Thoughts of the Day: August 14, 2026
- Franz Beard
- 10 hours ago
- 8 min read
A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:
Only three weeks ago in Tampa at SEC Media Days, writers and broadcasters from all over the country voted Florida running back Jadan Baugh second team on its preseason all-conference team. Ahead of Baugh on the first team were Ahmad Hardy of Missouri and Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss. When ESPN released its preseason All-America team Thursday, Baugh was selected first team All-America along with Lacy. Hardy, who is recovering from a gunshot wound that might keep him out of a couple of early games, made second team.
Among the notable preseason All-America teams, Athlon selected Baugh to its second team, while On3 placed him on the third team. CBS Sports selected Baugh as the No. 41 player in the nation. Running backs ahead of him are Lacy, Mark Fletcher Jr. (Miami), Hardy and Justice Haynes (Georgia Tech). Baugh didn’t make first, second or third team on Phil Steele’s preseason All-America. It should be noted that Steele has Georgia’s Nate Frazier on its second team. Frazier is a very good back, but he’s not in Jadan Baugh’s league.
Gator fans, who are accustomed to the yearly snubs by the SEC coaches, might think this year’s preseason All-America teams further conspiracy theories that there is a bias against the University of Florida, case in point Jake Slaughter. In 2024, the SEC coaches didn’t make Slaughter either first, second or third team all-conference. Not only did Slaughter make the Associated Press first team All-SEC center, but Slaughter was the consensus first team All-American center as well.
In Baugh’s situation for All-America, it’s not a conspiracy. It has everything to do with wins and losses. Lacy scored 24 touchdowns for 13-2 Ole Miss. Fletcher gained 1,192 yards for national runner-up Miami (13-3 record). Hardy gained 1,649 yards for 8-5 Missouri. Before he was injured in the seventh game at Michigan last year, Haynes had run for 857 yards and 10 TDs for a team that eventually finished 9-4. Nate Frazier gained 947 yards for 12-2 Georgia.
Jadan Baugh ran for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns plus he caught 33 passes for 210 yards and two more touchdowns. Those stats are fairly remarkable when you consider Florida went 4-8 with an offense that ranked 104th in the nation, 13th in the SEC. Everybody knew Baugh was going to get the football in Florida’s pedestrian and very predictable offense yet he still finished third in the SEC in rushing.
Had the Gators gone 8-4 rather than 4-8, Baugh would have received far more recognition last year and wouldn’t have been snubbed by the likes of Phil Steele, Lindy’s and Sporting News. It’s kind of like the Heisman Trophy voting. The trophy is supposed to go to the best football player in the country but a tremendous amount of weight is placed on winning. All but one of last year’s top 10 finishers in the Heisman voting played on teams that won at least 10 games. Georgia Tech’s Haynes King finished tenth after leading the Yellow Jackets to a 9-win season.
It is a much easier path to fame and glory when you play for a winning team.
Here is the ESPN preseason All-America team.
First team offense
QB: Julian Sayin, Ohio State; RB: Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss; Jadan Baugh, Florida; WR: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State; Cam Coleman, Texas; TE: Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech; OT: Trevor Goosby, Texas; Carter Smith, Indiana; OG: Kade Pieper, Iowa; Anthonie Knapp, Notre Dame; C: Drew Bobo, Georgia; All-purporse: Malachi Tony, Miami
Second team offense
QB: CJ Carr, Notre Dame; RB: Ahmad Hardy, Missouri; Mark Fletcher Jr., Miami; WR: Nick Marsh, Indiana; Charlie Becker, Indiana; TE: Trey’Dez Green, LSU; OT: Jordan Seaton, LSU; Trevor Lauck, Iowa; OG: Greg Johnson, Minnesota; Evan Tengshdahl, Cincinnati; C: Ianapi Laloulu, Oregon; All-purpose: J’Kopy Williams, Texas Tech
First team defense
EDGE: Colin Simmons, Texas; Dylan Stewart, South Carolina; DT: A’Mauri Washington; Oregon; Ahmad Moten Sr., Miami; LB: Rasheem Biles, Texas; Xavier Atkins, Auburn; Sammy Brown, Clemson; CB: Leonard Moore, Notre Dame; Brice Pollock, Texas Tech; S: KJ Bolden, Georgia; Ty Benefield, LSU
Second team defense
EDGE: Anthony Smith, Minnesota; John Henry Daley, Michigan; DT: Will Echoles, Ole Miss; AJ Holmes, Texas Tech; LB: Rolijah Hardy, Indiana; Kip Lewis, Oklahoma; Whit Weeks, LSU; CB: Brandon Finney Jr., Oregon; Kelly Jones, Mississippi State; S: Amare Ferrell, Indiana; Bray Hubbard, Alabama
First team special teams
PK: Tate Sandell, Oklahoma; P: Evan Crenshaw, Troy; KR/PR: Ryan Niblett, Texas
Second team special teams
PK: Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss; P: Palmer Williams, Baylor; KR/PR: Vicari Swain, South Carolina
LSU HAS HURT JAYDEN DANIELS’ FEELINGS
Jayden Daniels, who won the 2023 Heisman Trophy after passing for 40 touchdowns and running for four more, has sent a cease and desist letter to LSU, informing the school it can no longer use his name, image or likeness all because cornerback DJ Pickett will wear the No. 5 jersey this season. Daniels wore No. 5 at LSU while putting up Star Wars statistics and even though no Tiger has worn No. 5 in the two years since his departure, the jersey was never retired. While earning freshman All-America honors last season, Pickett wore No. 3.
