team the Cardinals play all regular season.

Considering how bad the schedule is, any chance that Louisville has of competing for a title and staying in the national conversation will end with their first loss. Sure, Charlie Strong’s crew beat Florida last season, but it also lost to UConn and Syracuse. Can the Bobcats spring another opening game road upset like they did in knocking off Penn State last season? Possibly, but they’re going to have to stop Bridgewater to pull it off, which is no small feat.

OTHER GAMES CONSIDERED:

NORTH CAROLINA AT SOUTH CAROLINA (6 P.M., ESPN, THURSDAY) – The first nationally televised game of the season is a border war between two teams that will be favorites in their respective divisions.

MISSISSIPPI STATE VS. OKLAHOMA STATE IN HOUSTON (3:30 P.M., ABC/ESPN2) – Along with TCU/LSU, this game could help set the benchmarks for some SEC/Big 12 arguments for the rest of the season.

ALABAMA VS. VIRGINIA TECH IN ATLANTA (5:30 P.M., ESPN) – We’re all going to watch this game, but it falls short of the top five because the Tide are three-touchdown favorites. It doesn’t mean the Hokies won’t make it interesting, it just means we’ll need to see some signs of early life against the defending champs.

WASHINGTON STATE AT AUBURN (TBD) – Two really good offense-minded head coaches working to turn around a pair of teams that were not very good this year. Gus Malzahn’s (who was coaching high school in 2005) debut as Tigers head coach.

BOISE STATE AT WASHINGTON (10 P.M., FOX SPORTS 1) – Las Vegas Bowl rematch! These two teams traded late field goals in a fun 28-26 Broncos win in December, and as Steve Sarkisian’s seat starts to get a little warm, winning the first game at renovated Husky Stadium against Chris Petersen might help calm the locals.

FLORIDA STATE AT PITTSBURGH (8 P.M., ESPN, MONDAY) – The Panthers’ first ACC game is a doozy, as they play host to defending conference champs Florida State. This will be the much-ballyhooed Jameis Winston’s debut as Seminoles’ starting quarterback. If the Noles look good here, expect the hype machine for Jimbo Fisher’s crew to get turned on.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Top recruit chooses South Carolina because of easy classes • Dont praise Mike Gundy for finally doing the right thing • Johnny Manziel tweets he wants out of A&M

When you consider some of the tactics that have been used by high school recruits in their commitment ceremonies – tattoos, live animals, black outs – we should not be surprised that a human child would become prominently involved. We’ve seen it a few times before, like when Richie Brown tasked his infant nephew with helping him choose Mississippi State, but La Salle (Cincinnati) wide receiver Derek Kief took his ceremony to a whole other level.

Kief has been _very _active in keeping folks informed about his recruiting, updating DerekKief.com and releasing his top five of Notre Dame, Kentucky, Ohio State, Alabama and Northwestern in an elaborate poster incorporating the logos of all five schools. When it came time to make his choice, he did not disappoint. In a sharply produced video that included covers of Lil Wayne’s “How to Love” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and his entire family donning Tide gear, Kief displayed his sister Zoey wearing an Alabama shirt to declare his commitment. After that you get a plethora of slow motion hugs to celebrate, a thank you from Derek and a photo of him posing with Nick Saban.

It was a successful recruiting weekend for Saban and the reigning champs, who also got a verbal from four-star QB recruit David Cornwell Friday.

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The SEC is proactive in the battle to keep fans coming to the stadium and has looked into creative ways to keep attendance high, including adding WiFi to their stadiums.

One thing that didnt come up as much was fixing the increasingly overwhelming cost of going to games. And – spoiler alert! – dont expect that to be high on the priority list for any school.

But many fans do feel the price of going to college football games is overwhelming. AL.com did an informal survey of SEC fans from around the country, and even some outside the United States, and the most interesting finding is 83 percent replied yes to, "Do you believe average fans have been priced out of attending college football games?"

Thats a problem.

The survey was quite interesting, and worth a read. Another interesting tidbit was of fans who said they attend games, 70 percent spend more than $500 a year on those games and 45 percent said they spend more than $1,000 a year. Those figures are not too surprising either, if youve attended a big-time college football game. Of course the high price would seem more fair if they had to pay the players who are providing the entertainment and risking their health every week. Or if they werent dragging in billions of dollars on television deals. The way it is, it just feels like gouging.

The good news for college football is fans still prefer going to games. Even with the comforts of watching at home, 61 percent told AL.com they prefer watching games in person. But in the same poll, 54 percent said they are attending fewer games than five years ago.

Its a significant issue, just not one that most schools are going to move to fix until theyve tried every other possible solution.

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Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison has some legal problems to deal with, but at least along the way he provided one of the funnier lines of the year.

Morrison got to the Kava Lounge and apparently did not want to pay a cover charge. Then, according to the Associated Press, like a misplaced signature line from a movie superhero, he identified himself.

"Do you know who I am? I am a UF football player. I am Antonio!" Morrison said, according to the AP.

"I am Antonio!" did not get Morrison out of the cover charge, though it should have. Thats gold.

We imagine it went down something like this:

Upon being told he was still going to have to pay full price, Morrison reportedly punched the bouncer in the head, because thats the normal reaction.

He was charged with simple battery and arrested at his dormitory, the AP said.

Who is this masked man trying to avoid cover charges with a single bound? He played all 13 games as a freshman for Florida last year, had 34 tackles and started three games. Maybe that gives someone the "Do you know who I am?" status in Florida, but it seems unlikely. And, apparently the bouncer and a witness did not know who "Antonio!" was, considering the AP report said they identified him by looking him up on the schools website.

Morrison was expected to start the season on Floridas defense. We will certainly remember his name.

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Here we thought Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was too busy attending the NBA Finals to be harassed in College Station.

Apparently something happened in the early morning hours on Sunday to tweet – with an expletive – that he was very ready to be done with his college experience at Texas A&M. He has since deleted the tweet but it was grabbed by a few of his 360,000 followers, including @tverdeur04 (link has uncensored tweet), which we saw via the Houston Chronicle:

He had a seemingly related tweet that he did not delete:

Dont ever forget that I love A&M with all of my heart, but please please walk a day in my shoes

— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) June 16, 2013

We dont know what set off the angry tweets, and we wont take an early-morning message to mean anything more than temporary frustration. Its not exactly a formal declaration that hes leaving for the NFL draft early or anything. But Manziels life at Texas A&M has to be pretty unusual.

Weve written about how he didnt feel he could take classes on campus in the spring, but also about how he appeared to be having a great time taking pictures with fellow students one night out around school.

He has a level of celebrity that would be hard to match for any current college student, and at times apparently feels its too much. And he doesnt mind expressing it on social media, either.

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MORE SPORTS NEWS FROM THE YAHOO! SPORTS MINUTE:

RELATED CONTENT ON YAHOO! SPORTS • Texas A&M officials take playful jabs at Alabama • How will BCS ending, new bowls affect schools buying bowl tickets? • Jerry Rice Jr. transferring from UCLA

Earlier this week we looked at the possibility of smaller conferences creating new bowl games in 2014 to ensure their eligible teams didn’t get left at home for the postseason. It didn’t take long to get some specifics on the first candidate:

If approved, "Rice Bowl" in Little Rock, Ark., will pit MAC vs. Sun Belt starting in 2014. Would be 36th bowl

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) June 14, 2013

If you’re wondering what rice and Little Rock have in common, Arkansas produces more of the crop than any other state. But what interests me here isn’t the MAC/Sun Belt match up – although I will obviously watch next December if it becomes a real thing – but the details of the contracts schools are signing with the bowls. As it currently stands, the bowls are in an incredibly sweet spot (which is how you end up with 35 of them with more on the horizon). ESPN pays them handsomely for the broadcast rights, as live events – especially sports and especially football – become more and more valuable because they’re mostly DVR proof, meaning viewers might actually watch the commercials. The bowls also don’t even have the responsibility to sell that many tickets because schools are forced to immediately buy thousands of them as soon as they commit to the game.

For some games, this is not a big deal. To take the most extreme examples, Notre Dame reportedly had 100,000 applicants for 10,000 championship game tickets. But on the other side, you have UConn, who lost 1.6 million on their Fiesta Bowl trip a few years ago. Earlier this week, The Gainesville Sun reported that Florida didn’t just lose the Sugar Bowl in January, but lost nearly a million dollars to play in the game.

Schools are forced to buy these tickets at full price (usually triple figures for the bigger bowls) and if the game isn’t a popular draw, fans can buy tickets at a fraction of the cost on the secondary market. When Florida State squared off with Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl, a Seminole or Husky fan could have eschewed face value and got in the door for 14 dollars. (Poor Florida State also lost money by winning the ACC Championship.)

It’s a raw deal for schools, as bowl executives get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for putting on one game a year. This great story from USA Today last year highlighted how bowls are paying their bosses an average of $438,000, double what they were in 2002. Not bad work if you can get it.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive is already looking to reduce the amount of tickets his schools are forced to buy, but in the upcoming post-BCS landscape, will teams from smaller conferences still be forced to commit to selling tickets and hotel rooms for a bowl game that wouldn’t exist without their participation? Or will the benefits of playing the game – most notably exposure that helps with recruiting – cause them to ignore potential financial losses?

