A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: “Patience, Grasshopper” – Master Po to young Caine from “Kung Fu” TV series Okay, so you’ve been waiting patiently – or at least as patient as you think is necessary – for Billy Napier to come up with the big scores on the recruiting trail. You wonder out loud why it is that the Gators are making everybody’s short list but somehow, someway the 5-stars are getting away. You wonder why is it that Texas can land Arch Manning while Florida loses Jaden Rashada to Miami. And on and on and on. I tend to leave recruiting to people who devote the time, energy and resources to offer informed and up to date opinions. I follow recruiting, not quite as closely as I once did, but I follow it just the same and here is what I have concluded about Napier and the Gators: 1. From day one Billy Napier said he was going to recruit players who meet a certain standard. He expects kids to be committed to getting a college degree; willing to work hard at every aspect of life whether that’s in the classroom, the weight room, in their personal lives and on the playing field. Not every kid, he said, is going to meet that standard. Those that can have a chance to be Gators. Those that can’t can go somewhere else. 2. Napier has a comprehensive plan. Call it “the process” if you wish, but whatever you call it, it is a plan that involves building a complete and competitive roster. We’ve seen how rosters get a bit upside down in the past 10-12 years. Will Muschamp was lights out recruiting defensive players and it showed with the product on the field. Muschamp’s offenses lagged way behind because he didn’t put enough emphasis on building a complete roster that is competitive at every single position. Dan Mullen thought you could recruit at Florida the way he recruited at Mississippi State. At MSU he was constantly scouring for diamond in the rough types that only needed a chance to show they could play in the SEC. Playing in the SEC is one thing. Playing well enough to win the SEC is another. And having enough quality players on both sides of the ball to get it done was something he never seemed to grasp. Now, along comes Napier, determined to get the roster balanced out with enough quality players at every position. 3. Everybody in the SEC has 22 players. With 22 quality players there is no margin for error. The teams that break even or perhaps go 7-5 or 8-4 typically have 44 very good players, which means there is margin for error, but very little. The teams that compete for and win championships in the SEC have a minimum of 60 players ready to go at all times so there is a true next man up mentality. The third teamers believe they should be getting second team reps and the second teamers believe they should be first teamers. The first teamers are constantly pushed by the guys below. Napier has 44 players. He needs 16-22 more before the Gators are going to be in the championship hunt consistently. 4. The current recruiting class is picking up momentum slowly but surely. In getting quarterback Marcus Stokes (6-2, 190, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Nease) to flip from Penn State Thursday then adding running back Treyaun Webb (6-1, 205, Jacksonville, FL Trinity Christian), Napier added two quality 4-star recruits to a 2023 class that is still small in number (11 players) but starting to fill out. There is a good chance the Gators will add a few more pieces to the puzzle this summer, but if he puts an exciting, winning product on the field in the fall, momentum will definitely tilt strongly in Florida’s favor. A top 10 class will be a good building block for the future. I think the Gators could make the top eight but if they surprise everyone on the field, it’s possible they could inch up a bit further in the rankings. 5. If you’ve ever been to Rome then you know what an absolutely remarkable city it is. To have survived through the ages as it has with so much of its history preserved is an absolute miracle. The Rome of today, which is a marvelous showcase of past and present, is proof in that old saying Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither will Billy Napier’s reconstruction effort of the Florida football program. It begins with a foundation of outstanding players who fit the mould of what Napier knows and understands will work in terms of building a championship roster. It is not going to happen overnight, but everything about Napier’s history tells us it will happen. 6. Let’s not forget the transfer portal. Napier didn’t go as heavy into the transfer portal as even he thought he might, but again it comes down to one basic concept that he discussed after one of the practices in the spring: Don’t bring in players for the sake of simply bringing in players. Bring in players that you know are going to help immediately at a position of need as in right guard O’Cyrus Torrence, running back Montrell Johnson, corner Jalen Kimber and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. 6. Patience, Grasshopper. RHP HURSTON WALDREP COMMITS TO UF Not only was it a great day on the football recruiting trail for Billy Napier, it was quite a day for UF baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who probably landed his Friday night starter Thursday in third team All-American righty Hurston Waldrep from Southern Miss. As a sophomore at Southern Miss, Waldrep went 6-2 with a 3.20 ERA. He struck out an impressive 140 batters in 90 innings while walking only 33, an impressive 4.24-1 strikeout to walk ratio. As a freshman at Southern Miss, the Thomasville, Georgia product was 1-0 (3.31 ERA) with three saves while working exclusively out of the bullpen. In 106-1/3 career innings, Waldrep has allowed only 84 hits while striking out 156 batters. Waldrep is currently on the roster of the US National Collegiate team along with current UF outfielder and All-American Wyatt Langford. Waldrep is the third transfer O’Sullivan has brought in, joining outfielder Colby Thomas (.325, 17 HR, 45 RBI in 42 games at Mercer) and second baseman Dale Thomas (.284, 13 HR, 49 RBI at Coastal Carolina). Dale Thomas, by the way, is hitting .327 with two homers and 18 RBI in 17 games for Winter Park this summer in the wood bat Florida Collegiate Summer League. SEC FOOTBALL/BASEBALL/BASKETBALL Auburn: Former Kansas first baseman Cooper McMurray, who hit nine home runs last season, is transferring to Auburn. Georgia: Assistant strength and conditioning coach Maurice Sims is leaving Georgia to become the director of strength and conditioning for Deion Sanders at Jackson State. Kentucky: On Kentucky Sports Radio Thursday, head coach Mark Stoops said, “I’m playing against players I know were given money, that the school and NCAA knows were given money and we’re still playing against them. Under the table, not even above the table like it is now.” After making that statement, Stoops made a plea for NIL money to level the playing field: “We need people to understand it is legal and it is okay … Yes, we are behind and yes, we need money, and to set aside pre-marketing dollars for the future of the football program and all of our sports.” … Left fielder Kendal Ewell, who hit 14 homers with 51 RBI at Eastern Kentucky, is transferring to UK. Also transferring in is second baseman Patrick Herrera (.336, 2 HR, 18 RBI) from Northwestern. Ole Miss: The No. 1 high school basketball player in the state of Arkansas, Rashaud Marshall (6-9, 215, Blytheville, AR) has committed to play for the Rebels, picking Ole Miss over Kansas, Mississippi State and Texas A&M among others. South Carolina: Former Gamecock wide receiver Eric Shaw is transferring to Troy. Shaw was a 4-star recruit out of high school. He played in eight games in two seasons at South Carolina without catching a single pass … Outfielder Caleb Denny (.331, 11 HR, 57 RBI) is transferring to South Carolina from Oral Roberts. Tennessee: Athletic director Danny White plans to increase the entire UT budget from $170 million to $200 million within four years. White said that every sports program at UT will be expected to win an SEC title at least every five years. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Those zany commissioners from the Pac-12 (George Kliavkoff) and ACC (Jim Phillips) are discussing a scheduling alliance between their two conferences, allegedly with ESPN. Under this agreement, the two leagues would get a media rights deal with ESPN and they would schedule marquee games with each other. With Southern Cal and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten, that would leave 10 schools in the Pac-12 while the ACC has 14 plus a 5-game scheduling agreement with Notre Dame. Let’s start with the notion of marquee games. Clemson-Stanford, Miami-Washington or Florida State-Oregon will not move the TV needle a silly millimeter. Nor will any combination of games you can think of. Notre Dame’s agreement is to play ACC teams but that needle doesn’t move much unless it’s Clemson or Miami. And there is also that teensy little matter of Phil Knight pledging to do whatever it takes financially to move Oregon into the Big Ten along with Washington. Both of them are on hold right now as the Big Ten – and everyone else for all that matters – awaits Notre Dame to make up its mind. Whether or not Notre Dame decides to go with the Big Ten (the ACC and the SEC are also options, more on that in a moment), the Big Ten has a logistics problem on its hands with Southern Cal and UCLA. Adding Oregon and Washington won’t solve that problem, but those two plus California and Stanford would certainly help. As much as the 10 remaining Pac-12 schools say they are committed to preserving the league, you can bet the farm and everything else you own on Oregon, Washington and Oregon leaving for the Big Ten if and when the call comes and for Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado to leave for the Big 12 the moment there is a media deal in place, which may happen sooner and not later. As for Notre Dame, the commitment to remain independent is as strong as ever, especially if a streaming rights or network contract can be had that would assure a $50 million or so yearly payout and if the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams with six at-large teams guaranteed along with the top six conference champs. Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in everything but football. If the Irish were to commit to joining the ACC in football as well, it would give ESPN reason to renegotiate its media contract. It wouldn’t mean as much money as the SEC or Big Ten will be raking in, but it would be an improvement for every ACC school and it would give the Irish an easier path to the College Football Playoff than they will have if they go to the Big Ten or SEC. The SEC is an option although it’s beginning to seem like the top three options for Notre Dame are (1) independence, (2) Big Ten and (3) ACC.