A spokesman for the Daniels’ family said, “The Daniels family is deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU’s decision to give Jayden’s number to another player. Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university.”
As for Pickett, he was promised the No. 5 jersey by then LSU coach Brian Kelly when he was being recruited out of Zephyhills, Florida. Kelly did not allow Pickett to wear No. 5 last year without Daniels’ approval. Kelly was fired last year. New coach Lane Kiffin awarded Pickett the No. 5 jersey but did not award any player No. 9, which hasn’t been worn since Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman while leading LSU to the national championship.
PREDICTING THE FUTURE
The pads are on throughout the SEC this week with most schools scheduling their first scrimmage this weekend. Time to pick the order of finish in the league this year.
1. Texas: Steve Sarkisian brought in wide receiver Cam Coleman and running backs Hollywood Smothers and Releek Brown to complement Arch Manning, but his best move was luring Will Muschamp to become the defensive coordinator. I predict a Texas-Miami national championship game.
2. Georgia: The Bulldogs aren’t as deep as they used to be, but they’re still good enough to make the semifinals of the College Football Playoff and even win it if the stars and planets align.
3. Oklahoma: A dark horse pick. The Sooners have to play Georgia and Florida on the road, Texas in Dallas and Ole Miss at home. Brutal schedule but the defense will be second only to Texas.
4. Ole Miss: Trinidad Chambliss is a Heisman candidate at QB and Kewan Lacy is outstanding but the receivers are brand new and the schedule includes roadies with Florida, Texas and Oklahoma plus Georgia at home.
5. LSU: Sam Leavitt is 100 percent healthy, which means the LSU offense will be extraordinary.
6. Alabama: The schedule is one of the easier ones in the SEC, but the offense has way too much to prove.
7. Texas A&M: Road trips to LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma will decide if the Aggies are contenders or pretenders.
8. Florida: An 8-4 season would mean doubling last year’s win total. Anything more than eight wins is a bonus.
9. Tennessee: The Vols went 8-5 last year. That’s about right for this year, too.
10. Missouri: As long as Eli Drinkwitz is the coach, you can pencil the Tigers in for at least eight wins.
11. Auburn: The Tigers could really surprise people but one thing for sure, they will break the string of five straight losing seasons.
12. Vanderbilt: The Commodores will hover around 6-7 wins.
13. South Carolina: Another team that could surprise based on the hire of Kendal Briles as the OC.
14. Mississippi State: A 6-6 season would be an accomplishment, but seven isn’t out of the question.
15. Kentucky: New coach Will Stein talks a good game, but it is Kentucky, after all.
16. Arkansas: If the Hogs double last year’s total they will still be a 4-8 team.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: CBS Sports reported that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has sent out a memo telling the coaches in all sports to follow the NCAA eligibility guidelines as written in the 5-for-5 legislation until advised otherwise. Translation: Comply with the NCAA rules until the NCAA get clobbered enough times in court to give up its ridiculous fight to prevent high school grads from 2022 from getting a fifth year of eligibility.
Despite getting hammered in the courts all over the country and Federal Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado issuing a nationwide injunction that grants a fifth year, the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, is determined to appeal, claiming chaos will ensue, causing irreparable harm to 2026-27 freshmen and walk-ons due if this ruling is allowed to stand.
Judge Sweeney determined that it would be the plaintiffs not only in her case, but throughout the country who do not understand why it is a third-year junior from the 2025-26 athletic year gets two more years to play and those who were fourth-year players are shut out. Judge Sweeney stated, “They (plaintiffs seeking a fifth year) will suffer irreparable harm without issuance of an injunction. And, the balance of equities as well as the public interest, favor them. They are entitled to injunctive relief.”
The NCAA has tried to paint itself as the last bastion of hope for freshmen and walk-ons who will lose their scholarships in numbers game situations where to bring back fifth-year players coaches cut freshmen or walk-ons to stay within the limit of 105 for football, 15 for basketball. If this had actually happened, we would know about it because the media would have jumped all over the case for a kid being kicked to the street. Why, that kid might be the next Rudy, for all we know.
Hasn’t happened, which leads us to understand the real motive behind the NCAA’s insistence on fighting every case in every courtroom across the country, billable hours racking up for attorneys at each whistlestop along the fruited plain. This is nothing more than a veiled attempt by the NCAA to re-assert itself as the final and absolute authority for college sports. What the NCAA has failed to do is look in the mirror. The problem isn’t kids challenging its authority. The problem is the NCAA and its own convoluted sense of fairness. Way too many inconsistencies in the way it enforces its own rules, evoking memories of Jerry Tarkanian who once said, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they’re going to give Cleveland State another year of probation.”
The NCAA is attempting to expedite its appeal since football season begins in three weeks and there is that rare chance it will win an injunction that overthrows Judge Sweeney’s decision, but that will not be the end of this. The NCAA isn’t the only one capable of an appeal so this could drag on for a long, long time. Meanwhile, friendly judges everywhere will be issuing injunctions that prohibit the NCAA from banning the 2022 high school grads.
The NCAA has chosen this hill to die on and die it will. Football season is about to begin. Basketball players like Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen are already enrolled for the fall semester. One of two things will happen: 1. After losing its appeal, the NCAA will capitulate and grandfather in last year’s fourth-year seniors; or 2. Even after the appeal the courts will continue deciding in favor of players and against the NCAA. Figure this. Denzel Aberdeen will be suiting up for the Gators when the season begins November 2. The only question is who ultimately decided his eligibility, the NCAA by giving up or the courts by more injunctions.
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