First, I want to comment on something I have seen in print mutliple times that just ABSOLUTELY DOESN”T MATTER.  Several articles have talked about, as if defending Cam, that he knew nothing about any conversations that his dad or anyone else had with Mississippi State.  Let me say it once more  “It doesn’t matter”.  The NCAA rules are very clear.  If a player or someone on behalf of a player, solicits payment, it is a violation.

So, while Cam may not have known, if his father, or anyone else, did in fact have those conversations, it’s over.  Guilty, end of story.  And so I look at the relative silence from Cam and his team and ask “What does it mean?”.

Well, to me, it plain and simple means one thing.  His father did in fact have those conversations.  And knowing the glacier speed at which the NCAA moves, I am guessing that his group is just trying to get through the season and pray for the NFL draft to hurry up.

Which begs another question.  Why are the athletes and coaches who break the rules allowed to just move on and enjoy money and popularity in the NFL without any consequences?  I understand that the NCAA and NFL are two totally independent organizations.  But will Auburn be any different than USC with the Reggie Bush mess if this proves to be true?  Newton will have moved on and the program (and the athletes who remain behind) will suffer.

I think that it’s time for the NCAA and the NFL to consider working together on this issue.  Now my guess is that the NFL wants to stay very clear of this.  But ultimately without some kind of significant impact on the player (or coach), as long as they can move on to the next level without consequences, then nothing will ever change.

I am an SEC fan and I will hate it if Auburn wins a National Championship only to have it revoked.  But I am afraid that I see the handwriting on the wall.

Then as I listened to all the talk radio and to Tebow himself, I realized something.  If Tebow is going to make it in the NFL as a football player, particularly a quarterback, this is exactly what needed to happen.

If you have watched Tim Tebow during his career, he has mainly responded to challenges with a huge effort.  And now that most of the football world has criticized this pick and pretty much trashed him, I believe that Tim will use this to prove himself to everyone who doubted.

Now I’m not saying if he had gone third or fourth round as a lot of people expected,  that he wouldn’t be motivated.  He has a maniac work ethic.  But I think the current scenario is probably the one thing that could prompt him to an even harder, more focused effort to make it as a quarterback in the NFL, not a tight end or an H Back.

So what am I saying?  Well basically, I don’t think he was really a first round type of pick.  But having watched him in the SEC for four years, I’m saying that you had better not bet against him.  And I am saying that having listened to all the trash talk the last several days, that I’m actually looking forward to seeing how he does.  A weird turn for a Georgia bulldog.

I guess you never know

As a parent, I can’t imagine receiving this call.  I know that everytime my kids go on a trip with their friends, I just don’t quite sleep as well until they return.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the James family in this time of tragedy.

What can you do?  You can’t lock your children up and never let them go out.  You just try and teach them to make smart decisions and love them and teach them in the path that they should go.  And still, sometimes, life still reaches out and gut punches you and snatches a young life.

While I love sports and football, this is one of those times when football and sports fades to the background.  Please, all you young people out there, be careful.

A short while ago, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had had enough of this kind of stuff in the NFL and took aggressive action to get the players to clean up their act or face the consequences.   And so far the results are encouraging.

Now this young man at Oregon has taken the chance of ruining his future.  He would have been a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy and his team would have been almost a shoo in for Pac 10 champs and a BCS game.  But he not only committed the crime, but lied about it to his coach and to the police.

It will be tougher for the NCAA to attempt to do what Goodell did.  Many more organizations to deal with and a much tougher situation to police.  But I believe that they better get on it now before it gets worse.  Because it will get worse if they don’t.  There is too much money at stake for coaches and football programs to be able to do it themselves.

Roger, are you available?

First of all, let’s look at LeFevour’s stats.  Dan has 12,604 total yards in his career.  Tebow has 9,341.  That puts LeFevour 11th all time in Division I football.  So he is not playing Division I-AA or Division II or II.  And while he is not playing in the SEC, Pac-10, or Big 12, he is playing Division I football.   He has completed 65.7% of career passes and averaged 4.5 yards a carry when he runs.  So he is a Tebow type quarterback.   And at 6’3″ and 238 pounds, he is a big, strong football player.

Now, we have to acknowledge that he does play in the MAC conference and his toughest opponents are typically Michigan State and Boston College.  So it does make it a little tough to compare and say just how good LeFevour is.  But here is my comparison at this point.