His ability to command the utmost respect from his athletes and master the art of “peaking” has allowed Coach Holloway to arguably take his place on Florida’s Mt. Rushmore of coaches. (UAA photo) By LOREN MEADOWS GatorBaitMedia.com In a season where most Florida fans have their attention focused on the ball diamonds of Baseball and Softball, a quiet presence has continued to dominate the track and field world to dynastic proportions — a diamond in its own right, perhaps. Mike “Mouse” Holloway is at the helm of one of the nation’s top track and field programs. His ability to command the utmost respect from his athletes and master the art of “peaking” has allowed Coach Holloway to arguably take his place on Florida’s Mt. Rushmore of coaches. With 12 combined national titles, the Holloway name is worthy and can easily be mentioned in the same lane as Spurrier, Donovan, and Meyer. While Coach Holloway has been in the Gainesville area for over 40 years, it was on the tracks of Columbus, Ohio where he first experienced championship success. Holloway was a quiet, small, middle school athlete who seemed to scoot around the track, sort of like a “mouse.” With those attributes, his coaching nickname “Mouse” affectionately and respectfully remains to this day. “Mouse” had matured into one of Ohio’s most versatile track and field athletes. In 1977, as a senior at Columbus’ Linden-McKinley High School, Holloway won individual titles in both the 120 and 330-yard hurdles while also running a leg on the record setting 440 (4x100m relay) yard relay. Holloway’s contributions led to 30 total points to help the Linden McKinley Panthers win the 1977 Class AAA Boys team title. After prep success, Holloway arrived in Gainesville’s Santa Fe Community College where he would be coached by legendary track coach Brooks Johnson. While at Santa Fe, Holloway would battle injuries during his career but still managed to catch the eye and garner the respect of his coach. Johnson described Coach Holloway as “one of the most competitive athletes I’ve ever coached. He was a keen observer of the sport, and that why he’s been able to do well as a coach.” It was with this drive and effort as well as the ability to manage his athletes that has vaulted Holloway to the top of his sport. Holloway’s work ethic was demonstrated early when after his time at Santa Fe he began to volunteer at various track meets around the Gainesville area. Holloway would make his first foray into coaching as the head track/cross country coach at Bucholtz High School in Gainesville in 1985. That would usher in a successful decade for Holloway and the Bobcats. What stuck out to former athletes at Bucholtz was Holloway’s ability to “identify talent and then connect with the athletes to bring out the best in them.” Holloway also developed a reputation for getting the most out of his athletes in the biggest meets, a trait that separates him from many of his peers to this day. Mouse Holloway has continued to motivate his athletes to perform at the highest levels without a demanding domineering presence. The quiet demeanor still exists and it is the ability to reach his athletes and give them as jumper Claire Bryant puts it “what they need when they need it,”which impresses them the most. For Bowerman finalist Anna Hall it was Holloway’s continued support during difficult recovery from injury. “From the moment I got here (from Georgia), he never stopped believing in me and telling me I could accomplish the things that I wanted to accomplish,” she said. For jumper Jasmine Moore it was Holloway’s treatment of athletes from other teams that really stood out to her: “When I was looking to transfer, I remember just how nice he was to me even though I was at another school, and that really stuck with me.” Most impressive is the “father figure” that Holloway represents to many of his athletes. “We are extremely close, ”says sprinter Talitha Diggs. “It’s definitely a father figure relationship”. Diggs mentioned that Holloway will sometimes utilize a bat to calm himself and lighten the mood, similar to her grandfather famed educator Joe Clark. “My grandfather used a bat as well so I thought it was normal,” Diggs said jokingly. Apparently the bat is a prop used as pointer or device for teaching. Possibly most impressive is the example that Holloway sets as a man is what resonates most. “I’m most impressed with him as a man,” says sprinter Champion Allison. The Texas native stated Holloway’s example as an attentive husband to wife Angela, father to Michele and Michael II, and his four grandchildren as the most important trait of his legendary coach. Allison states his coach “doesn’t really say much” other than to go out and “do what you do” and the rest will take care of itself. With a calm-but-firm demeanor, it is no secret why the Gators pulled the team sweep during the 2022 outdoor season, following those performances with several Gators making their way onto World Championship teams for multiple countries. While they will no longer wear the Orange and Blue in a few weeks, they will continue to carry the lessons of dedication, commitment, and class standards that has been set forth by the man who doesn’t say much, but they respect so much. A testament to the qualities of the man who quietly has built one of the Florida Gators most accomplished programs.

“Absolutely phenomenal,” my Louisiana friend said of Kelley. “I was stunned LSU and the Saints didn’t hire him when they had the chance." When life gets in the way of sports. (Buddy Martin photo.) By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Editor I was about to pull the plug on Thursday June 26, wrapping up the week’s GatorBait issue and preparing to stream my last Buddy Martin Show before a rare semi-vacation, but little did I know how much my world was about to change – and the Gator related things around it. There was a loud crash and my wife summoned me to come quickly. Then a blur. Eleven days later I awakened to a sea of change, starting with the huge 100-year-old tree that had fallen on my house during a Microburst storm. It must have been similar to what Rip Van Winkle experienced when he finally awoke. Suffice to say that the anticipated 11-day working vacation never materialized. Aside from personal inconvenience of said tree, there was plenty of news and noise on my beat. Despite five nights in Holiday Inn Express, which I guess makes me five-times smarter as an expert on most everything now, I am still scratching my head and wondering what all has happened to the once-glorious game of college football. Will it be better or worse? As it relates to life, my damaged roof, gutters, fence, trees and busted air-conditioner took precedence over UCLA and USC suddenly bolting to the Big Ten. Which is huge news. No lie, this was the other shoe dropping on another cataclysmic change in college sports, which already has a lode to bear with the transfer portal and NIL money. If you can’t keep up, you’re not alone. In my lengthy lifetime and 50-plus years of observing, writing and talking about sports, I’ve never experienced such a quick and tumultuous change in college or pro sports. It has shaken the core, even in Gainesville, which has experienced its own tidal wave. Before we even get to the matter of the sudden emergence of the anticipated Super Conference some of us have been prophesying, let me point out that the final piece of the Louisiana Purchase transpired at UF this week with the hiring of Mick Hubert’s replacement. Louisiana seems to be a talent-rich state for Scott Strickin’s hunting ground these days. As I said before, I’d love to have the North Florida franchise of Louisiana Hot Sauce. UAA graphic by Kevin Cam Camps. The employment of former New Orleans Pelicans announcer, ESPN college football and MLB play-by-play man Sean Kelley – don’t forget the second “e” -- came as a bit of surprise to us. Both in the timing and the choice. Which is not to say it was a bad choice or that any particular time would have been better. The folks at UAA kept this one under wraps. Perhaps to suppress any outside influence or politicking, which is certainly Stricklin’s right. Though no expert on these matters, I had hoped that former Gator player and ACC broadcaster James Bates might have been worth a look-see. But, then, they seldom pay attention to my suggestions. So the 50-year-old Kelley, with a wide variety of expertise, pleasant delivery and excellent reputation in the broadcast business, becomes only the fourth man ever behind the mic for Florida, following, Hubert, David Steele and Otis Boggs. We’re all going to miss Mick. Say goodbye to “Oh my!” Hell, I grew up on listening to Otis and missed him. Was out of the state during most all of Steele’s era. Eventually Hubert’s ebullient style grew on us, but to be honest the radio broadcast became less critical when just about all the games were telecast. Still, a signature voice is imperative for college sports. Something tells me Kelley’s gonna make that transition quicker than most. Already with several samples of his work released in short-burst UF promos, we’ve been given a taste of what to expect. It’s fluent. And though it’s not a large enough sample to project Kelley’s style and familiarize us with his substance, his reputation proceeds him. I called a talk show host friend mine from Louisiana and he was highly complimentary of Kelley. “Absolutely phenomenal,” my Louisiana friend said of Kelley. “I was stunned LSU and the Saints didn’t hire him when they had the chance. It was no surprise ESPN Radio immediately hired him and put him on NFL, CFB, NBA and MLB. Ya’ll are VERY lucky.” High praise. Of course, Kelley must yet make his bones with Gator Nation. And it will be earned under live fire. Don’t expect overnight acceptance. After all it took the beloved Mjck Hubert 4-5 years before he broke the code with the legendary “Doering’s got a touchdown” call. So it’s going to take a minute for that connection. Just as it’s taking a minute for me to return to my work-flow mode this week. It did give pause for me to reflect on the unprecedented amount of change that has taken place in the Florida athletic department of late. Napier for Mullen. Golden for White. Kelley for Hubert. And we’re just getting accustomed to Stricklin for Foley. Simultaneously, the game of college football is undergoing enormous change that is both perplexing and downright stupefying. I’m still flummoxed over the massive geography of the new Big 10 footprint. At the same time, I am delighted at the potential which can be brought about in the game we love so passionately. Football, alone, could become more competitive at a higher level. The SEC brand could be strengthened and expanded. Athletes will be supported at a new level and be offered more control over their destiny. Gator fans should be encouraged. It’s a do-over. Never before have there been head coaching vacancies in their two major sports at the same time. New challenges by new people could present a rare opportunity. A few days ago, Kelley was doing MLB baseball with Tim Kurkjian. (UAA Photo) While any fool can see the peril of the changes, I think its short-sighted to predict gloom and doom. On the contrary. Things change quickly. As I write this, amidst the clamor and clanging of hyper-critics who fear the sky is falling because another four or five-star committed elsewhere, this bulletin just came in over the transom: Nease rising senior Marcus Stokes flipped from Penn State to the Gators in a stunning reversal. Stokes is the nation's No. 22 quarterback in the class of 2023 according to 247Sports' composite rankings. And around the same time, this: Treyuan Webb (6-foot-1, 205 pounds), the cousin of former Florida defensive back Dee Webb, committed to UF over a significant offer list including Penn State, South Carolina and Oklahoma. He carried for 900 yards and 10 touchdowns across the final four games of the 2021 season as Trinity Catholic High School won the Florida 3A state championship. The No. 162 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite, Webb is considered the fifth-best running back in the nation. He immediately becomes the highest-rated offensive player in the Gators’ class. I am looking at the remnants of what that big tree did to my home, our beautiful brick façade and the swath of destruction. Then I measured by sight what might have happened had it landed 15 feet to the right where my wife sat watching TV in the family room. And I feel blessed. So much in life is pure destiny. I am grateful it went our way this time. Let the games play on. After all, sometimes we need reminding that they are just games.