We’re heading into a brave new world of college football postseason, and the most important question to settle is figuring out who’s going to be on the committee that picks the playoff participants. After that, however, perhaps the biggest unknown is whether schools or bowls will win at the bargaining table. I wouldn’t bet against Slive or some of the other power conferences, but smaller leagues could find themselves stuck in an uncomfortable position, continuing to pay for the right to play.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Battle of L.A. turns to middle school for reinforcements • Clemson confirms Howards Rock has been vandalized • A look inside the 2013 schedules

Sometimes things just work out.

Like when you move to a new conference to escape being the little brother to your rival and quickly find yourself the coolest school in Texas. Then your new coach’s offense is a perfect fit for your redshirt freshman quarterback and they make beautiful music together, winning the Heisman and the Cotton Bowl. And on top of that, you catch the defending national champion and number one team in the country the week after they went 12 rounds in Baton Rouge and take advantage to spring the upset.

Texas A&M is coming off a great year, so why not crow about it a little? At the Aggies Coach’s Night, athletic director Eric Hyman took a playful jab at Alabama, whose only loss last year came at home to the Kevin Sumlin/Johnny Manziel tag team:

“What do the moon and Texas A&M have in common? They both control the Tide.”

…

Following his zinger Hyman, hired a year ago from fellow Southeastern Conference foe South Carolina, then introduced second-year football coach Kevin Sumlin before a crowd of about 800 in the Memorial Student Center ballroom.

He also added to Sumlin he “wants to be able to say the same thing” in a year.

“No pressure, Eric,” Sumlin said when he reached the podium. “Thank you.”

An old joke but a perfectly acceptable one, but then things got even more entertaining. On Twitter, radio host Paul Finebaum – whose show is known for fielding calls from some of the craziest of Crimson Tide supporters – said “Nick is going to be mad!”, referring of course to Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

In response to that, A&M president R. Bowen Loftin kept it real:

@finebaum @CecilHurt @BrentZwerneman Paul, he is already mad.

— R. Bowen Loftin 71 (@aggieprez) June 14, 2013

Perfect. It’s the offseason, everyone is getting antsy for football and I doubt this hurt Saban’s feelings like when it was suggested he might be Mephistopheles. The game that perhaps looms largest as we look ahead to the season is the Aggies/Tide rematch - which will likely be a battle of top five teams - so it’s completely justifiable for the A&M officials to start hyping it up this far in advance.

Alabama travels to Kyle Field on September 14^th, as A.J. McCarron tries to get a little revenge against Manziel and both teams attempt to get an early advantage in the race for the uber competitive SEC West. Folks are just a little excited for the contest, with it currently costing about four hundred dollars to even get in the door.

(Related Saban reading: Grantland’s Holly Anderson has put a quiz together comparing the quotes of the Tide coach to those of “Mad Men” showrunner Matthew Weiner. Good luck.)

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Schools could still lose money in revamped bowl system • Kevin Ware inspires 14-year-old car accident victim with surprise visit • Preseason scrimmage costs ODU basketball star his senior season

Are you old enough to officially be considered a teenager? Then congratulations, as you are now old enough to be recruited by major college football programs as an inevitable but discomforting trend continues.

In 2010, USC head coach Lane Kiffin received a verbal commitment from then-13-year-old quarterback David Sills of Delaware. Earlier this week, he offered another middle schooler a chance to play for the Trojans. In an apparent attempt to not get left behind in this particular recruiting war, UCLA head coach Jim Mora has extended a scholarship offer to eighth grader Lindell Stone of Texas. We should be clear that this is not only happening on the west coast, as Alabama, LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, Florida, Florida State and Nebraska have all offered Baton Rouge eighth grader Dylan Moses. (UCLA also has an offer in to the defensive back/running back.)

Let’s also be sure to point out that all of these offers and commitments are essentially meaningless. Schools can’t submit official offers until August 1^st of a player’s senior year in high school (section 13.9.2.2), a very long way off for all of these soon-to-be prep freshmen. And even those offers mean nothing until a player signs a National Letter of Intent in February of their senior year. Until that point, they’re allowed to switch their verbal commitment as many times as they want until pen meets paper and paper meets fax machine.

This is a sign of coaches trying to get their foot in the door earlier and earlier with elite recruits (or players they think will be elite recruits in three years), as the football recruiting process begins to look more and more like college hoops. (This is not a good thing.)

Mora beat the Trojans twice in his first season running the Bruins program, winning on the field (38-28 in a game that also resulted in a season-ending injury to USC quarterback Matt Barkley) and on the recruiting trail (collecting the Rivals eighth-ranked class versus USC’s thirteenth*). The intracity feud goes far beyond the football field, as USC recently poached 2 brain researchers from their rivals.

* _Worth noting that USC was working with a reduced number of scholarships due to NCAA sanctions and that UCLA gaining the late addition of five-star defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes isn’t factored in to those rankings._

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How are things going for Sills, the 13-year-old Kiffin offered back in 2010? He’s now 6’3”, but was only able to play in three games during the 2012 season because the virtual high school his dad founded (no, seriously) wasn’t sanctioned by the state of Maryland.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone, ESPN is reporting that Kentucky has offered seventh-grader Jairus Brents.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Troubled linebacker Rolando McClain returns to Alabama after NFL retirement • Pat Forde: A look inside college footballs 2013 schedules • Low-budget schools again get short end of APR measuring stick

A key part of one of the most iconic traditions in college football has been vandalized, as Clemson officials confirmed that Howard’s Rock was damaged earlier this month.

“We take vandalism, especially of such an important part of our history, very seriously,” Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said in a statement Sunday night. “Police are investigating.” Howard’s Rock sits on a hill above Memorial Stadium, where Clemson players have rubbed it before every taking the field for every home game since 1966. The stone was brought to Death Valley, South Carolina from Death Valley, California by a Tigers alum.

According to reports, on either June 2^nd or 3^rd, vandals removed the Plexiglass casing around the stone and broke off a chunk of it. The pedestal the stone sits on was not damaged and the case around the rock has been replaced, but the piece of stone is missing. While the police haven’t named any suspects, that hasn’t stopped some of the Tiger faithful from looking toward their rivals from Columbia. This isn’t the first time the Rock has been targeted:

This is the third time someone has tried to remove or vandalize the rock. In 1992, the week leading up to the South Carolina game someone or group of people tried to remove Howard’s Rock from its pedestal atop the east hill in Memorial Stadium and they took off a piece on the left side of the rock.

In 2004 an opponent’s team manager tried to vandalize the rock during a walk through the day before the game, but he was stopped.

While we all enjoy some good-natured pranking, actually damaging a decades-old part of a school’s tradition is clearly a step too far. The incident is reminiscent of Alabama fan Harvey Updyke’s heinous attack on rival Auburn, where he poisoned the beloved oak trees at Toomer’s Corner. Auburn hopes to have the trees replaced by the 2014 football season, but there is no word on whether Clemson plans on attempting to repair the Rock.

Here is a very old ESPN clip - featuring a very young Chris Fowler - detailing the tradition:

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MORE SPORTS NEWS FROM THE YAHOO! SPORTS MINUTE:

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Battle of L.A. turns to middle school for reinforcements • Troubled linebacker Rolando McClain returns to Alabama after NFL retirement • Pat Forde: A look inside college footballs 2013 schedules

After seeing his life fall apart after entering the NFL, Rolando McClain is going back home to Alabama.

At a benefit dinner Tuesday night, Nick Saban told attendees that "[Rolandos] gone back to school. Hes with us now." The 23-year-old announced his retirement from the NFL last month after three seasons in the league. The eighth overall pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 2010 draft, McClain’s promising pro career went off the tracks after a series of off-field incidents.

"I know a lot of people get disappointed in [Rolando] and a lot of the things hes struggled with," Saban continued, "but hes with us now." McClain was a star in Tuscaloosa, winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker and helping Saban win his first national title at Alabama. The Decatur, Ala., native was one of the top prospects in the country coming out of high school and lived up to the hype, tallying nearly 300 tackles (31.5 for loss), eight sacks and five interceptions in his three years with the Crimson Tide. When the Raiders took him in the first round, the usually mocked franchise was given high marks for the presumably safe, smart pick.

McClain signed a five-year, $40.25 million contract and while fairly productive (246 tackles, 6.5 sacks) in his time with the Raiders, he couldn’t stay out of trouble. In January of 2011, McClain was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges for firing a gun during a fight in his hometown. He was arrested this past January – again in Decatur – for providing false information during a traffic stop. In April, back in his hometown after signing a contract with the Ravens, McClain was arrested for a third time, this time being charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Saban is often mocked for being a robot (or worse) whose only goal is to win football games, so its nice to see him attempting to help out one of his old players by bringing him "home" to Tuscaloosa. As long as he can keep McClain away from Decatur – a two-hour drive from the Alabama campus – the coach might be able to help turn around the life (and perhaps career) of a man he clearly respects.

"That guy was a phenomenal leader," Saban added on Tuesday night. "He affected everybody in the organization at a time when we needed leadership because we had a lot of bad things happen when I first got there."

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Pat Forde: A look inside college footballs 2013 schedules • Low-budget schools again get short end of APR measuring stick • Report: Bowl games could be coming to Dubai, Dublin, the Bahamas

After trying and failing to get out of his National Letter of Intent, it seems Matthew Thomas is going to end up in Tallahassee after all.

