The Rest of College Football

[Hannibal]

It did. It killed off the franchise.

[WM Wolverine]

Former players got about fifty cents for their likeness while the lawyers made millions but future players supposedly had the potential to make much more.

[entropy]

College recruiting blog

Posted: 11:03 pm Monday, February 3rd, 2014
Former UGA football player commits to Alabama (UPDATED)

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< There’s ’95-percent chance’ UGA commit will stick with Bulldogs

By Michael Carvell
Former UGA TE Ty Flournoy-Smith (AJC)

Former UGA TE Ty Flournoy-Smith (AJC)

Ty Flournoy-Smith, who was dismissed from UGA after getting into trouble a couple of times, committed to Alabama on Monday night.

Flournoy-Smith played this season at Georgia Military junior college and took an official visit to Alabama last weekend without a scholarship offer. He got a call from Nick Saban on Monday, and tweeted out his commitment to the Crimson Tide.

Flournoy-Smith was dismissed from UGA after getting in trouble twice during his freshman year. He was first arrested for filing a false report of a crime for cashing in text books he had reported as stolen. The last straw was when police were called to a room occupied by Flournoy-Smith and Josh Harvey-Clemons. Neither player was arrested but both admitted to police they smoked marijuana and were disciplined for violating the UGA athletic department’s marijuana-use policy.

At Georgia Military this season, Flournoy-Smith caught six passes for 134 yards, including five touchdown passes.

“It was going really good until he broke his foot,” Georgia Military coach Bert Williams told the AJC. “He got rolled up blocking a guy in our third or fourth game. He made it back for the last regular-season game and bowl game. He wasn’t 100-percent but he was out there.

“He did a really good job for us. I would’ve liked to have had him for the whole season. But it was good he came back to show people he was healthy.”

At first, Flournoy-Smith appeared headed to Ole Miss but things didn’t work out.

“Ole Miss had offered him, and he was more or less going to go there,” Williams said. “He liked what they had going on. He was wanting to take a visit to Ole Miss and make sure everything was fine. Then they started hemming and hawing, and it wasn’t going to work. We made a few calls, and Alabama had a high interest level. They had to see how the (scholarship) numbers worked out first.”

Flournoy-Smith impressed Georgia Military’s coaches in his brief stint there. He will graduate after this quarter and be eligible to transfer to Alabama with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

“We haven’t had any problems with Ty,” Williams said. “He has done fine in the Cadet Core. He has worked hard on the field, and he has done well in the classroom. He came in with a good attitude, and he was really helpful with some of our freshmen guys. He has shown good leadership in helping them get past the freshmen challenges they all deal with. We’ve been very pleased with him. He’s a good young man and will do well.”

What about UGA? When Flournoy-Smith transferred from the Bulldogs, Richt didn’t rule out the possibility of a return.

“I spoke with Georgia about Ty back during the season,” Williams said. “While they would’ve liked to have brought back in, they felt like it was best for him to go somewhere with a fresh start, which is why he was looking for other opportunities.”

Flournoy-Smith played mostly special teams as a freshman at UGA during the 2012 season, and he will have two years of eligibility at Alabama.

[entropy]

I'd find this annoying...

Alabama, Auburn crash recruit's family party.

07:31 AM ET 02.03 | What's next? Alabama and Auburn have engaged in
some heated recruiting battles throughout the years, but the battle for five-star Rashaan Evans has taken the two coaching staffs to a unusual recruiting battleground: the dance floor. According to Evans' father, Alan Evans, coaches from both Alabama and Auburn attended the five-star athlete's grandfather's 80th birthday party on Saturday
night at a hotel in Auburn along with nearly 200 other friends and family members. "When we got to the party about eight o'clock it was a packed house at the hotel," Evans told AL.com. "We walked in and the first people we saw was the entire Auburn staff standing there on our left and to my right was Kirby Smart and the Bama staff. ... Then the live band started playing and the Alabama and Auburn coaches hit the dance floor."