“The waiting is the hardest part, every day you get one more yard. You take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part” – From “The Waiting” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Here we were wondering if we could make it to the beach for the Fourth of July holiday weekend without taking out a second mortgage so we could afford the gas when the Big Ten dropped a 50-megaton bombshell on the college football world by poaching Southern California and UCLA from the Pac-12. A week later and the fallout hasn’t begun to stop, leaving us to wait for the next calculated strike. The Big 12 is going about matters rather aggressively, looking to add at least four (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah) from the Pac-12 to expand to 16 teams for the 2024 season. The Pac-12 is desperately pitching itself as a viable league to any network that will listen with the hope that it can hold together and perhaps offer a deal attractive enough to lure Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor from the Big 12 rather than do the distasteful – invite Boise State, UNLV, San Diego State and Fresno State. As the Pac-12 is doing this, allegedly with the commitment from the remaining 10 school presidents that they wish to keeping the league together is paramount, Washington, Oregon, Stanford and California have callouses on their knees from begging the Big Ten to take them in, and if not, the Big 12. Meanwhile, the ACC is hoping its steep exit fees and enormous grant of rights contract that runs with its media rights deal until 2036 can keep Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Virginia Tech from finding a legal backdoor that they all can run through in time to join a new league that has substantial payouts. From a money standpoint, the ACC can’t compete with the SEC or the Big Ten, and if there are massive defections, the league may collapse. As it stands right now, either the ACC or the Pac-12 is going to collapse and the survivor will make less money from its media deals than the Big 12. The schools that make up the conferences in the Group of Five are praying there will somehow be enough television money left to keep them afloat once this wave of expansion is over and done with. Right now, they see a bleak situation moving forward because in addition to TV revenue looking as if it will be in short supply, they face the possibility of being nothing more than a farm system for the big guys since the good players are transferring in record numbers. Are you confused by all this turmoil and speculation that things are changing far too rapidly for the good of college sports? You should be. You should also be paying close attention to Notre Dame and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. Amid all this chaos, they’ve been ever so quiet and for good reason. They hold all the cards that matter. The Big Ten has pulled off a whopper of a coup by bringing in Southern Cal and UCLA, but that doesn’t ensure the TV football needle will move all that much and that is where Notre Dame and the SEC come into play. Notre Dame because like it or not, it’s still the biggest individual name in all of college football even if it’s been since 1988 that the Irish won a national title. The SEC because it has won 16 national titles since the last time Notre Dame won one. The Big Ten only has three national titles since 1990. So let’s begin with Notre Dame. While everyone assumes the Irish are locked into joining the Big Ten, they do have options. Plenty of them. We know what Notre Dame wants – independence – but money will talk and so will the future of the College Football Playoff. Option 1: Remain independent Notre Dame has remained defiantly independent all except for 2020 when COVID-19 forced the Irish to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Notre Dame had the best regular season record in the ACC, then lost to Clemson in the conference championship game and to Alabama in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Rather than remain in the ACC, Notre Dame reverted back to independence in 2021. The Irish have this sweetheart deal with the ACC in which they are members of the ACC in all sports but football but play five games every year against ACC foes (34-7 counting the ACC title game and CFP since 2015). The problem with independence has everything to do with the media deal with NBC to televise every Irish home game. The Irish make $15 million from NBC and they get another $7 million from the ACC for their 5-game deal. This pales in comparison to what they could make as a member of a conference. To remain independent Notre Dame has to get a new media rights deal that will pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million a year. While that’s not nearly as much as the Irish would make as members of the Big Ten or the SEC, we have to understand that money has never been the driving force for Notre Dame. Still, there is principle and there is common sense. In principle, the Irish wish to stay independent. Common sense says take the Big Ten or SEC money, but if some consortium of NBC, CBS, Apple or Amazon came up with $50 million or so, Notre Dame might decide independence is worth the sacrifice of another $30-50 million. The College Football Playoff also factors in here. Under Greg Sankey’s 12-team playoff scenario, which was shot down by “The Alliance” of the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC commissioners, Notre Dame could have had a seat at the playoff table as an independent as long as the Irish were among the six highest-ranked at-large teams. The expanded playoff is still on the table and this time the Pac-12 and ACC will almost certainly agree because their leagues desperately need the money. If the playoff stays at four teams, expands to eight teams or becomes a defacto NFL playoff between the Big Ten and SEC, Notre Dame will have to forfeit independence. Option 2: Join the ACC as a full-fledged member This is the lifeline ACC commissioner Jim Phillips prays earnestly to God will happen. Notre Dame would save the ACC from extinction because it would force ESPN to renegotiate its contract that runs through 2036. The current deal spins its wheels and pays less than $37 million a year, but that’s with Notre Dame only playing five ACC opponents each year. If the Irish join the league as a full-fledged member, the price goes up, probably to $50-60 million. That won’t compare to the SEC or Big Ten, but Notre Dame already likes its relationship with the ACC in all the other sports, particularly basketball. Most folks are unaware that Notre Dame is actually the eighth-winningest college basketball program in history. If Notre Dame were able to join the ACC while still playing Southern Cal, Stanford and Navy in annual rivalry games, then this might be a viable option. No, it won’t pay as much as the Big Ten or SEC, but Notre Dame wouldn’t have to move its other sports to a new league so for the most part, it would be business as usual. Then there is this to consider: The path to the College Football Playoff will be easier in the ACC than it would in either the SEC or the Big Ten. Don’t forget that Bobby Bowden and Florida State chose the ACC rather than the SEC because the path to the national championship in the ACC provided fewer speed bumps. Option 3: Join the Big Ten If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten it will be a case of money trumping whatever ill feelings there are toward the league that date back 100 years and more recently, Kevin Warren (Big Ten commissioner) joining the Pac-12 and ACC to shoot down the playoff only to turn on his “Alliance” brethren the moment he had a chance. Shooting down the playoff is something forgivable. Stabbing your buddies in the back after you’ve gone to such great lengths to join forces to schedule games, etc.? Not so easily forgiven. Loyalty is big at Notre Dame. We must also remember that there has been this long-standing feud with the Big Ten dating back to the days when Fielding Yost was the Michigan head coach. He shot down the Irish joining the Big Ten pre-Rockne and then again when Knute Rockne had Notre Dame sitting on top of the football world. The people at Notre Dame may never admit it, but those incidences probably were a large factor in Notre Dame turning down an invitation to join the Big Ten back in 1999. This was at a time when Notre Dame football was spinning its wheels and a Big Ten invitation would have brought in millions. Notre Dame already shares an academic consortium with the Big Ten which adds favorability to joining the league. When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to become the head coach at LSU, he said Notre Dame’s higher academic standards had everything to do with the move. Let’s not get carried away here. Notre Dame does have high academic standards and there are some big name academic schools in the Big Ten, but do academic standards prevent Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State from signing a 5-star recruit? You know the answer to that so academics aren’t going to factor although for grad students and researchers that consortium with the other Big Ten schools is huge. The new Big Ten media deal with Fox is expected to fetch as much as $1 billion annually, even more if Notre Dame is enticed to join the league. From a purely geographic standpoint, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern and Ohio State are all within a 4-hour drive from the Notre Dame campus so it’s a really good fit. And, the Irish already have a longstanding rivalry game with Southern Cal, plus one with Stanford, which would leave the Pac-12 in a heartbeat for an invite to the Big Ten. Of course, playing Southern Cal, UCLA and Stanford in all sports might prove a logistical nightmare for Notre Dame as well as everyone else in the Big Ten. Will an annual media paycheck of something like $100 million and favorable logistics trump independence or deals to join any other conference? The Big Ten is counting on it. The SEC wouldn’t mind it. The ACC needs it desperately. Option 4: Join the SEC So many experts have claimed this is a preposterous idea, but is it? If Notre Dame athletic director and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey were at a picnic, they would be the partners whose ankles and knees were tied together for the 3-legged race. They’re