Thoughts of the Day: March 30, 2021

A few thoughts to jumpstart your Tuesday morning:

TRASK CAN STATE HIS CASE WEDNESDAY MORNING

Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) is the surefire No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars have made it perfectly clear that Lawrence is the guy they plan to build the franchise around. BYU’s Zach Wilson is all but certain to go to the New York Jets with the second pick and all indications are that Alabama’s Mac Jones will be taken third by the San Francisco 49ers, who made some trades to move up last week. Nearly every draft expert has North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Ohio State’s Justin Fields going in the top ten.

There was a time when Florida’s Kyle Trask was on everybody’s first round radar, but his stock has dipped since the Cotton Bowl and he’s now thought of as a second rounder. Wednesday morning at Florida’s Pro Day Trask will have a chance to state his case that he will be somebody’s NFL bargain.

It will be a good setup for Trask, who will be throwing to three future NFL receivers in Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes. Both Pitts and Toney are projected to go in the first round with Grimes expected to go either in the third or fourth.

The scouts already know that Trask is one of the two or three most accurate passers available. They will ask him to make certain throws Wednesday but most importantly, they will have a chance to see how quickly he processes information and turns that into the right decision.

With five quarterbacks expected to go in the first round, there probably isn’t room for another, but Trask can certainly show the scouts that he’s good enough to not only make an NFL roster but to factor in their future plans.

UF BASEBALL FALLS IN BASEBALL POLLS

A fall out of the top five was to be expected for the Florida Gators after getting swept by South Carolina last weekend. Only Collegiate Baseball kept the Gators in their top ten (10th). The biggest tumble came in the D1Baseball.com poll, which dropped Florida 10 spots to No. 15.

The Gators will play host to Mercer (13-10) of the Southern Conference tonight at the Florida Ballpark. SEC play will resume this weekend when 3rd-ranked Ole Miss comes to town.

D1baseball.com poll: 1. Vanderbilt 19-3; 2. Arkansas 19-3; 3. Ole Miss 20-4; 4. Texas Tech 19-4; 5. Texas 17-7; 6. Georgia Tech 13-7; 7. Louisville 16-6; 8. Mississippi State 17-7; 9. Tennessee 21-4; 10. UCLA 15-7; 11. East Carolina 17-5; 12. TCU 16-7; 13. Notre Dame 11-4; 14. South Carolina 16-6; 15. FLORIDA 16-8; 16. Oklahoma State 15-6; 17. Louisiana Tech 17-6; 18. Florida State 12-8; 19. Miami 12-8; 20. Oregon 12-6; 21. Oregon State 16-5; 22. Arizona 16-7; 23. Virginia Tech 13-8; 24. Pittsburgh 12-8; 25. Michigan 11-4

Collegiate Baseball poll: 1. Vanderbilt 19-3; 2. Ole Miss 20-4; 3. Texas Tech 19-4; 4. Arkansas 19-3; 5. Louisville 16-6; 6. Texas 17-7; 7. Tennessee 21-4; 8. South Carolina 16-6; 9. UCLA 15-7; 10. FLORIDA 16-8; 11. Oklahoma State 15-6-1; 12. Mississippi State 17-7; 13. Oregon State 16-5; 14. Arizona State 15-5; 15. East Carolina 17-5; 16. Michigan 11-4; 17. Notre Dame 11-4; 18. Georgia Tech 13-7; 19. Arizona 16-7; 20. North Carolina 13-7; 21. Kentucky 17-4; 22. Oregon 12-6; 23. Georgia 16-7; 24. Stanford 14-3; 25. TCU 16-7; 26. UC-Irvine 14-7; 27. Indiana 11-3; 28. Southern Illinois 19-3; 20. San Diego 17-4; 30. Florida State 12-8