[entropy]

AUBURN, Ala. -- Flags representing Auburn’s National Championships in 1957 and 2010 have flown over Jordan-Hare Stadium for the past three seasons.

Auburn came up just seconds short of winning the 2013 BCS National Championship, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be new National Championship banners raised for the Tigers’ home-opener against Arkansas Aug. 30.

Auburn athletic officials are considering recognizing as many as seven more national championship teams.

“If other schools are using these same polls to declare a national championship, we should at least consider it,” Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs said. “I don’t think there’s a better time for the Auburn family to consider it than right here at the end of the BCS era.

“As we transition into another playoff format for the national champion, I just think we need to look hard at it.”

The 1910, 1913, 1914, 1958, 1983, 1993 and 2004 teams are all under consideration. Each finished undefeated or won the conference championship, or both. All were recognized as national champions by at least one national selector, which are used by other schools to recognize National Championships.

The facts are laid out quite thoroughly by Michael Skotnicki in his book, Auburn’s Unclaimed National Championships, which was published in 2012.

“Texas A&M decided upon entering the SEC that they would add the 1919 and 1927 titles,” Skotnicki said. “Minnesota added the 1904 title last summer. USC added the 1939 title in 2004. Ole Miss claims three national titles and not one is AP, Coaches’ Poll or BCS.

“Why should Auburn be any different? In this day and age, why should Auburn be so stuffy about it?”

For Jacobs, the teams with the strongest cases are 1913, 1983 and 1993. He was a starting offensive linemen for the 1983 team, that finished 11-1 including a Sugar Bowl win over Michigan.

“Those three teams are listed in the NCAA record book as champions. It’s hard to dispute the NCAA record book,” Jacobs said. “The former players that have been on those teams, they all support it as I do from playing in ’83.”

Jacobs also feels strongly about the 2004 team, which finished 13-0 but was denied a chance to play in the BCS Championship game after both USC and Oklahoma finished undefeated.

USC won the game handily, but was stripped of the title after being hit with NCAA sanctions.

“The 2004 team are national champions,” Jacobs said. “I just find it hard for us to not recognize teams in the same manner that sister institutions have given the same criteria.”

“There is no national champion in 2004, and I think there should be,” said Skotnicki, who holds two degrees from Auburn and is currently a practicing lawyer in Birmingham.

Texas A&M used retroactive rankings by the National Championship Foundation, Billingsley Report and Sagarin to officially recognize the 1919 and 1927 national titles two years ago. In 2012, Minnesota used Billingsley to recognize the 1904 national title.

USC used the $#@!inson system to recognize its 1939 title. Ole Miss cites Berryman, Dunkel and Sagarin for its 1959 title, five selectors including Billingsley for 1960, and Litkenhous for 1962.

Alabama also cites different selectors for many of its national championships before 1961 including Football Annual, Billingsley and Helms in 1925, Helms in 1926, the Davis Poll in 1930, Dunkel, Williamson and Football Thesaurus in 1934, and Houlgate in 1941. The 1941 Alabama team finished 9-2 overall, 3rd in SEC and 20th in AP poll.

To this point, Auburn only recognizes the AP national championship in 1957 and the consensus national championship in 2010.

“We’re so competitive. We compare ourselves to other schools,” Jacobs said. “If they’re counting something that we’re not counting, and we’re on equal footing, wouldn’t it be wise to count it.

“I think it’s something we need to consider right now. It’s been talked about here and there, but lets get it out there now and look at it and see what we should do.”

Jacobs and athletic department officials have already taken steps in researching and evaluating each team. Skotnicki met with Auburn officials last summer, and Jacobs said the athletic department’s Recognitions Committee is looking into it.

“We don’t have a timeline,” Jacobs said. “It won’t be an athletic director decision, it will be an Auburn decision. It will be an Auburn family decision. I want to hear from the Auburn people.”