that tight. They’ve worked together on the College Football Playoff expansion as well as doing everything they can to ensure the Big 12 remains a power conference even when the league seemed to be taking on water. From a purely football standpoint, the SEC offers the best deal for Notre Dame. Since 2000, the SEC has won 13 national championships. The Big Ten and ACC have won three each. The problem for Notre Dame will be splintering up sports that the SEC doesn’t promote – ice hockey, men’s soccer and men’s lacrosse. Notre Dame is an affiliate member of the Big Ten for ice hockey. It’s men’s soccer and lacrosse as well as all other non-football sports participate in the ACC. The fate of those other three sports could be an SEC sticking point, but again, football is the driver of all conversations moving forward and the SEC is indeed the tall hog at the football trough. Logistically, the SEC makes far more sense than the ACC, but it can’t compare with the Big Ten in that respect. Would Irish fans treasure the travel for SEC matchups with Alabama, LSU, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M more than that 4-hour drive to Columbus or the 3-hour drive to Ann Arbor? The SEC will be distributing something like $80-90 million a year when Texas and Oklahoma join the league. That’s not as much as the Big Ten is projecting from a new deal that is expected with Fox, but there is Big Ten money and there are SEC championships. The Big Ten might be able to boast about its cash flow, but the SEC will have plenty of money. Also, when Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC, the SEC will be the dominant force not only in football, but baseball, women’s basketball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, golf and swimming. The Big Ten can’t compete with that nor can the ACC. All the other sports make the SEC a great package, but let’s get real here: This whole deal is all about football. When it comes to football, the SEC is the top league, but the road to a national championship is easier in the ACC. The most powerful man in all of college sports has been silent for a week Have you noticed Greg Sankey has been operating under the Cone of Silence for the past week? Oh, he’s been talking all right, just not to members of the media. Sankey knows that he, along with Notre Dame, hold all the cards here. Expansion has everything to do with football and while the commish is committed to SEC dominance in all sports, he’s well aware that football pays the bills and it is football where there is the SEC and then there is everyone else. So, Sankey doesn’t have to say a word. He can sit in his Birmingham office and hold court while the likes of Clemson, Florida State and Miami beg for an audience. Those three would crawl backwards to Birmingham if it meant a face-to-face conversation about leaving the ACC for the SEC. Here is a dose of reality: The SEC isn’t going to do a thing until Notre Dame makes up its mind and before Notre Dame does anything it won’t be until it has discussed matters with Greg Sankey. If and when Sankey does make a move, it will be either to welcome Notre Dame into the league, which will spark an entire round of expansion, or to announce the SEC is happy to stand pat at 16 teams. Unlike the Big Ten, which now stretches from sea to shining sea, the SEC is a tight footprint with no gaps. It is a perfect logistical fit and from a scheduling standpoint, the 16 teams are absolutely perfect. For football, it’s almost certain to be a 9-game schedule with three permanent opponents that will allow home and home for the remaining 12 teams every four years. The same format will be used for basketball with its 18-game schedule. For baseball, the league will go with five permanent opponents and then the other 10 teams will be played home and home every four years. Nothing could be easier to maintain. The new revenue deal with ESPN will be rewritten when Texas and Oklahoma bolt the Big 12, in all probability in 2024 when the ESPN TV deal kicks in. Texas and Oklahoma are bound to the Big 12 until 2025 but the Big 12 is going to expand to 16 teams – or more – quite soon. The exit fees that Texas and Oklahoma will pay, which are estimated to be a combined $100-120 million, will be helped by contributions from the SEC and ESPN. In a thanks gesture for freeing up Oklahoma and Texas, you can bet the farm that ESPN will offer a nice deal to the Big 12. It won’t be SEC money, but it will probably be along the lines of $45-50 million per school per year. At 16 teams the SEC is strong enough and powerful enough. Sankey doesn’t have to expand the league any further to remain more powerful than the Big Ten, but Notre Dame’s decision could change that. Notre Dame moves the TV needle in a big way. If Notre Dame goes to the Big Ten and then the Big Ten adds Washington, Oregon and Stanford, Sankey will have little choice but to counter. If Notre Dame does nothing, Sankey stays at 16. If Notre Dame joins the ACC, then Sankey again stays at 16. Everyone assumes that if Notre Dame joins the Big Ten Sankey will raid the ACC. That’s because ACC teams like Clemson are more of a geographic fit in the SEC and present natural rivalries, which are important to Sankey and the rest of the league. The problem is two-fold: (1) The ACC has this grant of rights contract that includes steep exit fees and the ACC collecting the media payouts from each defecting school until 2036; and (2) there aren’t many schools that move the TV needle. Here are the SEC options if the league expands: Notre Dame joins the SEC If the Irish join the SEC then Sankey will almost certainly expand by three other schools for a 20-team league. Clemson, Florida State and Miami seem the obvious choices, but what if Sankey decides to really beef up the league basketball presence by adding North Carolina and Duke? That would give the SEC FOUR of the winningest basketball programs in collegiate history in Kentucky, UNC, Duke and Notre Dame. It should be noted that the SEC has won more national titles since 1990 (6) than the Big Ten (1). Adding UNC and Duke would give the SEC an additional nine national champions. The issue for adding UNC and Duke could have to do with both schools playing such a prominent role nationwide in men’s soccer and lacrosse. Notre Dame joins the ACC but the Big Ten expands to 20 teams Phil Knight is willing to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at the Big Ten to ensure that Oregon will be joining the league. So assume that Notre Dame either remains independent or joins the ACC. Because of logistics, it’s likely the Big Ten adds Washington, Oregon, California and Stanford. None of them move the football needle but it does give Southern Cal and UCLA buddies from the Pac-12 to ease the logistics somewhat. So what does Sankey do in response? If Notre Dame were to join the ACC, chances are Sankey would hold at 16 teams and let things play out for awhile. Notre Dame joining the ACC would cause ESPN to rewrite the old contract and in doing so, it would most likely alter the grant of rights. Once the legal fight for grant of rights ends, some of the ACC schools might still wish to bolt. Even with Notre Dame bringing more money to the league, it will not come anywhere close to what the SEC can pay, therefore Clemson, Miami and Florida State may elect to make a bid to join the SEC. A fourth school that would make sense would be North Carolina State, which would add the Raleigh TV market to the SEC while allowing the Wolfpack to escape the shadow of Big Brother, aka North Carolina. Some might suggest the SEC raid the Big 12 once again, but that is unlikely. Sankey wants a viable College Football Playoff that includes all of Division I rather than an NFL-like situation where 40 or so teams are the only ones with a chance to win a national championship. There is the matter of anti-trust lawsuits that Group of Five schools could probably win if they are excluded from playoff consideration. The answer to the future of college football isn’t necessarily expansion that leads to contraction of Division I although it seems that is the direction in which we are heading. Make no mistake, this is all money-driven and behind the fever to expand are the networks and the potential of streaming giants like Amazon and Apple throw their billions into the ring. Without all this money influencing college football, we might still be in the days when we had the Southwest Conference, the Big Eight and the Big East prominent football leagues, but those days are dead and gone. College presidents and athletic directors are going to try to sell us on they’re doing what’s right for the “student-athletes” but who are they fooling? It’s all bottom line driven. You could say this has everything to do with the Golden Rule as in those that have the gold will make all the rules. It seems we are heading to an era where two conferences – the SEC and the Big Ten – will have the most money with the Big 12 likely to be third unless the ACC can (a) convince Notre Dame to become a full member and (b) prevent Clemson, Florida State, Miami and possibly several others from defecting to leagues that will pay more money. What would be ideal at this time would be for the 10 Division I conference commissioners and Notre Dame to hold a summit in which an expansion moratorium was put in place long enough for a college sports czar to be elected with a plan to secede from the NCAA. But, if that were to happen, it would require consensus to give the new boss absolute power to make and enforce the rules. That is a great idea, but donkeys may fly before the people in charge elect someone with real power rather than put an easily manipulated puppet like Mark Emmert in charge. So what can we conclude from all the Big Ten’s shot across the bow of college sports? We have chaos and without someone in charge to reel things in, we’ll have more chaos. So, buckle your seatbelts because the college football you see now probably won’t be what you’ll be seeing in five years. Throw in NIL and the transfer portal with expansion and you aren’t going to recognize the product much longer. Is that a good thing? On the surface, it doesn’t seem so. Perhaps out of all this chaos college sports and football in general will find a way to navigate to a safe place where everyone can feel good about the future. Perhaps, but don’t bet the farm on it.

