Thoughts of the Day: August 11, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:

PEARSALL INJURED, OUT FOR AWHILE

One of the positions the Gators can least afford an injury has taken a hit with Arizona State transfer Ricky Pearsall sidelined with a foot injury suffered at Tuesday’s practice. Pearsall was seen in a walking boot later on Tuesday evening. The extent of his injury is unknown at this point, but until there is clarification from head coach Billy Napier the safe assumption is that Pearsall is out indefinitely.

Pearsall, who caught 48 passes for 580 yards and four touchdowns last season at Arizona State, was expected to be the starter in the slot in the fall. Blessed with great speed, Pearsall was known at ASU for his ability to get yards after the catch.

Just a week ago, Florida safety Rashad Torrence said, “I’m excited to see what Ricky Pearsall can do … Yeah, he’s a nice piece to have.”

Even with Pearsall healthy, Florida’s receiving corps is neither deep nor blessed with great experience. Justin Shorter, who has caught 66 passes in two seasons including 41 last year for 550 yards and three TDs, is Florida’s most experienced receiver. Xzavier Henderson has 35 catches in two seasons, 26 for 277 yards and two touchdowns last year. The third most experienced receiver is Trent Whittemore, who has 29 career catches, 19 for 210 yards and a TD last year.

What is eye catching about those three is that none of them have shown the ability to stretch the field in games although all three have posted very good 40 times in the past.

There are other experienced wide receivers, but Ja’Markis Weston, Ja’Quavion Fraziars, Marcus Burke, Daejon Reynolds and Jordan Pouncey have combined for 15 career catches. Caleb Douglas is the only scholarship freshman wide receiver.

Pearsall’s absence could also mean the Gators make more use of the running backs in the passing game. This will be a run-first offense, but Nay’Quan Wright, who ran for 326 yards last season while catching 14 passes for 178 yards and a TD, says all the backs can catch the football.

“We’re all versatile, not only me,” Wright said. “You can go down the list — (Lorenzo) Lingard, Montrell (Johnson) and (Trevor) Etienne. I think we’re all versatile. We all can go out there and catch the ball, and we show it in 7-on-7 every day in practice and even on team (periods).”

SEC football, basketball, baseball

Alabama: Wide receiver JoJo Earle has a foot fracture that will keep him sidelined approximately 6-8 weeks. Nick Saban set an October 1 possibility for Earle’s return.

Arkansas: The four standouts at wide receiver so far in fall camp are Toledo transfer Matt Landers, Oklahoma transfer Jordan Haselwood, Ketron Jackson Jr. and Warren Thompson.

Auburn: Discussing what has to change with his unit to play up to an SEC standard, wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard said, “We have to get open. We have to catch the ball … we have to play better.”

Georgia: The Board of Regents approved $68.5 million to make improvements to Sanford Stadium including a new press box.

Kentucky: With a win in Kentucky’s season opener with Miami (OH), HBC Mark Stoops will tie Bear Bryant’s school record 60 wins, a mark that has stood since 1953. ESPN analyst Greg McElroy thinks the Wildcats have a good chance to get back to 10 wins for the second straight year and for the third time in four years. “The likelihood of getting back to 10, I think, is increasingly high,” McElroy said. “When I say 60 percent they get back to 10, that’s where I’d be.”

LSU: LSU’s roster has 16 transfers who are on scholarship, nine defensive players, six offensive players and one long snapper.

Mississippi State: Defensive end Randy Charlton was carted off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital in an ambulance after a helmet-to-helmet collision in Monday’s practice. Charlton is said to be doing well a couple of days later.

Missouri: One of the reasons Brady Cook won the starting job at Mizzou is his willingness to run the ball. HBC Eli Drinkwitz said that Cook has one of the 20 best times in the 40 on the team.

Ole Miss: HBC Lane Kiffin has 20 transfers on his roster which prompted him to say, “A play today, that guy was just playing for Auburn who was covering a guy who was playing for Mississippi State. Just the world we’re in” … Fresh off the NCAA championship, baseball coach Mike Bianco has gotten a contract extension and a raise to $1.625 million per season. Additionally, there is an incentive of $150,000 if Bianco gets the Rebels to the College World Series, $400,000 if he wins the national championship.

South Carolina: Coastal Carolina transfer guard Ebrima Dibba will miss the entire 2022-23 basketball season after tearing his Achilles. At Coastal, Dibba averaged 8.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He led the Sun Belt Conference in assists.

Tennessee: Longtime Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist John Adams calls the Vols’ game two encounter on the road at Pittsburgh critical and could be the difference in a 9-3 season or something closer to last year’s 7-6.

Texas A&M: Do-everything senior Ainias Smith, who plays the slot, out wide and sometimes running back, has emerged as a real leader for the Aggies. “If he’s not getting in or getting ready for another rep, he’s in other people’s reps,” says wide receivers coach James Coley. He’s huge for the young guys because he’s always talking to them.”

Vanderbilt: The Commodores seem to be heading in the direction of a three-man rotation at running back between Re’Mahn Davis, Rocko Griffin and Patrick Smith.

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Oklahoma: Where would we be without our anonymous message board cowboys? Already one on the Oklahoma message boards is calling for HBC Brent Venables to be fired in the aftermath of the resignation of wide receivers coach Cale Gundy.

Texas: Three true freshmen are making a case for major playing opportunities in the fall – wide receiver Savion Red, running back Jaydon Blue and offensive tackle Kelvin Banks.