The five-star outside linebacker committed to Florida State on signing day, choosing the Seminoles over Georgia, Southern Cal and his hometown Miami Hurricanes. Thomas regretted his decision, asking head coach Jimbo Fisher to let him out of his scholarship.

From the Miami Herald in early May:

“What happened was on Signing Day [was] I wasn’t sure who I wanted to sign with. I had issues with different schools. But when I told my mom I didn’t want to sign with anybody and wait and give it a few days she said I couldn’t do that. She said, ‘FSU is a good school – pick them. It’s close to home.’ I wasn’t agreeing with it. But I felt like I was being disrespectful to her if I didn’t sign. So I made her happy.”

…

“I’ve been in Miami all my life. Georgia needs linebackers. It’s a big program. I have family in Georgia. USC, growing up I never thought I would have an opportunity that big. I just want to go have fun and play football.”

Florida State didn’t budge on releasing Thomas from the scholarship, meaning that if he left the school, it would effectively be a transfer. He would have to sit out the upcoming season and likely have to pay his own way for a year wherever he landed.

“You’d get into a situation where if you release him, then people would be doing that every year,” FSU AD Randy Spetman told the Tallahassee Democrat Tuesday at the ACC spring meetings. "We would be more than happy to release someone if there is a compelling reason."

But after rumors circulating earlier this week that Thomas was going to land at USC, the Booker T. Washington High School star told Warchant.com that he would indeed be reporting this Saturday along with the rest of his freshman class:

"After meeting with coach Fisher and his staff and gathering all the information I have decided to honor my commitment to Florida State," Thomas said in a statement released to Warchant.com. "I also want to be close to my family and I want be part of what they are building at Florida State. Im looking forward to winning games at Florida State and building towards my future."

After Notre Dame chose not to release five-star defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes from his NLI, Sports Illustrated writer Andy Staples called the document “the worst contract in American sports.” The agreement guarantees that a player must enroll at a school for a year, regardless of whether a coach leaves in the offseason. In return, the player cannot be recruited by other schools. In college basketball, many top recruits never sign the document, knowing that teams will keep spots open for them until they enroll. While Fisher and Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly took some flak for their decisions not to release the blue-chip recruits, you can be certain coaches across the country breathed a sigh of relief that the NLI retains some value in its current form.

Thomas is one of two five-star recruits in Florida State’s tenth-ranked class of 2013. Fisher’s team will be looking for to defend its ACC Championship following last year’s 12-2 effort that included a victory in the Orange Bowl over Northern Illinois.

Here are some of Thomas senior year highlights:

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One of the surest signs you’re getting close to the start of the season is the release of the latest EA Sports "NCAA Football" game. We’re still weeks away from that, so we’ll happily settle for the release of the ratings from those games.

Tradition Sports Online snagged the important information from E3, so lets take a look at the top 15 players in the game and see how EA did in assessing the nations best. (And lets also enjoy this before the Ed OBannon case takes away our college football video games.)

1) JADEVEON CLOWNEY – 99 OVR (OVERALL) A player so good people thought he might skip playing his junior season and still get drafted No. 1 overall. And lets not forget this:

Yep, this seems correct.

2) JOHNNY MANZIEL – 97 OVR

Your reigning Heisman winner, the Aggie quarterback is the preseason favorite in Vegas for the award. Theres a chance playing with Manziel is going to be like playing with Vick in "Madden 2004," when all of your friends declared the Falcons illegal due to his virtual abilities. (P.S. Calling dibs on playing as A&M when this years version comes out.)

3) DEANTHONY THOMAS – 97 OVR

Wait just a second: The game only has Black Mamba at 98 Speed?! Sure, 99 Acceleration, 98 Elusiveness and 96 Agility are showing proper respect, but the guy does this:

What does it take to get 99 Speed in this game?

4) A.J. MCCARRON – 97 OVR

This feels maybe just a smidge high. McCarron has elite weapons like T.J. Yeldon and Amari Cooper and is protected by what is essentially a giant stone wall of five-star recruits. However, the guy has won two straight titles and spends his time choosing between which model to date. Who am I to be a hater? Roll Tide.

5) MARQISE LEE – 97 OVR

As Matt Barkleys season (and draft stock) imploded last year, Lee kept chugging along, putting up video game numbers (Im sorry) of 118 catches, 1,721 yards and 14 touchdowns. Its a little foggy who his quarterback will be this year, but Lees talent is crystal clear.

6) C.J. MOSLEY – 97 OVR

One of the best linebackers in football, the Alabama senior totaled 107 tackles (8 for loss), 4 sacks, 2 picks and a forced fumble last year. Considering Nick Sabans defense will likely be at the top of the pack again this year, there is nothing to dispute here.

7) BRAXTON MILLER – 96 OVR

In his freshman season, the Ohio State quarterback was basically the only bright spot on a woeful Buckeye offense. His sophomore year, they went 12-0. Now hes had his second offseason learning under Urban Meyer, who is pretty good at coaching quarterbacks. 96 might actually be a little low.

8) TEDDY BRIDGEWATER – 96 OVR

The Louisville quarterback is a 99 in "Having a name that could be shared by a bad guy on The O.C. " and also pretty legit at football, too. Considering how he absolutely carved up a vaunted Florida defense in the Sugar Bowl, this feels a little low too. If Manziel doesnt win the Heisman, one of the main reasons could be Miller or Bridgewater going off during an undefeated campaign.

9) JAKE MATTHEWS – 96 OVR

Our first offensive lineman, the A&M tackle is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews and cousin of Packers linebacker Clay Matthews. Walter Football has him pegged as a top 10 pick in the 2014 draft.

10) AARON MURRAY – 96 OVR

The Georgia quarterback chose to come back for one more crack at the SEC championship after losing the title game the last two years. After struggling against top defenses most of his career, Murray was fantastic against the Tide and threw for 427 and 5 touchdowns against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl.

11) TAYLOR LEWAN – 96 OVR

The Michigan offensive tackle would have been a top pick in this spring’s NFL draft, but he made the folks in Ann Arbor (mainly starting quarterback Devin Gardner) happy by choosing to return. No quibbles here.

12) TAJH BOYD – 95 OVR

The Clemson quarterback threw for 3,896 yards and 36 touchdowns last season, then added over 500 yards and 10 more scores on the ground. Hes another Heisman candidate in his senior season, especially after leading the Tigers to a come-from-behind victory over LSU in their bowl game.

13) SAMMY WATKINS – 95 OVR

Do you know one thing that helps Boyd put up the numbers he does? Having Watkins on the outside. If someone is going to pull out Texas A&M against you, perhaps the best counter is to unleash the virtual Boyd-Watkins connection.

14) DENICOS ALLEN – 95 OVR

Is someone high up at EA Sports a Michigan State grad? I kid, kind of, but the outside linebacker was only an honorable mention on last seasons All-Big Ten team and Phil Steele only has him slotted at second team on his preseason honor roll, behind teammate Max Bullough.

15) KADEEM CAREY – 94 OVR

Perhaps the best player in college football few know about, Carey had over 2,400 yards from scrimmage and 24 total touchdowns for Arizona last year. He should be awarded this ranking on the merits of his game against Colorado alone, where he went for 366 yards and 5 scores.

Other than Allen and perhaps switching around the quarterbacks a bit, I think the folks at EA did a fine job. Is there anybody in particular you think was snubbed from the list?

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Pat Forde: A look inside college footballs 2013 schedules • Low-budget schools again get short end of APR measuring stick • Did NFL star Wes Welker commit an NCAA violation?

Are you ready for some international football?

With an NCAA moratorium on creating new bowl games ending after this season and smaller conferences finding themselves increasingly left out of discussions with the power leagues, the “Group of Five” is looking across the country – and world – for some new bowl locales.

According to Brett McMurphy at ESPN, the MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, American Athletic Conference (the new Big East) and Mountain West are working to create more bowl games so that all of their eligible teams have postseason landing spots. With the current bowls tied into deals with bigger conferences, it’s the Louisiana Techs of the world that get left out when the music stops.

What locations are the smaller conferences considering for 2014 bowls?

McMurphy has the details:

Miami, Orlando, Little Rock, Ark.; Boca Raton, Fla.; Montgomery, Ala.; Los Angeles; Ireland; Dubai and either Toronto or Nassau, Bahamas.

Okay, let’s just ignore all of the domestic locations because it’s already proven that Florida, southern California and random southern cities (_Helllllo_, Shreveport) can capably hosting bowl games. Let’s focus on the international destinations for a moment.

IRELAND: Dublin hosted the Emerald Isle Classic last September, a sellout clash between Navy and Notre Dame that brought in 30,000 fans and millions in tourism revenue. Central Florida and Penn State are in talks to open the 2014 season there, and with the beautiful new Aviva Stadium, maybe an annual late-December clash could work.

DUBAI: Would the football field be built on a man-made island, on top of a skyscraper or on a fake snowy mountain? Lot of options here.

TORONTO: Every year America commits a mild act of war by sending the Bills to Canada for a game. The least we can do to make up for that is to give them a little taste of MACtion. (Toronto hosted the International Bowl from 2007 to 2010, but the event was canceled after its contract with the Big East wasnt renewed.)

NASSAU: Various college basketball tournaments get played on islands (including the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas), so why not a football game?