USA Today Coaches poll: 1. Vanderbilt 19-3; 2. Arkansas 19-3; 3. Ole Miss 20-4; 4. Texas Tech 19-4; 5. Louisville 16-6; 6. Tennessee 21-4; 7. Mississippi State 17-7; 8. Texas 17-7; 9. UCLA 15-7; 10. Georgia Tech 13-7; 11. TCU 16-7; 12. East Carolina 17-5; 13. FLORIDA 16-8; 14. Notre Dame 11-4; 15. South Carolina 16-6; 16. Oklahoma State 15-6-1; 17. Oregon State 16-5; 18. Miami 12-8; 19. Louisiana Tech 17-6; 20. Oregon 12-6; 21. Arizona 16-7; 22. Florida State 12-8; 23. Michigan 11-4; Stanford 14-3; 25. LSU 16-8

Baseball America poll: 1. Arkansas 19-3; 2. Vanderbilt 19-3; 3. Ole Miss 20-4; 4. Texas Tech 19-4; 5. Mississippi State 17-7; 6. Louisville 16-6; 7. Texas 17-7; 8. East Carolina 17-4; 9. Georgia Tech 13-7; 10. Tennessee 21-4; 11. South Carolina 16-6; 12. Notre Dame 11-4; 13 Virginia Tech 13-8; 14. FLORIDA 16-8; 15. UCLA 15-7; 16. Arizona 16-7; 17. Pittsburgh 12-8; 18. Florida State 12-8; 19. Oregon 16-6; 20. Miami 12-8; 21. North Carolina 13-7; 22. TCU 16-7; 23. Louisiana Tech 17-6; 24. Michigan 11-4; 25. Indiana State 11-6

UF SOFTBALL REMAINS NO. 5 The Gators (24-3) remained 5th in the D1softball.com poll with their 3-game sweep of LSU over the weekend. The Gators will travel to Jacksonville Wednesday night and will be at Georgia for a 3-game SEC series over the weekend.

D1softball.com poll: 1. Oklahoma 25-0; 2. UCLA 19-1; 3. Oregon 23-1; 4. Alabama 26-3; 5. FLORIDA 24-3; 6. Washington 24-4; 7. Florida State 20-6; 8. Arizona 18-5; 9. Arkansas 28-3; 10. Kentucky 24-4; 11. Oklahoma State 26-5; 12. LSU 18-11; 13. Texas 24-3; 14. Arizona State 19-8; 15. Virginia Tech 19-5; 16. Louisiana 20-6; 17. Duke 26-3; 18. Missouri 24-7; 19. UCF 24-6; 20. Northwestern 15-1; 21. Baylor21-5; 22. Texas State 20-3; 23. Clemson 22-4; 24. Tennessee 23-5; 25. Texas A&M 23-5

OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC (FOOTBALL/HOOPS)

Alabama: For getting Alabama to the Elite Eight, head coach Nate Oates earned a $200,000 bonus ... Nick Saban is on the verge of hiring Drew Svoboda from Memphis as his special teams coordinator. Svoboda’s stay in Memphis was short as he left Rice for the special teams job at Memphis back in January.

Auburn: Was there any doubt former Auburn All-American Charles Barkley was talking about Will Wade and LSU Sunday night when he said, “The NCAA, they are like the Barney Fife of the World. They do an awful job of administrating. We got guys on tape playing players – three years ago. They ain’t said nothing about it.”

Georgia: Kirby Smart believes there is a possibility wide receiver George Pickens will be able to play in 2021 despite having surgery for a torn ACL.

Kentucky: Kentucky landed the top shooting guard transfer Monday when Davidson’s Kellan Grady announced he will sspend a graduate year in Lexington. Grady has scored more than 2,000 points in his collegiate career. He joins West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe, a 6-9, 260-pound power forward who averaged 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds in 2019 ... Forward Jacob Toppin, who averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds off the bench, announced he will return to UK next season.

LSU: A 74-year-old grandmother who says she was sexually harassed by former LSU running back Derrius Guice says Coach O lied to investigators when he said he never had any direct communications with her about the incident. “Coach O is telling a lie,” Gloria Scott said. “He’s not telling the truth. I don’t have no reason to lie. I know who I was talking to. He knows he talked to me.”