“It was something I have always dreamed of since a kid,” said Thompson. By KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.Com Davis Hare was fixated on Sterlin Thompson in the bottom of the ninth with a 1-1 count with the game on the line. His next pitch would be the final one of the night, a curveball that was left hanging over the middle. Coincidentally, Thompson’s favorite pitch. Boom. Game, set, match. “It was something I have always dreamed of since a kid,” said Thompson. It was an absolute moon shot that gave Florida fans Deja Vu from last year when Kendrick Calilao put Florida Ballpark on their feet when he walked off the Seminoles in similar fashion. This was Sterlin Thompson’s favorite moment during his time in Gainesville. “Just being with my teammates, that was probably the best moment,” said Thompson. “I was happy to see my teammates proud of me, it was also something that helped us host, it was a big win.” Thompson closed out his sophomore campaign with Florida with a .332 average accumulating 16 home runs and 78 RBIs over two seasons. Along with his stellar numbers at Florida, Thompson is also rated the No. 27 overall 2022 MLB draft prospect according to MLB Pipeline. With the draft coming up July 17th Thompson has a lot to be excited about, yet he hasn’t forgotten where his baseball roots originated from. “Ocala has been great, it’s a great town to live in,” said Thompson. “I lived here and grew up here and feel it is very competitive on the baseball aspect of things. There’s a lot of great players that come out of Ocala and get a chance to move on to the next level.” During his early days around the baseball parks in Ocala, Thompson was strictly an infielder all the way through high school. Once arriving on campus Thompson shifted to right field for the first time, although he made the transition seamlessly. When sophomore year rolled around, he once again started at right field to begin the year. After a few mid-season shifts, Thompson returned to where he was comfortable, second base, for the second half of the season. It did not take long to shake off the rust for Thompson as he made web gem after web gem for the Gators. But which position does he enjoy the most? “I would say infielder,” said Thompson. “Growing up I played shortstop and all of infield in high school. That is kind of where I am most comfortable. My first year with the Gators I had to develop a lot really quick, to be ready and be in the starting lineup and play right field. At that point I was trying to do anything to get in the lineup and help the team.” A versatile fielder and hitter, Thompson excelled for the Gators over the past two years as an all-around prospect. He will wait to hear his name called on the night of July 16th with an organization getting lucky to draft him. “It is great to be a Florida Gator, always,” concluded Thompson. For Sterling and UF that has worked both ways.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: WILL THIS BE A SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER FOR THE GATORS? The September schedule is daunting, easily the toughest of any team in the Southeastern Conference, but it’s also one that Billy Napier and the Gators can navigate. Three of the four games are certainly losable. All four are certainly winnable, too. Winning will depend on Anthony Richardson living up to his enormous potential as an electric dual threat QB, in receivers like Justin Shorter and Trent Whittemore proving the critics wrong by showing they’re quite capable of getting open, and the O-line giving the defense a boost by controlling the line of scrimmage to keep the clock running in Florida’s favor. Give Patrick Toney’s defense a break or two and the Gators might just escape September 3-1 or 4-0. September 3, Utah: The heat and humidity will work in the Gators’ favor. Can the Gators stop Utah’s running game (217 yards per game, 37 rushing touchdowns) and exploit a rather pedestrian secondary? September 10, Kentucky: The Wildcats have beaten the Gators twice in the last four years. The fear factor is no longer there. If the Gators can run it, they can win it. September 17, South Florida: Dial-a-score. September 24, at Tennessee: The Vols are salivating over a chance to beat the Gators (1-16 against UF since 2004) but they always figure a way to lose (remember the Heave to Cleve in 2017?). Yeah, it’s a new year, but it’s still the Vols. Prediction: I think 3-1 isn’t out of the question particularly since the first three are homers. The rest of the SEC Alabama: The lone SEC game in September is Vanderbilt. As if Nick Saban needed a gift. The entire month of September is a gift, even the second game of the year on the road in Austin against Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. Bryce Young may clinch the Heisman before September 30. Sept. 3 Utah State; Sept. 10 at Texas; Sept. 17 Louisiana-Monroe; Sept. 24 Vanderbilt Prediction: Are you kidding me? 4-0. What else do you expect? Arkansas: Here is everything you need to know. KJ Jefferson is back at QB. Four starters return on the O-line and Sam Pittman coaches O-linemen better than anyone in the country. Bumper Pool and his 125 tackles are back at middle linebacker. A 10-win season is entirely possible. Sept 3. Cincinnati; Sept 10 South Carolina; Sept. 17 Missouri State; Sept. 24 Texas A&M (in Arlington) Prediction: The Hogs burst Cincinnati’s bubble game one and that gets September off to a rousing start. The month ends on a high note with Jimbo and the Aggies. 4-0. Auburn: They wanted to fire Bryan Harsin last year when he went 6-7 funny things happened on the way to a pink slip and here we are, it’s 2022 and Harsin’s still the head coach. At least he doesn’t have to yank his hair out because Bo Nix just completed another pass to the other team. Doesn’t matter. Once the Tigers get September out of the way, they’re going to lose a lot of football games. Sept. 3 Mercer; Sept. 10 San Jose State; Sept. 17 Penn State; Sept. 24 Missouri Prediction: There is every good chance the Tigers will go 3-1 in September. There is also a very good chance they’ll go 1-7 the rest of the way. 3-1 but buzzards are circling. Georgia: Do the Bulldogs have a friend in the SEC scheduling office? Oregon, which is wondering which conference it will be playing in after the 2023 season, in game one. Samford and Sons in game two. The Gamecocks in week three and Clark Kent State in week four. Kirby Smart will have a chance to play all of his freshmen in every game in September and still preserve their redshirts. Sept. 3 Oregon (in Atlanta); Sept. 10 Samford; Sept. 17 at South Carolina; Sept. 24 Kent State Prediction: Anything less than 4-0 and Bulldog faithful will be holding their chests and telling Elizabeth they’re coming home. Kentucky: Mark Stoops has the perfect job. He has Kentucky on track to win 7-9 games every year, which excites the faithful to no end since it means a bowl game in Jacksonville is possible. As long as Stoops has the Wildcats doing that well, they’ll never fire him. UK will go 7-5 or 8-4 this season. Etch that in stone. Sept. 3 Miami (OH); SEPT. 10 at FLORIDA; Sept. 17 Youngstown State; Sept. 24 Northern Illinois Prediction: On a warm summer’s evening on a train bound for nowhere. Oh wait, those are lyrics to “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers. On the warm summer’s evening of September 10, Kentucky’s perfect September will be spoiled. 3-1. LSU: Coach O and his Cajun accent have been replaced by Brian Kelly and his fake Southern accent. Try as he may, he still sounds like he’s from New England. Kelly has won big everywhere he’s coached and they’re counting on him bringing home a championship in Baton Rouge. Maybe in the future, but not this year. Sept. 3 Florida State (in New Orleans); Sept. 10 Southern; Sept. 17 Mississippi State; Sept. 24 New Mexico Prediction: The only game that should be a real concern is Mississippi State. In Starkville that might be a loss. In BR it might be scary but LSU will win. 4-0. Mississippi State: The Pirate isn’t going to win the SEC West, but he’s got a team that’s good enough to win 8-9 games. That will get the Bulldogs to a decent second tier bowl game which will thrill the masses and make them think Mike Leach is a genius. Everybody talks about his passing offense and QB Will Rogers, but the Bulldogs return eight starters on defense. Sept. 3 Memphis; Sept. 10 at Arizona; Sept. 17 at LSU; Sept. 24 Bowling Green Prediction: All the games are winnable in September but the Bulldogs will probably find a way to bite the bullet in Baton Rouge. 3-1. Missouri: The Tigers went bowling last year with a 6-6 regular season. That’s do-able this year, too, although it will depend on Eli Drinkwitz finding a decent QB and someone to replace Tyler Badie’s running. Seven starters return on defense and there are three former starters who transferred in including LB Ty’ron Hopper (Florida) and S Joseph Charleston (Clemson). Sept. 1 Louisiana Tech; Sept. 10 at Kansas State; Sept. 17 Abilene Christian; Sept. 24 at Auburn Prediction: The Tigers will win the two home games but they’ll have all sorts of problems when they hit the road. 2-2. Ole Miss: Maybe no one in the country used the transfer portal more effectively than Lane Kiffin. Kiffin plugged all the holes and even upgraded, especially on defense. Jaxson Dart to Jonathan Mingo might prove to be the nation’s best pass-catch combo. The Rebels are going to score lots and lots of points. Sept. 3 Troy; Sept. 10 Central Arkansas; Sept. 17 at Georgia Tech; Sept. 24 Tulsa Prediction: Only four home games could have made for a more perfect September for Lane Kiffin. The lone roadie as a week three trip to Georgia Tech, which will be a dial-a-score game for the Rebels who have a 9-10 win schedule on their hands. 4-0. South Carolina: The Gamecock faithful believe Spencer Rattler will lead them to the promised land. He’s certainly an upgrade over the three QBs who started a game last year when South Carolina shocked the SEC by going 7-6. Rattler will ensure there are more points on the scoreboard but who’s going to stop the run? Sept. 3 Georgia State; Sept. 10 at Arkansas; Sept. 17 Georgia; Sept. 24 Charlotte Prediction: Whoever made the schedule out for South Carolina has a cruel streak. Arkansas on the road in week two followed by Georgia? Not good. Not good at all. 2-2. Tennessee: If you look at Josh Heupel’s record at UCF, the Knights got worst every season (12-1 to 10-3 to 6-4). If Heupel is so brilliant then why did it take him until game three to start Hendon Hooker at QB? Joe Milton was a disaster. Hooker will put up Star Wars numbers this year, but the Vols aren’t going to stop many people. Sept. 1 Ball State; Sept. 10 at Pittsburgh; Sept. 17 Akron; Sept. 24 FLORIDA Prediction: The Vols always think they’re going to beat the Gators, but they’ve only done it once in the last 17 years. Make it once in the last 18. 3-1. Texas A&M: Because Jimbo Fisher became the first former Nick Saban assistant to beat the boss last year, everyone in Aggie-land seems to think this will be the breakthrough year when that multi-gazillion dollar contract finally pays off. Anything less than an SEC West title is going to seem like a disappointment. Better ask the doc to prescribe some anti-anxiety meds. Sept. 3 Sam Houston State; Sept. 10 Appalachian State; Sept. 17 Miami; Sept. 24 Arkansas (in Arlington) Prediction: The first three weeks will be a breeze. Then comes Sam Pittman and Arkansas, which did a tapdance on the Aggies last year. They’ll do it again. 3-1. Vanderbilt: The Commodores get a jump on the rest of the SEC by playing at Hawaii on August 27. They should enjoy the time in Honolulu because this is going to be a VERY long season. Take a look at that schedule. Why would any SEC team play a MAC team on the road in a 24,000-seat stadium? Vandy will bring up the rear of the SEC once again starting in September. August 27: at Hawaii; Sept. 3 Elon; Sept. 10 Wake Forest; Sept. 17 at Northern Illinois; Sept. 24 at Alabama Prediction: A win over Elon will prevent a reverse run of the table. 1-4. Auxiliary members: Oklahoma: Lincoln Riley is gone and so are quarterbacks Caleb Williams (with Riley to Southern Cal) and Spencer Rattler (to South Carolina). The new head coach (Brent Venables) actually knows how to put a good defensive team on the field and replacement gunslinger – UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel (70 TDPs, 14 picks in his career) – is probably better than either Williams or Rattler. The September schedule doesn’t have a single hiccup on it. Sept. 3 UTEP; Sept. 10 Kent State; Sept. 17 at Nebraska; Sept. 24 Kansas State Prediction: What the Sooners are going to do to everyone in the Big 12 except Baylor this year could be filed under pillage and plunder. 