Since publishing his book, Skotnicki has had positive feedback from a lot of Auburn people including a descendent of Legare Hairston, who was the starting quarterback of the 1914 team.

Hairston’s grandson attended one of Skotnicki’s book signings.

“His grandfather would tell him stories of how he scored the winning touchdown in the game against the Carlisle Indians,” Skotnicki said. “It means something to those people. The book meant a lot to him to see his grandfather get recognition as the quarterback on a national championship team, and I think they deserve that.

“I think they should finally get the rings and the recognition they’ve earned.”

Jacobs said he’s very appreciative of the work Skotnicki did writing his book and making a very compelling case for Auburn’s unclaimed national championships.

“It’s right there, nothing but facts. It’s awful hard to argue against facts,” Jacobs said.

Here’s a quick summary of the seven Auburn teams being considered as National Champions...

1910: Finished 6-1 and SIAA co-champions. Outscored opponents 176-9. Recognized national champion by Maxwell Ratings and Kyle Matschke. Coached by Mike Donahue.

1913: Finished 8-0 and SIAA champions. Outscored opponents 203-13. Recognized national champion by six selectors including Billingsley Report, Howell’s Power Ratings, Hatch Mathematical Rankings and Kyle Matschke. Recognized by the NCAA. Coached by Mike Donahue.

1914: Finished 8-0-1 and SIAA champions. Outscored opponents 193-0. Recognized national champion by Howell. Coached by Mike Donahue.

1958: Finished 9-0-1. Outscored opponents 173-62. Recognized national champion by Montgomery Full Season Championship. Coached by Shug Jordan.

1983: Finished 11-1 and SEC Champions. Outscored opponents 311-186 against the fifth-toughest schedule in college football history. Recognized national champion by 10 selectors including N.Y. Times, Billingsley, Massey, Howell and Hatch. Recognized by the NCAA. Coached by Pat Dye.

1993: Finished 11-0. Outscored opponents 353-192. Recognized national champion by four selectors including National Championship Foundation. Recognized by the NCAA. Coached by Terry Bowden.

2004: Finished 13-0 and SEC Champions. Outscored opponents 417-147. Recognized national champion by Darryl Perry and GBE College Football Ratings. Coached by Tommy Tuberville.

[Mike]

And this is why the BCS, while far from perfect, was infinitely better than the previous system. At least if you are interested in crowning a national champion.

The new playoff will be an improvement and if/when they get to an 8 team format we'll have a legitimate champion every year.

[WM Wolverine]

We're set for 12-years of a 4-team playoff.

[Tony G]

so the SEC championship game will be the National Title Game too?

[Mike]

We're set for 12-years of a 4-team playoff.

Still better than the BCS which was better than the old bowl system.

[WM Wolverine]

I like the 4-team playoff much more than the BCS; pretty confident we'll go to 8 if they can find a way to make it work for everyone currently involved...

It's more complicated than most think as you have to make everyone that currently wields power (television, conferences, bowl committees/venues, etc), better off with a proposed 8-team playoff.

[entropy]

Auburn posts Rashaan Evans' profile on their website only to see him sign with the Tide.

[entropy]

another problem for the BIG.. kids in the south stay south.. not the same in the north

Saw this on twitter: Top KS OL Braden Smith picks Auburn. Bama got top OL out of Iowa and MN.

[WM Wolverine]

Top kids in the south get paid not to take visits to the north. Wonder how much they make to actually commit when kids make 20k plus just not to take an official visit to the competition?

[Mike]

Top kids in the south get paid not to take visits to the north. Wonder how much they make to actually commit when kids make 20k plus just not to take an official visit to the competition?

I don't doubt that money changes hands in the south but $20K to not take an OV? Is there anything to substantiate those claims? That just seems a little over the top to me.

[WM Wolverine]

Yes, insiders at rivals say as much.