Mississippi State: A day after Mississippi State lost to Memphis in the championship game of the NIT, freshman forward Keondre Montgomery put his name in the NCAA transfer portal.

Missouri: Starting guard Mark Smith, who averaged 10.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in three years at Mizzou, has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Also in the portal is reserve Parker Braun, who averaged only 9.3 minutes and 2.8 points per game.

Ole Miss: Wide receiver Elijah Moore, who caught 86 passes for 1,139 yards in only eight games last year, ran a 4.34 in the 40 at the Ole Miss Pro Day.

South Carolina: Forward Keyshawn Bryant, who averaged 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds, will make himself available for the NBA Draft but will not hire an agent so he will have the option to return to school.

Tennessee: Former 5-star recruit Jaden Springer has declared for the NBA. Springer averaged 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the Vols as a true freshman ... Sophomore guard Davonte Gaines has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal, joining Drew Pember.

Texas A&M: Tight end Jalen Wydermyer, who caught 46 passes for 506 yards and six touchdowns, will miss the rest of the spring after suffering a cut on his hand that required surgery to repair.

Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt has already raised $200 million of the $300 million that will be spent to upgrade football and basketball facilities.

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX The SEC bowed out of the NCAA Tournament Monday night when Baylor (26-2) knocked off Arkansas (25-7), 81-72, earning the school’s first trip to a Final Four since 1950. The Bears got 20 points off Arkansas turnovers, hit 13-17 of their free throws and 8-15 of their 3-pointers. The Arkansas loss leaves the Southeastern Conference with a 7-6 record in this year’s tournament.

Houston (28-3) ended Oregon State’s magical run in the tournament by holding on for a 67-61 win over the Beavers (20-13) in the Midwest Region final Monday night. Houston became the first team in tournament history to beat four double-digit seeds to make the Final Four. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson becomes a member of a very small fraternity of coaches who make the Final Four after putting two previous schools (Oklahoma and Indiana) on probation. After the Indiana probation, he got a 5-year show cause from the NCAA.

Baylor and Houston will face each other in one semifinal at the Final Four Saturday.

Tonight, No. 1 seed Gonzaga (29-0) tries to keep its perfect season intact in the West Region championship game (7:15 p.m., TBS). No. 1 seed Michigan (23-4) will face No. 11 UCLA (21-9) in the East Region championship game (9:57 p.m., TBS).

MORE BASKETBALL STUFF Indiana has its replacement coach for Archie Miller. Mike Woodson has been hired to be the new savior for the Hoosiers. He played for Bobby Knight and has been an NBA head coach but has never coached at the collegiate level. Of course, Juwan Howard never coached college basketball before taking the Michigan job and that’s worked out well. The 63-year-old Woodson got a 6-year deal.

By taking the Marquette job, Shaka Smart avoided spending a lame duck year on the Texas hot seat. After that first round NCAA Tournament loss to Abilene Christian, the Texas people would have been looking for any excuse to fire Shaka next year. He gets a fresh start at Marquette, a place he can win with far less pressure.

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP Auburn has suspended its bass fishing team until 2022 for three violations of the school COVID-19 policies. Since no one on the team was kicked out of school, this is the definition of catch and release.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: When I heard that Howard Schnellenberger died, one of my first thoughts was what is it about Kentucky football and dumb decisions? Remember, it was the University of Kentucky that ran off Bear Bryant, still the winningest coach in school history some 68 years later. Do you think they may have regretted that decision? Howie played for Bryant at UK and was Bryant’s offensive coordinator at Alabama from 1961-65. Howie was also the offensive coordinator for Don Shula and the 1972 Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins, still the only undefeated team in NFL history. Following that season, Howie wanted to become the head coach at UK, which had fired John Ray, but athletic director Cliff Hagan hired Fran Curci instead, which turned out to be a dumb move. Kentucky football had a couple of good seasons under Curci, but he was fired after a 9-year run. Howard Schnellenberger, meanwhile became the head coach at the University of Miami in 1979. He not only lifted UM off the ash heap at a time when the school was considering dropping football, but he won UM’s first national championship in 1983.