4-0. Texas: The Blondie Era (Quinn Ewers and his bleach blonde mullet) begins with plenty of questions. Is he the second coming or was his inability to crack even the top four in the QB rotation last year at Ohio State a sign of things to come? By game two, the Longhorn faithful might be praying for 2023 and Arch Manning to arrive in a hurry. Sept. 3 Louisiana-Monroe; Sept. 10 Alabama; Sept. 17 Texas-San Antonio; Sept. 24 at Texas Tech Prediction: The last year in the Big 12 should produce plenty of points and eight or nine wins unless high anxiety sends the season south after Nick Saban comes a-ridin’ into town a-whompin’ and a-whumpin’ every livin’ thing that moves within an inch of its life on September 10. A shaky 3-1. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I am reminded of the knife fight in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” where Harvey Logan yells out to Butch Cassidy, “Rules! In a knife fight? No rules!” That’s what we have right now in Division I college football. We have a knife fight about to begin and there are no rules. If the experts are correct, within a very short period of time we’ll be down to a pair of mega conferences of 20-24 teams each and many of the other 80-90 Division I teams will be facing extinction or scaled back programs. Yeah, I hear the arguments that the big conferences and power programs aren’t their little brothers’ keepers, but when I see expansion out of control I see the potential for fewer scholarships and fewer opportunities at the lower levels. Maybe that doesn’t bother you. It bothers me. Enormously. I’m also bothered that traditions and rivalries will be eliminated all in the name of progress. What bothers me most is the lack of leadership at a time when leadership is a necessity. What I would like to see is before all the conferences are cannibalized for the conference commissioners and Notre Dame to at least slow down expansion long enough to come up with a plan to elect a leader capable of guiding college sports through this mess. It would have to be someone who has absolute authority to set the rules and dole out harsh punishment to rules breakers. I realize this is wishful thinking on my part, but I fear that if a leader doesn’t emerge soon the ensuing knife fight will be bloody and the casualties will be kids who actually use that football scholarship to get an education and better their lives and the lives of their families.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: SIZING UP EXPANSION CANDIDATES IF THE SEC MAKES A MOVE 1. Notre Dame: Yes, the Big Ten makes geographic sense, but Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick are very tight. The Big Ten makes sports sense for Notre Dame’s hockey teams, but for all other sports, the SEC is the better choice. Still, odds are long that it would happen. 2. Clemson: Clemson has always seemed like an SEC school that was living in exile in the ACC. The Tigers have won 10 or more games 11 straight years. They’ve won two national championships and lost the national championship game twice. Dabo is an SEC guy who played at Alabama. If the SEC calls, Clemson will answer. You add the Charlotte TV market. 3. North Carolina: Charter members of the ACC and the top athletic program top to bottom in the league. It would be a big addition to SEC basketball. It won’t happen, though. Men’s lacrosse and men’s soccer are important to UNC. The SEC doesn’t have either. If the Big Ten calls, UNC answers. 4. Duke: The Blue Devils won’t move the football needle, but they are great in basketball and have a top flight program top to bottom. It won’t happen for the same reasons UNC won’t join the SEC. 5. Kansas: Yes, this would mean raiding the Big 12 again, and it might mean adding a school in NCAA jail for basketball, but this is the winningest program in college basketball history. Kansas basketball moves the TV needle more than ESPN’s Saturday night football game. KU would join the SEC in a heartbeat. 6. Baylor: Baylor is a national power in men’s and women’s basketball and the football program is on the rise. Baylor fits the geographic footprint. Even though the SEC already will control the Texas TV market, Baylor wouldn’t be a bad fit at all. 7. Virginia Tech: The Hokies have rabid football fans and they get the SEC into the metro DC and Richmond TV markets. Strong baseball and women’s sports. They would gladly join the SEC. 8. North Carolina State: Whereas Carolina and Duke are academically snooty to their country cousins, North Carolina State could be competitive in the SEC in football and basketball, plus they have strong women’s sports. You get the Raleigh-Durham TV market plus Greensboro and Charlotte. 9. Miami: In 1992, Miami said no to Roy Kramer when he offered the Canes a chance to join the SEC. If Greg Sankey offered, they would crawl backwards to Birmingham to join. The Miami TV market is substantial. 10. Florida State: The Seminoles really need the cash the SEC could provide. They finished 13th nationally in the Director’s Cup standings. Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky are the only current SEC members that finished higher. 11. Louisville: Louisville has extraordinary facilities and moves the basketball needle when it isn’t on probation. Strong baseball and women’s sports. An excellent geographic fit. 12. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys don’t move the TV needle, but they are a good football program with great spring sports. 13. West Virginia: Only if the SEC added North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. It does put the SEC uncomfortably close to Pennsylvania TV market. My picks: Notre Dame, Clemson, Duke and North Carolina would be my first choices, but three of the four may be wishful thinking at best. So, Clemson, North Carolina State, Miami and FSU would be the choices and it would keep the SEC on sound geographic footing. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL/BASEBALL Alabama: Third baseman Zane Denton, who hit 13 homers last season, is transferring to Tennessee … Alabama has self-reported 12 Level II/III violations across six sports including three for its basketball program. Arkansas: The Hogs have added three baseball transfers including first team juco All-American Caleb Cali, who hit .438 with 17 homers and 77 RBI at College of Central Florida (Ocala). Also transferring in were Kansas outfielder Tavian Josenberger and Nebraska pitcher Koty Frank. Auburn: Auburn will face Memphis in a non-conference basketball game at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on December 10. Georgia: Power forward P.J. Horne, who averaged 8.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last year, is in the portal as a grad transfer. Horne spent his first three years at Virginia Tech. Kentucky: On Twitter, commenting on UK football recruiting, Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio said, “… the 2023 class isn’t at the level yet it should be. And Kentucky’s internal NIL restrictions are the reason why.” Mississippi State: Duke shortstop Wil Hoyle, who hit .201 with four homers and 17 RBI is transferring to MSU. Ole Miss: Athletic director Keith Carter says Swayze Field will be graced by a statue of Tim Elko, one of the heroes of the Rebels’ NCAA baseball championship, the first NCAA title in a men’s sport at Ole Miss. In leading Ole Miss to the title, Elko hit 24 homers and drove in 75 runs … Righthanded pitcher Sean Higgins (6-3, 5.34 ERA) is transferring in from Columbia. Texas A&M: Former Aggie running back Trayveon Williams will co-teach a course in NIL along with attorney Alex Sinatra at the Texas A&M School of Law. BIG 12 NEGOTIATING TO ADD FOUR PAC-12 TEAMS Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports that the Big 12 is wasting little time to make its move to become the third most relevant conference by engaging in “deep discussions” to add Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado from the Pac-12. This comes at a time when the Pac-12 says that it will immediately start negotiating for its next TV contract, a contract that may hinge on the league keeping the four from defecting while poaching the Big 12 for Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech. Here is what I believe will happen: (1) Because of the Pac-12’s uncertainty, the four Pac-12 schools will take the sure thing and go to the Big 12 effective in 2024; (2) the Big 12 will release Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC effective in 2024 with the SEC and ESPN assisting with a ransom payment of somewhere between $80-100 million to free the hostages so they can make ESPN’s first season of SEC football a big splash; and (3) thanks to their cooperation in releasing Texas and Oklahoma, ESPN will give the Big 12 a nice media contract that will allow the league to pay something like $40 million per school per year. As for the Pac-12, it could lose Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal to the Big Ten which could leave Washington State and Oregon State forced to join the Mountain West. MATT HAYES (SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH) RANKS EXPANSION POACHABLES 1. Clemson; 2. Miami; 3. Stanford; 4. Oregon; 5. Florida State; 6. North Carolina; 7. Washington; 8. Utah; 9. Baylor; 10. Arizona State Hayes next five: Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma State, San Diego State, Texas Tech DAN WETZEL (YAHOO SPORTS) ON NOTRE DAME TO THE SEC “The Irish to the Sec? Yes, it sounds ridiculous and probably is. But if Notre Dame has to join a conference, why not the biggest and best? The idea of a SEC outpost on the Indiana/Michigan border would drive the Big Ten mad. And Notre Dame is the only value-add available out there for the SEC … But, at this point, it’s the only move that makes sense for the SEC until the ACC breaks up and Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia become available … Or it can just sit around and count its money and national championship rings.” JOHN CLAY (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER) ON BIG TEN EXPANSION “Southern Cal and UCLA have no business being in the Big Ten. The powers that be are sacrificing their Olympic sports in the name of a football windfall. But hey, this is 2022 and the Big Ten is in the middle of negotiating what experts say will be a $1 billion television rights deal.” ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Unless you are the type to study the preseason magazines and depth charts of SEC schools, there is every good chance you have never heard of Javion Cohen. He started at left guard last year for Alabama (14 of 15 games). The pro scouts know him quite well. He’s strong, mobile and mean as evidenced by 21 dead roach blocks last year. He’s rather courageous. Not because he plays in the trenches in a line of scrimmage football league, but because he has admitted he has mental health issues and done something about it. Cohen spent the last month at a Massachusetts rehab facility learning to cope with the pressures he has felt as an athlete expected to perform at the highest level for the program that is the standard bearer for all of college football. Here are some excerpts from a statement that was made public Tuesday in an Al.com article by Michael Rodak (it’s all in lower case): “the pressure we feel as athletes is insurmountable and can be too much at times. i don’t want to focus on the bad though, i want to shed light on the good that has come of this … the biggest lesson, it’s okay to not be okay but it is not okay to not say you’re not okay. i know i’m not alone when i say i felt for the longest i had no support. no outlet to express my emotions too without feeling judged or being afraid to do so … i encourage everyone reading this to put yourself first and stand up for your mental health. the struggle ends when you decide to talk about it. this has been an absolute blessing from God and i’m completely sure it will be for others too. seek the help you need and do not be afraid to be open about your troubles.” It takes so much courage to face mental and emotional problems. Far too many athletes try to bury their troubles in alcohol, drugs or other excesses only to discover that there are no answers found in their vices. In the more than 50 years I’ve been writing about sports, I’ve talked to so many former athletes who admit that their problems began long before they retired from their sport and that even at a young age they were looking for escapes. So often the drugs, the alcohol and other excesses are merely visible symptoms of the disease we call mental illness. About 10 days ago, a longtime friend told me that he used to think that today’s athletes are lazy fat cats who have it made because they have so much given to them. Now, however, he has changed his mind, believing instead that far too often today’s athletes are being pushed to a breaking point by 24-hour news cycles in which their performance and even personal lives are dissected by the public. I think he’s right. We see 13- and 14-year-old kids being evaluated for their “pro potential” before they’ve ever played a high school game. Far too many of these kids who are labeled can’t miss and given 4- and 5-star ratings when they’re so young don’t pan out to be superstars at the college level. Does that mean they were failures? I think a lot of kids feel that way and they’re not helped by fan bases that label them as busts because they didn’t pan out. I’ll finish with this thought: Tim Tebow is one of the greatest college football players in history, yet because he was unsuccessful in the NFL way too many critics overlook his tremendous success when he played football for the Gators. Some of those same critics labeled him a bust because he didn’t have a successful baseball career, not taking into account that Tebow made it to AAA even though he hadn’t played baseball since he was a high school junior. Fortunately, Tim has a different perspective and a higher calling. For every Tim Tebow who is unfazed by the critics there are dozens upon dozens of athletes who can’t handle it when they hit the competitive wall and can’t go any farther. Those guys succumb to all forms of depression and coping mechanisms that dig deep, dark holes from which recovery seems next to impossible. So, I congratulate Javion Cohen and any athlete who has the courage to come to grips with the pressures. It takes a big man to own up to his own frailty.