The big problem with the idea of international locales (with the exception of Toronto, which is drivable from a lot of the schools that might be playing there) is that flights there are incredibly expensive and you’d be booking them with less than a month’s notice. It’s one thing to plan a year in advance for a trip to Dublin or a basketball tournament in Maui or Puerto Rico, but three weeks notice about a game in Dubai? It seems like most fans are going to be priced out.

If the schools can make sure they’re not on the tab for selling large allotments of tickets (not probable but possible), you can see the appeal for the coaching staffs: Hey kids, come play for our school and there’s a chance you’ll get to see the world for your bowl trip. In the ever-competitive world of recruiting, every little edge helps.

So good for the “Group of Five” for giving this a shot, logistics and affordability be damned. While a lot of people complain about the quality of bowl games being watered down, as we sit here in the desert of the offseason, more football certainly doesn’t sound like a bad thing.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Low-budget schools again get short end of APR measuring stick • Miami gets a boost by adding DePaul transfer Donnavan Kirk • Hoops makeover gathering steam at Nebraska • Did NFL star Wes Welker commit an NCAA violation?

As Paul Rhoads continues to build the program at Iowa State, he’s bringing Big Brother into the weight room to help his players get the most out of their workouts.

In a fascinating story by the Ames Tribune’s Bobby La Gesse, you can see how the facility wars between college teams is just as important as money spent on coaching staffs or recruiting trips. The folks at Iowa State decided they wanted the most advanced facility in the country, and it seems like they have come very close to achieving that goal.

Treadmills that cost $25,000 and can go up to 30 mph while requiring runners to strap in so they don’t go flying off? They have a half dozen. Weight lifting stations that can tell how fast someone is moving the bar in meters per second? Eighteen of those. Multi-hip machines to increase the agility of the Cyclones? You bet. Yancy McKnight, Rhoads’ director of strength and conditioning, personalizes programs for each individual athlete and monitors them via readouts from the high-tech equipment. Here’s how he describes the process:

McKnight can walk through a group of Cyclones dead-lifting. He can see the readouts. If form is correct, he doesn’t need to spend time with those who hit the right bar speed, indicating they are hitting the percentage of their max lift McKnight is after.

He can focus on the player who is off on a rep. It could be as simple as too much or too little weight on the bar.

Or it could be improper technique. If that’s the case, McKnight can huddle with the athlete and work on fixing the problem.

“You’ll come back on your next rep and see that it worked,” linebacker Jeremiah George said. “So you’ll trust him more.”

If a player is off for an entire set or a whole workout, McKnight knows something is wrong. Each workout is individualized for every Cyclone. If there’s a problem, it usually involves eating habits or not getting enough sleep.

If an entire group is off, McKnight knows it’s his fault and can readjust the workout routine.

The coaches and trainers say they are seeing results like never before, including a team record for squat average. With the focus on addressing individual weaknesses focus on movements that will be used in a game instead of on a track, Rhoads claims he was seeing a reduction of mistakes on the practice fields as well.

You can take a four-minute video tour of the Bergstrom Football Complex on the Cyclones’ website, and while it might be a few more seasons before Rhoads’ squad is on the same level as teams like Alabama on the field, they’re doing their best to catch up in the battle of weight rooms.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Report: Bowl games could be coming to Dubai, Dublin, the Bahamas • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assault charges • Colorado coach says he believes recruits story about racist tweet

The Russell Wilson-like success story Danny O’Brien envisioned when he transferred from Maryland to Wisconsin last season didn’t turn out the way he planned.

O’Brien started three games for the Badgers, threw for just 523 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, failed to impress the new coaching staff and slipped to No. 5 on the depth chart.

And now has decided to transfer, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

O’Brien was benched after the first half against Utah State and saw little playing time afterward. Curt Phillips and Joel Stave finished Nos. 1 and 2 on the depth chart after spring and O’Brien became an afterthought.

When O’Brien, who was benched for poor play at Maryland two years ago, decided to transfer to Wisconsin last offseason it seemed like he might revitalize a career that had gone from ACC Rookie of the Year to one of the biggest busts in the game.

But apparently Maryland coach Randy Edsall, who took massive heat over his treatment of O’Brien, saw something change in his young QB before anyone else did.

Now, with one season of eligibility remaining, O’Brien will be forced to either end his collegiate career or play for an FCS or lower division program.

And perhaps that’s what O’Brien needs — a fresh start without the spotlight of major collegiate football — to find the quarterback he used to be.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assault charges • Colorado coach says he believes recruits story about racist tweet • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison

Wes Welker is a proud Texas Tech alumnus who for some reason follows community college wide receiver Nick Kurtz on Twitter. Kurtz is making the rounds on recruiting trips to some FBS schools, trying to decide where he wants to transfer.

@thekurtzway You are visiting Lubbock already? #GunsUp

— Wes Welker (@WesWelker) June 8, 2013

Welker was not very impressed that Kurtz was spending time in Provo.

@thekurtzway Name me the last WR in the league from BYU? Think big picture. I will give you 50 more reasons why they would be a bad move. TT — Wes Welker (@WesWelker) June 8, 2013

It’s actually not difficult to name a BYU wide receiver in the NFL, as former Cougar Austin Collie caught 173 passes from 2009 to 2012 in Indianapolis playing with Welker’s current quarterback, Peyton Manning. (Some BYU fans have suggested Dennis Pitta as another example, but he’s a tight end.)

New Red Raiders head coach Kliff Kingsbury was college teammates with Welker from 2000 to 2002 (you can watch highlights of their 02 upset win over Texas, where Welker had 16 catches, 169 yards and two scores), so you can understand why the receiver went the extra mile for his old QB1, offering Kurtz some reading material:

@thekurtzway Did a little research for you.Read this. deseretnews.com/article/700069…

— Wes Welker (@WesWelker) June 8, 2013

Setting aside the general weirdness of any adult contacting college recruits over Twitter, this is also an NCAA violation (check sections 13.01.4 and 13.02.14), albeit most likely a minor one. Former athletes are considered representatives of programs and therefore banned from communicating with recruits, meaning that while Kurtz may have appreciated the former All-Pro wide receiver’s advice, he probably won’t be receiving many more until he signs with a school.

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_H/T SB Nation_ _ _

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Texas A&M has snappy new cleats for the 2013 season • Colorado coach says he believes recruits story about racist tweet • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges

It appears Colorado offensive line recruit Sam Kronshage will be allowed to enroll in classes in Boulder this summer and put an ugly incident from his final day as a high school student behind him.

Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said he believes Kronshages story that an unknown person used his cell phone during a graduation day pool party to access his Twitter account and post a racist comment directed toward a black player on a rival baseball team.

Kronshage, a three-star recruit from The Woodlands High School near Houston, told MacIntyre that he did not post the offending tweet and has attempted multiple times to contact the young man at whom the comment was directed to explain himself and apologize.

Players and fans of The Woodlands baseball team and a rival school, Rockwell, became embroiled in a war of words on Twitter a week ago during a three-game series to determine which would advance to the Texas Final Four. During that time Kronshage told MacIntyre he was swimming at a supervised post-graduation party and left his phone unattended.

MacIntyre said Colorado officials are reviewing the incident and trying to get as much information as possible before making a final decision about Kronshage, who originally committed to former CU coach Jon Embree and assistant Kanavis McGhee, both of whom are black.

Unless the school unearths more information that refutes Kronshages story, he will join the program this summer.

“I have to trust the young man and trust whats going on here,” MacIntyre said. “I do believe them. So were in the process of trying to make sure what weve been told is definitely real.”

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_Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleRingo_

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges • Could facemask logos be the new craze in college athletic branding? • Texas A&M has snappy new cleats for the 2013 season

College programs are constantly trying to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to the latest uniform styles and tweaks. You never know what might help land the next big recruit.

But in an age when Oregon changes uniforms more often than a 16-year-old girl changes her look, weve come to a point where schools are now unveiling individual parts of the uniform such as facemasks and cleats trying to catch the eye of that five-star player or sell more merchandise in the team store.

Texas A&M released a look at its new cleats for the 2013 season, and it seems it wont be long before some SEC foe counters with a snazzy new wristband or maybe a sock.

The Aggies new footwear includes their Gig em slogan that, FYI, actually has roots in frog hunting of all things.

Apparently, its not enough to have a schools emblem or nickname on the side of helmets, parts of jerseys, coaches shirts, hats and coats, at midfield and in the end zones. Now theyre going to be built into facemasks, too.

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_Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleRingo_

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges • Colorado coach says he believes recruits story about racist tweet • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison

Nevin Shapiro, the convicted Ponzi scheme organizer and former Miami (FL) booster, isn’t done making claims against the Hurricanes program.

A report in the Miami Herald states Shapiro has told Sports Illustrated he used inside information given to him by Miami coaches for gambling on games featuring the Canes. The details from the Herald’s Barry Jackson:

Shapiro alleged that coaches shared with him information --- such as whether a particular injured player would be available to play --- in at least two games, including in 2005 and a 2007 game against North Carolina, which UM lost, 33-27. According to a third source, the NCAA previously investigated Shapiro’s gambling claims but found no concrete evidence and did not make any allegations regarding gambling in UM’s Notice Of Allegations.

That frustrated Shapiro, who believed the NCAA did not adequately investigate his claims involving the matter.