Matt Hayes ranks the top 25 defensive coordinators in college football

The top 25: 1. Jim Leonhard, Wisconsin; 2. Will Muschamp/Glenn Schumann, Georgia; 3. Derek Mason, Oklahoma State; 4. Phil Parker, Iowa; 5. Jim Knowles, Ohio State; 6. Mike Tressell, Cincinnati; 7. Alex Grinch, Southern Cal; 8. Zach Arnett, Mississippi State; 9. Kevin Steele, Miami; 10. Pete Golding, Alabama; 11. Ron Roberts, Baylor; 12. Barry Odom, Arkansas; 13. Brad White, Kentucky; 14. DJ Durkin, Texas A&M; 15. Joe Rossi, Minnesota; 16. Morgan Scalley, Utah; 17. Jon Heacock, Iowa State; 18. Matt House, LSU; 19. Patrick Toney/Sean Spencer, Florida; 20. Pete Kwiatkowski, Texas; 21. Tim DeRuyter, Texas Tech; 22. Kurt Mattix, San Diego State; 23. Doug Belk, Houston; 24. Jesse Minter, Michigan; 25. Tony Gibson, North Carolina State

Matt Hayes ranks the top 25 offensive coordinators in college football

The top 25: 1. Lincoln Riley, Southern Cal; 2. Ryan Day, Ohio State; 3. Bill O’Brien, Alabama; 4. Josh Heupel, Tennessee; 5. Mike Leach, Mississippi State; 6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas; 7. Jeff Lebby, Oklahoma; 8. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia; 9. Warren Ruggerio, Wake Forest; 10. Phil Longo, North Carolina; 11. Josh Gattis, Miami; 12. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M; 13. Chip Kelly, UCLA; 14. Jeff Brohm, Purdue; 15. Hugh Freeze, Liberty; 16. Todd Monken, Georgia; 17. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin; 18. Billy Napier, Florida; 19. Tommy Rees, Notre Dame; 20. Mark Whipple, Nebraska; 21. Garrett Riley, TCU; 22. Willy Korn, Coastal Carolina; 23. Andy Ludwig, Utah; 24. Andrew Sowder, Kent State; 25. Jason Candle, Toledo

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Big Ten will be announcing its mega deal with Fox, CBS and NBC any day now. Most economists say the deal will eclipse $1 billion a year. The new agreement, which supposedly will begin in 2024 – supposedly because there could be some major manipulating – will have Fox broadcasting the noon football game, CBS at 3:30 and NBC at 7:30. ESPN will not have any part of the media deal and that is precisely why we can expect a flurry of deals, one of which could result in a conference merger.

Here are some details and some juicy speculation about what is next.

CBS, which was paying the SEC a paltry $53 million a year and is under contract with the SEC until the end of the 2023 season, is going to be paying somewhere in the range of $350 million per year for 13 Saturday afternoon Big Ten games. That’s rather interesting since CBS dropped out of the bidding for the SEC media deal which begins in 2024 because it was too pricey.

NBC will get the 7:30 game and stream evening games on its Peacock brand. There are some who speculate that NBC’s participation in this deal will lead to Notre Dame joining the Big Ten, but that’s highly unlikely. Notre Dame is probably going to exact a $100 million per year agreement out of NBC to remain independent in football with all its other sports in the Atlantic Coast Conference. NBC will gladly pay Notre Dame since it will be guaranteed seven or eight Notre Dame home games a year, and in most seasons 1-2 ND road games against Big Ten opponents. Like it or not, the Irish are money in the bank when it comes to football.

ESPN’s deal with the SEC will pay $300 million for football, but the entire deal with the other sports is said to be worth something like $700 million. And this is BEFORE Texas and Oklahoma join the league. When that happens, the SEC deal will be in the billion dollar range as well with fewer logistical problems and better ratings for its broadcasts.

With CBS and NBC devoting the resources they will need to be in the Big Ten, ESPN could broker some serious deals that could benefit the ACC, Big 12 and the Pac-12.

Start with the ACC. The ACC has an agreement that Notre Dame will play five games with ACC opponents every year so those games played in ACC stadiums could be worth more money to the cash-starved league. Also, since ESPN will no longer be carrying Big Ten basketball, it can add money to the ACC for basketball. This won’t get the ACC anywhere close to the amount of money the Big Ten and SEC can pay per school, but it might push the league past the $50 million per year threshold.

The Big 12 will add UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati next year, which will make for an awkward two-years of 14 teams, two of which (Texas and Oklahoma) are lame ducks. The Big 12’s media deal expires after the 2024 season, so perhaps ESPN will do some manipulating that will bring Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC for when the new contract kicks in while guaranteeing a decent media deal for the Big 12? That seems more and more possible.

Then there are the 10 remaining schools of the Pac-12 which could give ESPN Friday night and late night Saturday football games. Could a deal with ESPN save the Pac-12 from extinction? Could ESPN also broker a merger between the Pac-12 and Big 12? As unlikely as the merger may seem, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News says it has possibilities. Wilner, by the way, broke the story that Southern Cal and UCLA were leaving for the Big Ten.

So here are three predictions: (1) Notre Dame remains independent with a $100 million deal from NBC; (2) ESPN will scoop up deals with the Big 12 and whatever is left of the Pac-12 plus prop up the ACC a bit; and (3) ESPN will control a larger swath of the football watching country plus give far more variety in its product.