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT 1. Greg Sankey is still the smartest guy in the room and holds all the cards: Forget all this talk about how the Big Ten has pulled even with the SEC. The only thing that’s even is the Big Ten now has 16 teams and so does the SEC. The SEC is still the strongest and most powerful name in college sports and the additions of Texas and Oklahoma will move the SEC needle far more than the Big Ten’s additions of Southern Cal and UCLA. It should be noted that Sankey’s 16-team Southeastern Conference has a nice geographic fit to it and while football is the cash cow, Texas and Oklahoma will make an already strong SEC even stronger. About the only sport the new Big Ten will be appreciably stronger than the SEC is women’s volleyball where Southern Cal and UCLA add to Minnesota, Penn State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Texas and Oklahoma already have natural built-in rivals in the SEC. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to figure out how Rutgers and Maryland fit into the Big Ten and now Southern Cal and UCLA have joined the league. From a purely logistical standpoint, the new Big Ten is going to be a nightmare for the bean counters. There is this widespread notion that Greg Sankey and Kevin Warren are staring each other down like a pair of gunslingers in Dodge City, each one waiting for the other to fire an expansion bullet. We’re warned that the era of the super conferences has dawned and perhaps the doom and gloomers making the dire prediction that college sports as we know them are officially gone forever are right. But what happens if the SEC chooses to hold at 16? From a scheduling standpoint, a 16-team league is easy. In football you play nine games with three permanent opponents and the other 12 teams are played home and home at least once every four years. You simply double up in basketball where the SEC plays an 18-game conference schedule. Baseball? It’s a 30-game schedule, you go five permanent opponents, the other ten are played home and home at least once every four years. Does the SEC really need to add more teams? Sankey already has a ginormous contract with ESPN already in hand, one that will be torn up and rewritten once Texas and Oklahoma are released to join the SEC, in all probability for 2024 since that’s when Southern Cal and UCLA join the Big Ten. Sankey is already the most powerful man in all of college sports. He doesn’t have to expand the SEC to prove it. 2. Adding Southern Cal and UCLA was Kevin Warren’s attempt to prove he’s as smart as Greg Sankey: All the Big Ten people are patting Kevin on the back now for pulling off such a coup but while it may have made sense for the Big Ten, it doesn’t make Warren or the Big Ten the equal of Greg Sankey or the SEC. When the expanded Big Ten has won some national championships in football (three since 1990; the SEC has won 16 … since 2000 the SEC has won 13, the Big Ten 2) then everyone can talk about the brilliance of Kevin Warren. There is this silly notion that just because Chicago is the headquarters of the Big Ten and that the league is in the New York (Rutgers), DC (Maryland) and now LA markets that it will dominate football ratings on Saturday. Just because the Big Ten will have a big contract with Fox and it’s in those four huge markets doesn’t mean people would prefer to watch Big Ten football over the ABC game of the week at 3:30 … which will be the SEC. There are far more matchups in the SEC that will move the needle 3. The same Big 12 that was unglued by losing Texas and Oklahoma is now the third most powerful conference: Within hours of the announcement that Southern Cal and UCLA were going to the Big Ten, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado had called the Big 12 begging to join. The move actually makes plenty of sense in that it would give Utah its natural rival (BYU) just a few miles away, Colorado used to be in the Big Eight and then the Big 12, and Arizona and Arizona State have never really fit in all that well with the intellectual brie and chardonnay snooties who make up the Pac-12. They are ham and beans kind of schools and the Big 12 is a ham and beans kind of league. It’s a far better fit for these four to bolt for the Big 12 than it is for Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State to depart for the Pac-12. A 16-team Big 12 is going to get more TV sets tuned in to their football games than they will in the Pac-12. This could be one serious basketball league. Kansas and Baylor have won the last two national championships. Texas Tech made the Final Four in 2019. Arizona was a No. 1 seed this year. The football won’t be bad, either. Houston could make the College Football this year. Cincinnati made it last season and had eight NFL draft picks. Baylor is going to be really, really good and nobody but nobody wants to play Utah and BYU. Because the Big 12 is going to release Texas and Oklahoma with some help from the SEC and ESPN, it’s going to get a nice TV contract. Adding the four Pac-12 schools will mean it gets a nicer contract than the Pac-12 can offer. 4. The ACC and Pac-12 are essentially screwed forever: We start with the obvious here. Jim Phillips (ACC commish) and George Kliavkoff (Pac-12) are officially the two dumbest conference commissioners in history. Phillips has a league tethered to a media rights contract that runs through 2036 that ESPN won’t renegotiate. He desperately needs Notre Dame to join his league but Notre Dame didn’t get to be Notre Dame by doing dumb things and joining the ACC would be dumber than dumb. Kliavkoff just lost Southern Cal and UCLA to the Big Ten and he’s got Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah ready to sign divorce papers plus Washington and Oregon are begging the Big Ten to join. He can raid the Big 12 for Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor and Texas Tech but why would they leave? They can add San Diego State and UNLV but the needle doesn’t move and the academics at Stanford and Cal will go into apoplexy. Now here is what officially makes Phillips and Kliavkoff dumber than amoebas: Had they voted to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, they would have had hundreds of millions of dollars each year to distribute to their member schools and they wouldn’t be faced with impending disaster. 5. Notre Dame to the Big Ten is not a given; in fact it might not happen: If there is further expansion, Notre Dame will have to abandon independence to join a conference. Notre Dame to the Big Ten is being tossed around like it’s close to a done deal, but despite the rhetoric Notre Dame is the one that holds the cards here, not the Big Ten. There are options. Notre Dame to the ACC would provide the lifeline the ACC desperately needs. Notre Dame would certainly cause ESPN or another network to raise the financial stakes, but it won’t be anything close to SEC or Big Ten money. With the exception of Clemson, most of those five yearly contracted games against ACC opponents are like scheduling games with the Group of Five or, heaven forbid, D1AA teams. Notre Dame could get a more competitive game with North Dakota State than it could with Duke or Georgia Tech. Some folks on the left coast who would take their brains out and play with them if they could have floated the idea that Notre Dame, because of its high academic standards, would be willing to join Stanford and the other snooty we’re smarter than you institutions in what’s left of the Pac-12. $19 million is why it won’t happen. That was the payout last year to Pac-12 schools. With Southern Cal and UCLA gone, that might seem like a lot and there is no media contract in sight. Notre Dame to the left coast won’t happen. Big Ten. Great geographic fit. You’ve got Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois and Northwestern all within a three-hour drive. A lot of good academics to match Notre Dame’s. A big media contract on its way. So why isn’t Notre Dame parked outside Kevin Warren’s office, pen in hand, ready to sign the contract to join the Big Ten? Well, for one thing, Notre Dame could have joined the Big Ten on several occasions and didn’t because of old wounds dating back to the Knute Rockne days. Secondly, and probably more relevant today, it’s Kevin Warren. Last summer, do you remember Greg Sankey and the 12-team College Playoff proposal, the one Kevin Warren and his buddies in “The Alliance” torpedoed? Well, Jack Swarbrick, the Notre Dame AD helped write that. He’s one of Greg Sankey’s buddies. That playoff proposal would have saved the Pac-12, the ACC and would have made Notre Dame more than enough money to remain independent, which it really and truly wants. So now, here is Kevin Warren, asking Notre Dame to do a bygones be bygones, let your greed blind your distaste for me agreement to join the Big Ten. Maybe Notre Dame caves, but I’m not sure that will happen, not with CBS and streaming services like Apple TV, Hulu and Amazon out there that could ensure its independence with a mega deal that could dwarf the deal with NBC. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE NEW COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD ORDER John Feinstein, The Washington Post Two things jumped out at me from the statements, one word and one phrase. The word was “values,” with USC and UCLA claiming they will join the Rich Sixteen because they share “values” with the already-rich 14. And then there was the time-honored phrase that should cause anyone hearing or reading it to hold on tight to their wallets: “Student-athletes.” At least when Maryland abandoned the ACC to join the Big Ten, the school’s leadership was honest, admitting it was broke and needed the television money the Big Ten was offering. Yes, there was also the same garbage about “sharing values,” but no one was denying that the bottom line was the bottom line. Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports The playoff plan wasn’t just fair, it was a gift to all of college athletics. Meanwhile, it took less than six months for the Big Ten to immolate the Alliance by backstabbing the Pac-12 for its Los Angeles schools. A big playoff with lots of guaranteed room for everyone and a long-term, multi-billion dollar contract was there for the taking … Yet the ACC and Pac-12 said no. Less than six months later, reality has hit. College football is on the brink … They have only themselves to blame for this. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Over the weekend, a good friend texted that the last thing he wants to see in college sports are two super leagues of 20-24 teams each. “It will be just like the NFL and I gave up on the NFL a long time ago,” he wrote. “In the NFL you go 10-7 and you get in the playoffs. I’m not ready for college sports to have playoffs with 7-5 teams making it and that’s what we’ll get when we go to super leagues.” I can’t disagree with him. The more teams we add to the SEC, for example, the more likely it is that we wind up with conference champs that have two, three or four losses. Maybe I’m too stuck in my ways, but I’m not ready for that. I still like the idea of a conference champ and a national champ that is either unbeaten or with a single loss. Super conferences more than likely will put an end to that notion.