Shapiro’s original claims in 2011 included providing Hurricane players with cash, prostitutes, jewelry, bounties for play on the field, yacht parties and an entire laundry list of other impermissible benefits. Shapiro is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for his involvement in a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

The Shapiro/NCAA tag team of justice has been a disaster, with staff members taking part in all kinds of improper conduct during their initial investigation into the Hurricanes. The much-maligned governing body of college sports had to put the brakes on looking into Miami to do an external review of their own conduct, although they are moving forward with an infractions committee hearings starting Thursday in Indianapolis. Over those three days, Miami president Donna Shalala and her staff will answer questions and defend the university’s conduct to the NCAA.

Since the allegations came to light, Miami has already self-imposed bowl bans and suspended multiple players from action. Considering so much of the NCAA’s information in the investigation has been compromised by their staff members’ improper conduct and Shapiro’s allegations about gambling have already been dismissed, it seems like Shalala will have the advantage going into her confrontation with the NCAA. And if her statement from earlier this year is any indication, she’s ready for the fight.

 

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College football uniforms have changed over the years. The colors have gotten brighter, the designs have gotten bolder and not all of it has been for the betterment of the sport.

However, one company thinks it can take helmets to an extreme level by altering the facemasks.

B.A. Masks, which stands for Badass Masks, introduced a prototype facemask for the University of Arizona, which features the school’s block “A” in the wires of the facemask.

While the design looks pretty cool, will it alter the safety of the mask? That probably depends on the logo the company is trying to use. Obviously, not every logo will work as well as Arizona’s, but in those cases, B.A. Masks has come up with some alternatives, like the “Bulldog 2.0” that could be used for Georgia (see photo on right).

This is the first time we’ve seen facemasks altered on the collegiate level, but former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis finished his career with a facemask that many said resembled the mask of Dark Knight Rises bad guy Bane.

So, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this could be the new trend in college football uniforms.

If you want to check out some of B.A. Masks designs, you can go to the company’s Facebook page.

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MORE NEWS FROM THE YAHOO! SPORTS MINUTE

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison • Rings allegedly linked to Ohio State tattoo scandal sold on eBay

Memorabilia from the 2011 scandal that cost coach Jim Tressel his job, quarterback Terrelle Pryor his eligibility and Ohio State a shot at the national championship was allegedly up for auction on eBay this weekend.

Spotted by Luke Zimmerman at Land-Grant Holy Land, Big Ten and Sugar Bowl championship rings originally belonging to Pryor, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams, Jermil Martin and Solomon Thomas were sold on eBay by an account named finelineinkusa2010. That is either someone’s attempt at a joke or a pretty odd coincidence considering Edward Rife – the man who exchanged tattoos and cash for Buckeye memorabilia – was the owner of Fine Link Ink Tattoos. Rife was later sentenced to three years in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering. (It is possible to change your eBay profile name.) Some Ohio State fans noticed a Craigslist post back in May that claimed someone was selling the merchandise involved in the tattoo scandal. It’s unknown whether the eBay seller was actually Fife or someone he sold the rings to before starting his prison term. The auctions have ended, with the ring that allegedly belonged to Pryor selling for $18,100.

The fallout from the scandal forced the resignation of Tressel, caused Pryor to head to the NFL (although he was forced to serve the NCAA suspension there) and resulted in a one-year postseason ban that meant Urban Meyer’s 12-0 team last season wasn’t eligible for the Big Ten or BCS title.

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RELATED CONTENT ON YAHOO! SPORTS • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison • Could facemask logos be the new craze in college athletic branding?

Florida State receiver Greg Dent was arraigned on second-degree sexual assault charges Monday following an alleged sexual assault against a longtime female friend.

From Warchant.com:

According to the police report, at approximately 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the victim awoke to Dent trying to kiss her on the lips. The victim told Dent "no" but Dent became "increasingly forceful" trying to kiss her. The victim then bit Dents upper lip and he jumped out of the bed.

Within a few minutes, Dent returned to the bedroom naked and laid in the same direction as the victim. Dent began touching the victim and was able to pull off her shorts and underwear as she struggled to resist. The victim continued to resist, eventually grabbing Dents hair with one hand and punching him in the head with the other.

The victim also tightened her legs as Dent tried to pull her legs apart. The report states that on two occasions, Dent was able to partially penetrate the victim.

The struggle continued until Dent and the victim fell on the floor. The victim was able to grab her belongings and run out of Dents apartment. She reported the incident to the Tallahassee Police Department on Sunday.

Dent was given a $15,000 bond and is not allowed to have any contact with the alleged victim. Dent also faces a potential sentence of up to 15 years if found guilty.

"Its a very serious offense," attorney Tim Jansen told Warchant.com. "Its an offense that could send him to prison if hes convicted. Its certainly an offense thats going to get him suspended."

Dent, the Seminoles fifth-leading receiver a year ago, made great strides during the spring and was supposed to be one of Florida State’s best weapons this fall. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher has not announced a punishment for Dent or yet released a statement.

Dent, a rising senior, has 40 career receptions for 603 yards and four touchdowns.

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MORE NEWS FROM THE YAHOO! SPORTS MINUTE

RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Auburn tree killer Harvey Updyke released from prison • Rings allegedly linked to Ohio State tattoo scandal sold on eBay • Could facemask logos be the new craze in college athletic branding?

Guard your trees Auburn fans, Harvey Updyke has been released from prison.

The man sentenced to prison for poisoning and ultimately killing Auburn’s famed Toomer’s Corner oaks, was released Monday after serving six months for one count of unlawful damage of an animal or crop facility.

And apparently while he was inside, he took the time to take some grooming tips for the 1970s and grow a ridiculous mustache and mullet.

Updyke, a rabid Alabama fan (Auburns biggest rival), will now serve five years of supervised probation.

The conditions of Updyke’s probation state that Updyke cannot attend any collegiate sporting events, cannot speak with media, is banned from Auburn University property and must abide by a 7 p.m. curfew. Also, he is not allowed to go to the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Hammond, La., where he was arrested in September 2012.

Updyke poisoned the famed trees in 2010 with a pesticide and then bragged about his crime on the Paul Finebaum radio show. Auburn city officials allowed the trees, which were used for toilet paper rolling following Auburn football wins, to remain until after this year’s spring game where they had their final roll.

Auburn city officials have placed polls and wires as a temporary solution for this football season and will ultimately replace the trees.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • FSU WR Greg Dent arraigned on second-degree sexual assualt charges • Rings allegedly linked to Ohio State tattoo scandal sold on eBay • Could facemask logos be the new craze in college athletic branding?

If you’ve been waiting for Johnny Manziel’s offseason off-field antics to finally hit their peak, today might be your lucky day.

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner and everyone’s favorite rising sophomore is now in a music video.

Trust us, we can’t make this stuff up.

Country artist Granger Smith released his music video for Silverado Bench Seat on Friday and of course Manziel was in it with girlfriend Sarah Savage, as well as former A&M wide receiver Ryan Swope.

You all remember Sarah Savage, dont you?

Manziel doesn’t really do anything in the video except toss a football, sit in a pickup truck with his girlfriend, flirt and then sign some autographs, but this has to be the first time a sophomore football player has been in a music video that he or one of his lightly talented friends didn’t produce.

Smith seems to be legit. Billboard actually did an article on him last month. And he’s a roaring A&M fan. He recorded a song called “We Bleed Maroon,” which became the unofficial anthem of A&M football.

I can’t decide whether this is cool, way over the top or some sort of NCAA violation. Pretty sure it’s not the latter (sorry every non-A&M fan around the country), but it’s definitely yet another ridiculous highlight in the offseason of Johnny Football.

Has football season started yet?

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Miami recruit pokes fun at Ohio States Urban Meyer • Mississippi State sanctions reduced because of self-imposed penalties • Defending champion Alabama favored in every game this fall

_This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. Its the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss._

GREATEST COLLEGE PLAYERS WITH QUIETEST NFL CAREERS

NO. 1, TIM TEBOW

Lets assume Tim Tebows NFL career is over, as some around him apparently believe, or that he wont become a NFL star. Maybe he has a Doug Williams or Doug Flutie type revival in him, but that would be an upset at this point.

If thats the case, how should we remember Tebow, next year or 30-40 years from now?

Heres how I think hell be remembered, at least to most people: As a punchline. As a NFL bust. Michael Silver, in the first sentence of a story about Peyton Manning this week, said Mannings journey "was as choppy as a Tim Tebow pass through a stiff Mile High breeze." Thats what he is, a synonym for bad quarterback play. The attention to Tebow has been so intense, he has been so polarizing as a player and his critics have dug in so hard that his NFL reputation will be hard to shake.

Heres how I think Tebow should be remembered: As the greatest college quarterback of all time.

Fine, lets have the argument quickly. Whos better? Tebow finished first, third and fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting his last three years. His first year, he was responsible for 13 touchdowns on a national championship team. He was part of three 13-1 seasons, and a 9-4 season. As a junior, he led the Gators to another national championship. He had a SEC record 57 rushing touchdowns, eight more rushing touchdowns than Herschel Walker. He also threw for 9,285 passing yards. He left Florida as the SECs all-time career pass efficiency leader, better than Peyton Manning, Eli Manning or Archie Manning. If you want to argue against Tebow as the best, itll be tough to come up with a more complete resume.