NFL scouts rate LeFevour as a first or second round pick.  Most analysts won’t give Tebow a chance as a first round pick.  What that tells me is that Tim Tebow is a great college football player who may or may not make it in the NFL.  And Dan LeFevour is a pretty good college player who should continue to develop and will probably make it in the NFL, although he probably won’t start in his early pro career.

By his own admission, LeFevour was raw as a quarterback when he got to college.  “I had to learn to be a quarterback” he says on the subject.  So bottom line, my thoughts are that LeFevour has better stats and is probably a better long term pro prospect at quarterback than Tebow.  But no doubt in my mind, Tebow is the better college player playing in a tougher conference against tougher competition.  As a big Georgia fan, that’s hard for me to admit.  In fact, I am getting a little tired of hearing about Tim Tebow.   He’s a great young man and a great college football player, but I think that we’ll hear more about Dan LeFevour in the future than we will about Tim Tebow.  Just my humble opinion.

First of all, if you haven’t seen the video, ok here it is.

OK, now that’s out of the way.  Dodge went on  from there to be named the 5a Player of the year and also was a Parade All American.  Then he became the cornerstone of a college recruiting class for his dad, Todd at North Texas.

Riley spurned the University of Texas to play for his dad and has his work cut out for him.  Not because his dad is his coach, but to help turnaround a team that went 1-11 in 2008 with an 0-7 conference record.

So the pressure will come to bear on Riley.  But given how he responded in that Texas State Championship game, if he doesn’t succeed it won’t be because of the pressure.

I look forward to seeing how this quarterback responds the next few year.s

Two sport athletes are not that unusual in Division I NCAA sports.  But the path that Paulus has taken is.  Charlie Ward, Donavan McNabb, and Ronald Curry are names you may remember who played basketball after football season ended.  But Greg Paulus is taking this job after completing his college career and as he has started graduate school.

What would prompt an athlete like Greg to do this?  Well in his case is was the invitation to tryout for the NFL’s Green Bay Packers a few days after his basketball caree

My question is specifically how good a quarterback, not a football player is Tim Tebow. As much as a Bulldog fan hates to admit this about a Florida Gator, Tebow will no doubt go down as one of the greatest college football players of all time. But now let’s focus on his position.

One thing that UF coach Urban Meyer says about Tebow is “He’s got the it.” And what he is talking about is that combination of cockiness/confidence that is so critical at the quarterback position. To successfully lead a football team and survive the defenses, the media, the fans, and everything else a quarterback has to have that it and he has to have a short memory. And Tebow has shown that he can lead a team. A critical skill for the quarterback position.

A quarterback is going to throw interceptions, he is going to fumble sometimes, he is going to make bad decisions. He can’t do too many of those things and make it, but if he can’t make those mistakes and completely forget about them the very next snap, he probably won’t make it either. And Tebow has shown that he is mentally tough, he comes back from mistakes with the short memory necessary for a quarterback.

Well, what about the ability to throw the football? And to do it at the next level, the NFL. Tebow definitely has arm strength, but can he find the receiver, can he use finesse when needed, and can he consistently make good decisions with 300 pound defenders in his ear? There are a lot of really good college quarterbacks that never make it in the NFL. Was it because they played in the right system? (Might apply here). Was it because they were surrounded by exceptional talent and coaches? (Might apply here) Lots of things can affect a quarterback’s success at the college level.

Now don’ forget that he’s thrown for over 6300 yards in college and he threw for over 9,000 yards and 95 touchdowns in three years as a high school starting quarterback at one of the top prep football programs in the state of Florida. And he holds the high school record for the most passing yards in a season in Florida as well. So he can throw the football. And evidently he is a very, very good college quarterback.

But again just how good of a quarterback is he? And can he make it in the NFL? And is that even fair to ask with all that he has accomplished in the NCAA ranks.

I believe it’s a fair question and I believe that we don’t know for sure. For me the test will be what he does or doesn’t do at the next level will answer the quarterback question. For me, to be a truly great quarterback, you have to be highly successful in the NFL. If you are great at the college level, it just isn’t enough in my opinion.

But the bad news for the rest of the SEC (and my DAWGS) is that he’s back for one more year for us to observe and keep talking about it before he finally leaves and tries to answer my question.