Thats not what comes to mind when Tebow is mentioned anymore. Im still not sure why there is such venom towards Tebow, by all accounts a good person who has been entirely overexposed through very little of his own doing. One media outlet in particular seemed to make it an inside joke to see if it could turn every fan against him by discussing him incessantly. There was simply no legitimate reason to give so much air time to the Jets backup quarterback.

So thats probably Tebows legacy now, at least to casual followers. The greatest college quarterback of all time will be known as a terrible quarterback, because he failed in the NFL (and he _did_ throw for 316 yards in a playoff win over Pittsburgh once, which is more than many quarterbacks can say).

Like everyone else on this weeks list, and others like Ron Dayne, Colt McCoy, Troy Smith, Danny Wuerffel, Matt Leinart and scores of others, it doesnt quite make sense why a players college career needs to be validated by the NFL. They are two separate games. Tebows lack of accuracy and inability to operate in the pocket kept him from being successful in the NFL. Then he got stuck with the Jets, getting caught in a personal war between the front office and coaching staff with a franchise that has no idea how to develop a quarterback (have you seen Mark Sanchez play? Good luck, Geno). None of that changes Tebows college accomplishments, which stack up well with anyone who has ever played. They wont take his statue down at Florida because he didnt win a Super Bowl.

Maybe over time Tebow will get the Archie Griffin treatment, and his college greatness will overshadow a disappointing NFL career. But Griffin played in a different era, and he had a lot less attention paid to his inadequacies as a pro. When someone thinks about Tebow now, theyll probably roll their eyes or snicker. For those who remember how great he was at Florida, that just doesnt seem right.

PREVIOUSLY ON "DOC FIVE" 5. Pat Fitzgerald 4. Ken Dorsey 3. Rashaan Salaam 2. Jason White

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Colorado offensive line signee Sam Kronshage might find himself without a scholarship after tweeting a racist remark to a rival high school athlete last Saturday.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Kronshage and several of his baseball teammates from The Woodlands (Texas) engaged in a Twitter fight with members of the Rockwall (Texas) baseball team. The two teams played a heated series this past weekend that sent The Woodlands to the Class 5A state semifinals.

During the series, there was a lot of trash-talking and it moved over to social media where it got ugly. After exchanging a few barbs, the tweets turned racist toward Rockwall outfielder Kendall Coleman, an Iowa signee.

** WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE (photos courtesy of dallasnews.com) **

Just by reading the tweets, it seems like The Woodlands outfielder Brandon Manger was the catalyst and Kronshage is the dummy that yelled "Yeah, what he said!" from the back of the room. But it was Kronshages tweet that was retweeted and liked multiple times by several The Woodlands players and students.

Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said Thursday evening that he had not spoken with Kronshage, but said he planned to talk with him Friday and decide a course of action.

"It is something we would never condone by our current athletes or any of our prospective recruits," MacIntyre said

Even though the school district was aware of the incident, Kronshage did graduate with the rest of his class Tuesday. Also, he tried to make amends after the tweets got out of control.

“hey man, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you,” Kronshage tweeted. “Just wanted to say sorry for what happened on Saturday.”

Kronshage is a three-star 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive tackle. He committed to the Buffs last June and was supposed to be on campus for summer workouts.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • The adventures of Johnny Manziel now include a music video • Miami recruit pokes fun at Ohio States Urban Meyer • Mississippi State sanctions reduced because of self-imposed penalties • Tommy Rees to start at QB for Notre Dame

This next story kind of puts into perspective the relatively innocuous joke of "Roll Toilet" from a recruit earlier this week.

Kc McDermott is a five-star recruit on the offensive line who has committed to the University of Miami. And congratulations to him for that. Thats a pretty big moment.

What is harder to understand is why he felt a need to make fun of Ohio State coach Urban Meyer in an interview with Bleacher Report as he recalls how he turned Meyer down.

Remember as you read these two answers from the story that the biggest crime Meyer committed against McDermott was offering the young man a scholarship to come play for and get an education at one of the best universities in the United States:

BR: Whats the Urban Meyer story?

KM: The Urban Meyer thing was just funny to me. He came to my school a week after I told his assistant that I wasnt even interested in them. I told him no to his face, and its got to be one of the top five reactions of someone ever. His facial expression was just so funny. My coach was tearing up and had to go in his office to laugh.

BR: Talk more about coach Meyers face when you told him no. Was he mad, upset?

KM: More like the state of shock where the guy has literally never been told no in his life. It literally looked like a kid the first time you tell him no, you cant do something. It looked like he was a baby about to cry. It was so funny.

Classy.

Hey, we were young once too (a long time ago) and we did things we regret. Hopefully if McDermott is again lucky enough to turn down someone who is among the most respected people in their field, hell realize the best way to handle the situation isnt to publicly make fun of them afterward.

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Mississippi State sanctions reduced because of self-imposed penalties • Defending champion Alabama favored in every game this fall • Tommy Rees to start at QB for Notre Dame

Other than Tuscaloosa, the city in which Alabama football receives the most respect might be Las Vegas.

The folks who set the betting lines hold the Crimson Tide and coach Nick Saban in the highest esteem, and the power ranking theyre giving Alabama this season might be unprecedented.

According to R.J. Bell of the gambling site Pregame.com, Alabama is favored by at least 17 points in all but two games, according to betting lines set by the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The Golden Nugget released early lines on the college football games of the year, including 10 Alabama games. Even in Alabamas biggest game this season at probable top five team Texas A&M, Alabama is favored by six points. The Crimson Tide are favored by 11.5 points against LSU in the only other Alabama spread thats less than 17 points.

In other words, Las Vegas fully expects Alabama to roll to at least the SEC title game in its quest for an unprecedented third straight national championship.

Alabama has been favored in 41 straight games. Crimson Tide favored in all TEN 2013 games released by Golden Nugget today.

— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) June 7, 2013

Alabama -6 at Texas A&M, and -11.5 hosting LSU. Otherwise, Tide favored by at least 17 points in EVERY game. — RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) June 7, 2013

Auburn +24 hosting Alabama, the biggest home underdog for Auburn in recorded spread history (since 1980) - via Golden Nugget

— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) June 7, 2013

Some of that is Alabamas schedule, which happens to be quite favorable this season. But giving Alabama the respect of being favored by six points at a team as good as Texas A&M (which of course beat the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa last season) is pretty remarkable.

So if youre rooting against Alabama, just know that if the Crimson Tide dont run the table in the regular season itll be because of a pretty big upset along the way.

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Why hello, Katherine. It has been a while.

Katherine Webb, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarrons girlfriend who has been a fixture on television, magazines and Twitter since Brent Musburger gushed about her during the BCS Championship Game, hasnt been around much lately. Since she had to quit on "Splash," the reality diving show, we havent seen much from her.

No reason to be too sad, because shes back. AL.com reports shell be at Shoal Creek for the Regions Tradition golf tournament, doing all kinds of promotions.

Just when you thought she was out, she pulls you back in.

Webb, who is also Miss Alabama, will be interviewing a player in the media center, participating in a putting contest and interacting with fans, according to AL.com. Heres the good part: Webb will pose for pictures with fans (and she has taken a ton of those this year) and hopes those fans make a make a donation to Childrens Hospital of Alabama.

Whatever the reason Webb has come back into the spotlight, were glad she is. Hopefully this is just kicking off a summer tour before football season.

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For most college football players, their first time on campus is their first time in the spotlight.

For C.J. Sanders, playing receiver for Stanford or Tennessee or any other major football program might be a step down from what he has already experienced.

You might not remember Sanders name but there is a good chance youve seen him. He has nine movie or TV show acting credits to his name, according to IMDB, and had one pretty notable role as a young Ray Charles in the critically acclaimed movie "Ray." Now Sanders is a popular recruit from Brentwood (Tenn.) Academy in the class of 2015, with offers already from Mississippi State, Stanford and Tennessee, according to Rivals. He also has a pretty strong connection with Ohio State, since his father Chris Sanders was a star receiver for the Buckeyes in the 1990s and spent seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans franchise from 1995-2001.

Lining up as a FBS player would be a big deal for anyone, but that moment probably wont be too big for Sanders.

In an interview with BuckeyeGrove.com Sanders said he took some lessons from Jamie Foxx, who was the star of "Ray" and also played quarterback Willie Beamon in "Any Given Sunday," and transferred them to football.

"Just being around him, he showed me how to work hard and how to be in character for a scene, but I also took that into football, how you have to prepare and how you have to focus," Sanders, who said he was 6 years old when he was in "Ray," told BuckeyeGrove.com.

If his child fame and his fathers football career isnt enough, Sanders mother played basketball at Michigan and his stepfather is Corey Harris, who played 12 NFL season and won a Super Bowl with the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. C.J. Sanders has led a pretty interesting life already, and now he has colleges lining up to give him a football scholarship.

He said he will try to find the school where he fits best, and told BuckeyeGrove.com that an offer from Ohio State would be a "dream come true," considering his father starred there and he has always been a Buckeyes fan. And if the whole football thing doesnt work out, he could always revive his acting career.

"Just a call away," Sanders told BuckeyeGrove.com. "Anything is possible."

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RELATED COVERAGE ON YAHOO! SPORTS: • Tommy Rees to start at QB for Notre Dame • North Carolinas P.J. Hairston arrested on marijuana possession charge • Judge easily dismisses Pennsylvania governors lawsuit against NCAA • Incoming Miami QB in legal trouble over hit-and-run

_This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. Its the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss._

GREATEST COLLEGE PLAYERS WITH QUIETEST NFL CAREERS

NO. 2, JASON WHITE

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White came very, very close to winning two Heisman Trophies. Just think about how wed recall him differently if he pulled that off.

White won a Heisman Trophy in 2003. On Nov. 23, 2004, only a few weeks before the trophy was awarded, White held the lead over USC quarterback Matt Leinart in a Scripps-Howard straw poll, as we can see via HeismanPundit.coms archives. HeismanPundit.com was convinced that if Leinart had a poor final regular-season game, the trophy was going to White. Well, Leinart threw for 400 yards and five touchdowns against Notre Dame that week, and that was that. Leinart won the Heisman, White ended up finishing third behind Leinart and teammate Adrian Peterson, though he had more first-place votes than Peterson. He also had just 90 fewer first-place votes than Leinart, despite Leinarts eruption against the Irish.

So if the straw polls were accurate, and you assume that Leinarts late push took more votes away from White than Peterson, with one bad performance by Leinart against Notre Dame White would have joined Archie Griffin as the only two-time Heisman winners. And again, imagine how we would view White now, and decades from now.

Instead, weve pretty much forgotten how great Whites career was, in large part because he never had a NFL career.

Whites knees were shot by the time he got to training camp as an undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans. He dealt with knee problems in college that stretched his career at Oklahoma out to six years. He played through many injuries with the Sooners, including two bad knees. He was undeniably tough, but by the time he got to the Titans, he couldnt move well enough to make it in the NFL. He knew, and retired.

Since then, Whites college career has faded from memory a bit. Athlon did a list of top quarterbacks in the BCS era. White was 42nd, behind guys like Todd Reesing and Geno Smith. Yeah. Now, putting White at No. 42 is a bit ridiculous by any standard and you can choose to ignore it, but it shows how the perception of White has dimmed. And again, had Leinart had one off night at the end of the 2004 season, White would be forever fondly remembered as the first quarterback to win two Heisman Trophies and as an all-time great. Also, his career probably would have lingered longer in our minds had he played in the NFL after college instead of running an apparel store in Oklahoma City.

White was Oklahomas full-time starter for two seasons, and he threw for 7,051 yards, 75 touchdowns and 19 interceptions those two years. The Sooners went 24-3 those two seasons, and played in two BCS Championship Games. Unfortunately for Whites legacy, he didnt play well in either game against LSU or USC and Oklahoma lost both.

White was a great college player. He started two seasons and came _thisclose_ to winning two Heisman Trophies. He just had the misfortune of having a couple bad knees that prevented him from a NFL career.

PREVIOUSLY ON "DOC FIVE" 5. Pat Fitzgerald 4. Ken Dorsey 3. Rashaan Salaam 1. Tim Tebow

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It took some detective work, but we have confirmation that Tommy Rees was named Notre Dames starting quarterback by Brian Kelly.

This shouldnt have become a mini-controversy, considering Rees is the only logical choice to be named starter in June following Everett Golsons suspension. But Kelly tried denying he named Rees the starter, and it forced some CSI work by reporters to confirm what he said.

[RELATED: NOTRE DAME COMMIT FLUSHES LETTERS FROM ALABAMA]

NBC Sports reported the story late last night, citing Grand Rapids Press statements, but earlier today Notre Dame told Rivals the story was inaccurate. The Chicago Tribune verified Kelly’s exact quote:

"Everett wont be with us in the fall, so Ive always moved forward," Kelly said. "I dont live in the past, I don’t spent too much time in the future, I live in the present. And the present is, Ive got Tommy Rees, who was a starter for us, established player, and he’ll be our starter. And we think that Andrew Hendrix and Malik Zaire are guys that can contribute. But Tommy will be our starter."

The Tribune included this: "The Tribune verified Kellys statement via an audio clip of the question-and-answer sent by the Grand Rapids Press."

Based on the evidence, guess we can consider the case closed.

Last week Kelly said all three quarterbacks would have a chance to compete as starter, but you can understand his desire to have a little bit of stability at the position. Golson was ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester, a problem compounded by the fact that five-star recruit Gunner Kiel had transferred to Cincinnati earlier in the fall because Golson’s stranglehold on the starting gig was so strong. That left Rees as the only returning quarterback on the roster with starting experience, perhaps making Kelly’s choice relatively easy – even if he wanted to keep that a secret for whatever reason.

Rees career has reached some incredible highs and staggering lows. Thrown into the fire as a true freshman in 2010, Rees started and won the final four games of the season, going 4-0. (Rees’ first five career starts came in Notre Dame Stadium, Yankee Stadium, the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Sun Bowl and the Big House. Not bad.) The following summer Dayne Crist was named the starter, but Rees came on in relief in the season opener against South Florida and started the rest of the season, going 8-4.

The problem for Irish fans was Rees’ propensity for turnovers, including some at the very worst moments. Rees was suspended for the 2012 opener following an altercation with the South Bend police, opening the door for Golson to start. But Rees was there for Kelly again, helping to guide the Irish to their 12-0 regular season. He started in a victory against BYU and closed out dramatic wins against Purdue, Michigan and Stanford.

It seems like a safe bet that either freshman Malik Zaire or senior Andrew Hendrix (or perhaps both) will be worked into the offense as the season goes on, as Rees’ lack of mobility severely limits him in the run game. He also won’t be able to keep plays alive with his feet like Golson, making things slightly easier on the opposing defensive line. But he brings a lot of experience, 18 career starts and a mastery of Kelly and offensive coordinator Chuck Martin’s playbook.

And hes the starter, for now. The audio clip of Kelly says so, after all.

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The Bedlam rivalry is one of the fiercest in the country, but the two programs — or at least their coaches — might have more in common than they think.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops told a group at an Oklahoma caravan in Plano, Texas on Wednesday evening that he supported the decision by Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy to restrict former quarterback Wes Lunt’s transfer.

Gundy came under fire after restricting Lunt, his opening day starter last season, from transferring anywhere in the Big 12, Pac-12, SEC and Central Michigan, whom the Cowboys play in 2015, and Southern Miss where former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken is the head coach, and receiving a scholarship for at least a year.

That didn’t leave Lunt a lot of options unless he wanted to pay for a year of school or go to a junior college and be ready to play for whomever he wants in 2014.

"I support every coach and I support Mike Gundy in every way if they have their issues because all situations are different. I mean that sincerely. Mike’s doing the right thing in his case," Stoops said. "A guy says, I’m coming to you and you get a running back, and then all of a sudden you don’t have a running back. He leaves. That doesn’t leave your program in a great spot, right? So, I’m totally in agreement."

While Stoops might agree with Gundy’s decision to limit Lunt’s transfer options, it’s not a practice he actually preaches. In fact, Stoops allowed running back Brandon Williams to transfer from his program to Texas A&M. No restrictions imposed.

Gundy’s decision started a firestorm about student-athlete rights and why coaches were allowed to leave without restrictions and players were not. Gundy himself flirted with leaving the Cowboys for Tennessee or Arkansas, which would have left a lot of players who came to Oklahoma State to play for Gundy and his staff in a bind. Yet, there were no limitations imposed on him.

It’s hypocrisy in its highest form and Stoops, who has been quite outspoken this offseason about his feelings to student-athlete equality, doesn’t seem to care.

"Nobody made them sign with me. I didn’t force them to, it was what they wanted to do,” Stoops said. “And because we’re limited in what we’re allowed per scholarship, it’s the right thing to have consequences, otherwise you’d have kids changing their mind every year. It’s not right.

"It isn’t right that they can just do what they want to do. It isn’t good. I don’t believe in it."

But it’s OK for coaches not to honor their commitments?

Again, this is an age-old debate that has divided college football and turned coaches into bad guys. Of course, not every coach takes Gundy’s approach to transfers, but we have seen some programs at least be fair. A couple days ago, Notre Dame allowed Eddie Vanderdoes to transfer to UCLA, a school that was recruiting him initially, though he does have to sit out a year. Vanderdoes, who is from California, cited family issues as his reason for transfer. On the flip side, Florida State won’t release Matthew Thomas, who claims his mother forced him to sign with the Seminoles.

Lunt played in five games for the Cowboys before injuries forced him out of his starting role. Other players stepped in and Lunt saw the writing on the wall. He just wanted to go to a program where he could start again.

The stance by Gundy and the support by Stoops is certainly going to make recruiting interesting for both programs. Any player who has even a shred of doubt as to whether they want to really commit to either of those schools should probably hold out before they tie their next four years to either institution.

_- - - _

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The Bedlam rivalry is heading to the courtroom, as nearly two years after a lawsuit was initially filed, a contractor’s claim against Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy is moving forward.

Back in August of 2011, Brent Loveland sued Gundy and his wife Kristen for firing him over wearing an Oklahoma baseball shirt to his first day on the job at their house in Stillwater. Loveland claims Gundy approached him said he was offending Mrs. Gundy with “that [expletive] shirt you have on.”

Gundy’s wife was later dropped from the suit, but there will be a pretrial conference on June 17. The details of Loveland’s claim, from the Tulsa World:

In the suit filed in August 2011, Brent Loveland of Choctaw seeks damages of more than $10,000 on the basis that he was fired from a construction job at Gundy’s home because he showed up wearing a University of Oklahoma baseball shirt. Court documents state Loveland was to be paid at least $80,600 for trim installation during a 13-week period starting in March 2011. He also claims to have lost more than $30,000 in potential income because he turned down other jobs during that time.

Loveland’s reason for wearing the shirt? He got dressed in the dark. The contractor’s attorney has (understandably) asked for a change in venue due to Gundy’s (understandable) popularity in the area. The Cowboys coach must feel pretty confident to let the case go this far, considering ten grand wouldn’t make a very big dent in his approximately three-million-per-year salary.

Gundy has been in the news a lot this offseason, mainly for his decision to restrict the transfer of outgoing quarterback Wes Lunt. The Sooners and Cowboys face off in the final week of the 2013 season, December 7 in Stillwater.

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This shouldnt be a shock, but Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbetts lawsuit against the NCAA, looking to overturn penalties against Penn State on anti-trust grounds, was dismissed.

And, as Associated Press reported, U.S. Middle District Judge Yvette Kane called it a "Hail Mary pass" that was easily dismissed.

The anti-trust argument failed to measure up for Kane.

"The fact that Penn State will offer fewer scholarships over a period of four years does not plausibly support its allegation that the reduction of scholarships at Penn State will result in a market-wide anticompetitive effect, such that the nations top scholastic football players would be unable to obtain a scholarship in the nationwide market for Division I football players," Kane wrote, according to AP.

Although none of this is too surprising, there was an interesting part of Kanes decision.

Kane did acknowledge that an argument against the NCAA and its penalties could have some merit.

"In another forum the complaints appeal to equity and common sense may win the day, but in the antitrust world these arguments fail to advance the ball," Kane said.

Its hard to say Penn State shouldnt have accepted the NCAAs harsh penalties, which seemed to overstep its bounds and were unprecedented in not giving Penn State the same due process other schools get. It was an obvious public relations and grandstanding move by the NCAA, but at the time, Penn State probably felt backed into a corner. But had it not accepted the penalties, the ensuing lawsuits probably would have been very interesting.

Now the school is watching as people basically sue on its behalf, whether it is the governor or the family of Joe Paterno, which recently announced plans to file suit against the NCAA. Maybe that lawsuit has a better shot than Gov. Corbetts Hail Mary.

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_This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. Its the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss._

GREATEST COLLEGE PLAYERS WITH QUIETEST NFL CAREERS

NO. 3, RASHAAN SALAAM

Rashaan Salaam wasnt quite Barry Sanders circa 1988, but his big season was still one of the best in college football history.

Before Salaam in 1994, only three players had rushed for 2,000 yards in a season and each one – Sanders, Marcus Allen and Mike Rozier – is considered an all-time great in the sport.

Salaams legacy includes his tremendous Heisman Trophy season at Colorado, but it also includes his disappointing and strange NFL career.

Salaams NFL career began well enough, with 1,074 yards as a rookie with the Bears. It wasnt all that impressive, considering a mediocre 3.6-yard average, but it was a good start. Instead of being the first step, it was the lone highlight.

For the rest of his career he had 610 yards and three touchdowns, spread out over three more injury and fumble-filled NFL seasons. After he was cut by the Bears, he admitted to being dependent on marijuana and said that was a reason his pro career fizzled out. He has said he didnt know how hard he needed to work to be a success in the NFL. After one carry with the Browns in 1999, he had stints in the XFL and CFL but never played in the NFL again.

None of that changes what happened in 1994, when Salaam had a season that rivals any before or since.

He had 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns, and that was before the days when bowl games counted for season records (why this cant be done retroactively is simply baffling). He added 83 yards and three touchdowns in a Fiesta Bowl win that capped an 11-1 season. He had at least 200 yards in four games, at least 100 yards 10 times, and in the only two games he didnt break 100 he had seven touchdowns. He also didnt play the fourth quarter in five Colorado blowout wins. His best moment that season came when he had 362 yards from scrimmage in a 34-31 win at Texas. He had a great combination of power and speed, and he was unstoppable that entire season.

Salaams amazing season deserves to be remembered alongside the other great seasons in college football history, no matter what happened after he left Colorado.

PREVIOUSLY ON "DOC FIVE" 5. Pat Fitzgerald 4. Ken Dorsey 2. Jason White 1. Tim Tebow

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About 18 months ago Kevin Sumlin was a young up-and-coming coach, still in Conference USA, with a good reputation but not yet a star in the industry.

Nothing can really prepare a coach for what has happened since then.

Since Texas A&M hired him away from Houston he became one of the hot names in the sport, coached one of the most surprising Heisman Trophy winners ever and then dealt with Johnny Manziel experiencing a wave of social media publicity that has never been seen before in college football. In a year, Texas A&M went from being considered a middle-of-the-pack SEC team to one of the top programs in the country, with increased fan and media expectations to match. Now anyone who follows college football is well aware of who Sumlin is.

Yet Sumlin has taken the new fame and the new challenges in stride.

"I dont pay attention to all of that," Sumlin said. "You talk about coaches in two ways, the way youre talking about me now, and when were fired. Id rather be in the first category."

Sumlin was doing a media tour for EA Sports NCAA Football 14, and he spoke about the games realism in its recruiting and managing a roster and hiring and losing coordinators and "you name it," as he said. The irony of him gushing about the game is that a video game cant replicate something like, oh, managing his best player becoming a mainstream celebrity.

Tim Tebow was famous, but a few years ago at least it took a few days for things to go viral. Manziel does something interesting now and its Internet news in a few minutes.

As Sumlin points out, how could anyone have prepared for this situation when theres no precedent?

"This has never happened before, a freshman has never won the Heisman," Sumlin said. "Its easy for people to pass judgment. Hes made mistakes, but thats part of growing up. Winning the Heisman, you shouldnt be punished for that.

"Hes a young guy, and I think theres a lot of people who love to say what they would do, now that theyre older."

Being a fairly young coach at age 48 with four children allows Sumlin to understand the social media landscape Manziel is dealing with. He said he has had discussions with Manziel about everything ("What do you guys think, I just sit back and watch like everyone else?" he joked), and seems to understand the unique challenges pretty well.

"He is who he is," Sumlin said. "There are things he has done that he wished he could take back, there are other things that are just part of him being who he is. Everyone has their opinion of what should happen, but his world is a lot more public than even three or four years ago for someone winning the Heisman because of Twitter and Instagram and all the attention.

"Its like anything else. The people who know him understand a lot more of who he is than the people who see him through Twitter and Instagram."

Aside from his quarterback turning into the biggest star in college football, Sumlin has plenty of other things to occupy his time. But like the Manziel stuff, nothing seems to bother him.

He said when he has talked to fans this offseason, there has been a lot of excitement about what the Aggies accomplished in the 2012 season, including beating Alabama and winning the Cotton Bowl. Thats fine, and Sumlin will let them celebrate last season, he just wont be doing it himself.

"Were not discouraging that (among the fans), but as far as coaches were moving on to next season," Sumlin said.

The expectations dont bother him. Texas A&M was picked to finish fifth in the SEC West division last year, and this year will almost certainly be a top five pick nationally in the preseason polls. He said he doesnt mind heightened expectations because the staff has always expected success. Its just that fans and media expect more now.

And then theres the Alabama question. We all might be waiting anxiously for Sept. 14, when the Crimson Tide comes to Texas A&M, but Sumlin is a coach. Hed never admit to thinking about the third game of the season when hes asked if he has thought about Alabama at all.

"Ive thought about Rice," Sumlin said, referring to Texas A&Ms season-opening opponent.

Thats right out of the coaching playbook for interacting with the media. He could prepare for that, at least.

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In times of crisis, teams that might not normally interact with each other usually find common ground by helping the greater good.

That’s what happened with Iowa and Oklahoma when Iowa’s famed Hawk Truck, which usually carries football equipment on the road for the team, loaded up with food and other goods to bring to those affected by the tornadoes in Moore, Okla.

Mike Riggan, the president of TanTara Transportation Corporation from Muscatine, Iowa, led the effort and with the help of several former Iowa players filled the truck and drove it overnight to an Oklahoma Food Bank where it was greeted by Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and several of his players who had just arrived on campus for summer workouts.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had called Stoops the week before, told him of the plan and Stoops put his players into action.

“I’ve got all my big linemen (out helping),” Stoops said. “They’re the right ones to unload a truck. We’ve got all them up to try and help out. We’ll continue to do what we can and try to jump in and help people in different ways.”

Stoops is a 1983 graduate of Iowa and his wife, Carol, also is an alum. Stoops has been helping the relief efforts in Moore, Okla., since the tornadoes and storms ravaged the town a couple weeks ago. His well-documented efforts have apparently caused others to take action as well.

“On behalf of myself, Carol and everyone at the University of Oklahoma, we really appreciate the generosity of the people of the state of Iowa,” Stoops said. “It’s really incredible that the people of Iowa brought truckloads of food here to the Food Bank.

“I spent 10 years — five playing and five as a young assistant at Iowa — and to see the Iowa Hawkeye trucks here is pretty special.”

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