For Your Holiday Reading Pleasure: Eruption Of Mt. McElwain 9-12-15 By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Editor Football being a game of powerful emotion, there are bound to be explosions and temper tantrums. Saturday night at The Swamp, however, there was a meltdown of epic proportion. Maybe not an eruption equal to Mount Kiluea on the Big Island of Hawaii but one that may never be equalled on Mount McElwain. When running back Kelvin Taylor scored to put Florida up two touchdowns over East Carolina, he followed it up with the worst kind of celebration in college football: The despicable, moronic, gangsta throat slash that in these times of racial unrest is also reprehensible and offensive. Taylor got more than just flagged for it. He got busted by his coach on national TV with one of the most vitriolic verbal assaults in NCAA history. I’ve witnessed some of the best and worst rants at Florida Field/Ben Hill Griffin over more than five decades, but none as volatile or lengthy as the one Saturday night by Florida coach Jim McElwain. Some of Will Muschamp’s best were about a 9.3 on the Richter Scale. By comparison, Steve Spurrier may have done a couple of 7s or 8s back in the ‘90s. Kid stuff. I think McElwain did a 9.8 on Taylor, which would make it an unofficial school record. All that was missing to qualify for a 10 was the Bobby Knight chair tossing. It deserves its own name, so I dubbed it The McElChamp. The fact that cameras and mics are everywhere makes these modern rants more impactful in our living room, of course. This wasn’t just a teachable moment — it was a four-year curriculum with a Masters in Decorum. Whether McElwain realized it or not, he was centerstage on ESPN’s camera and the players sort of backed away, putting them both on full public display to the West stands and skyboxes where the Bull Gators sit. Actually they were three mini-rants wrapped into one. McElwain accosted the junior running back not once, not twice, but three times as Taylor stood there stoically, taking shots like a defenseless quarterback. This looked more like a seizure than a rant. And at least the umps had the option of tossing them out of the game. First there was the umpire’s “you’re out!” move and a thrust downtown with his right hand; then the eyeball to eyeball confrontation with open hands to the side as McElwain’s hair shimmied like it was on a bobblehead. And finally, the pirouette/spin move as he was walking away, followed by a pointed elbow slam-down on an imaginary neck or head, WWE style. One writer in the press box said it was “Muschamp x 10.” Another said McElwain “channeled his inner Nick Saban.” Even mild-mannered Mick Hubert, the voice of the Gators, got into the act with: "We’ve just seen Coach Mac 'lit up' for the first time on the Gators sideline.’’ According to a witness is the West stands, the fans were confused when McElwain came charging back to the bench in search of Taylor, all fired up and highly animated. “After watching for 15 seconds,” said Luke, sitting 15 rows up, “it was pretty evident Coach Mac wasn’t being positive! Once he started shaking while yelling, the crowd started watching.” There was at least one mic which picked up audio. OnlyGators.com reported the Florida coach screamed (in a bleeped out version): “Look at me! Don’t look down! F—ing be a man! You let your f—ing team down. That’s f—ing bull——. And you think it’s f—ing OK? F—ing you kidding me.” Which might also be a team record for a coach using the F Bombs in one rant. Count ‘em — five. All over the stupid throat-slashing gesture which college football cracked down on years ago because of its street-gang implications. And committed by an otherwise good citizen who practices hard, plays hard and has bought into the Big Mac way. The McElChamp rant didn’t end there. The Florida coach carried it over to the locker room where he called the act “embarrassing," saying his team “didn’t deserve to win the game.” “We've got a long way to go and it starts with the understanding that selfish acts hurt the team, and it will be dealt with. This is not how it's going to be done around here anymore. It's not going to happen. It's not! It was embarrassing. Embarrassing to our administration, embarrassing to the university, and it came back to bite us in the end.” Having said all that, I can see why something as moronic as Taylor's throat-slashing gesture was so upsetting to a Florida coach who has said time after time that he was going to make fewer penalties a major goal since infractions of this nature do reflect on the culture which McElwain is trying to change. If nothing else, a player like Taylor, the son of Florida All-American Fred Taylor and part of Gator Royalty, should have known this was not only poor taste and against the rules, but could hurt his team, which it did on the ensuing kickoff. East Carolina took advantage with a touchdown that closed the gap to one score. Then Florida had to hang on just to win. Frankly, I was surprised to see Taylor back on the field the next series and will be even more surprised if there isn’t more fallout this week. "It's inexcusable," a steaming McElwain told the media. "If we do that, shoot. It's not the way you play. It's not the way you prepare. It's not the way you give up yourself for the benefit of others. It's a bunch of entitlement. Entitled for what?" Welcome to the Jim McElwain Era. However, from the wording of his Tweet, it sounds like Taylor took the tongue-lashing to heart and harbors no ill will: "Kelvintaylor21: I love coach Mac!!! He's going make me a better person Got nothing , but respect for him! #GatorNation 🐊🐊" Never mind the teaching moment. Kelvin Taylor now has his PhD. Editor's Note: Later he apologized with this, but never expressed any regrets: "I'm not proud about it, and neither is my mother," McElwain said Monday at his weekly news conference. "I don't feel good about it. As you know, this is a very public job. This is a public thing that we do. I understand that I have a long ways to go and I make mistakes. ... Am I proud of it? Absolutely not. Do I feel bad about it? Yes. At the same time, I've got to understand my mistakes as well and learn from it and go forward."

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: FROM THE MANNING PASSING ACADEMY: AR15 TURNED HEADS The word out of the Manning Passing Academy is that Anthony Richardson was very impressive, both in the way he threw the ball and understood concepts as well as how he conducted himself. Everybody knew AR15 was an extraordinary talent when arrived at the camp in Thibodaux, Louisiana, but his performance easily exceeded expectations per a couple of insiders who watched Florida’s future starter. What Richardson did at the Manning camp seemed to confirm the confidence UF head coach Billy Napier has in his third-year sophomore. Speaking on 1010XL in Jacksonville Tuesday, Napier sounded quite confident in AR15’s ability to lead the Gators in 2022. “I believe [Anthony] is an elite talent,” Napier said. “Sometimes we got to remind ourselves around here that he started one game and completed 33 (it was 38) passes [in 2021]. A phenomenal skillset. He’s big, athletic, got a lot of talent. I think he is smart, he processes well for him to be in a new system and he has really hit the ground running. “Our system is very quarterback driven. I think Anthony is excited about opportunities that come with that. This summer is huge for him becoming more familiar with our system and learning about defensive structure. Our summer routine for the quarterbacks is pretty rigorous but I wouldn’t trade him. I can promise you that.” From a purely physical standpoint, Richardson might very well be the top prospect in the Southeastern Conference and perhaps the nation. He’s 6-4, 240 pounds and he has sprinter’s speed. He has elite arm talent although his opportunities were limited last season because former UF coach Dan Mullen was fully committed to Emory Jones. Richardson completed 38-64 passes for six touchdowns (five interceptions) and 529 yards (8.3 per attempt). He was 51-401 (7.86 yards per carry) on the ground with another three touchdowns. That isn’t a large body of work, but it’s enough to show that the potential is there. Napier saw Richardson every day during the spring, so he’s got a pretty good idea what he has. “I’m excited to work with him,” Napier said. “He is a guy that Gator Nation should be fired up to watch. I think he has done a great job representing himself and representing the university the right way.” DL CHRIS THOMAS IN THE PORTAL Defensive lineman Chris Thomas (6-5, 314), a former 4-star recruit, has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Thomas played only a handful of plays last season as a true freshman. On3’s Matt Zenitz described Thomas as “another one of the players cut by Florida.” Demarkcus Bowman has transferred to UCF. Since he has already transferred once in his career he will need a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible. GATORS AND THE 2022 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL DRAFT The Major League Baseball Draft is three weeks away. This will be the second year of the 20-round draft that will select somewhere between 750-850 college, junior college and high school prospects. Nearly every baseball publication has re-evaluated its draft prospect lists. Here are the Gators, transfers and signees that are listed by Baseball America, Prospects Live and The Athletic. Gators in Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospects Current Gators: 36. Sterlin Thompson, IF/OF; 50. Brandon Sproat, RHP; 59. Jud Fabian, OF; 70. Hunter Barco, LHP; 241. Colby Halter, 3B/2B; 397. BT Ripoelle, C/1B; 487. Josh Rivera, SS. Signees: 94. Xavier Isaac, 1B, Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth; 220, Cade Fisher, LHP, Dalton, GA/Northwest Whitfield; 235. Luke Heyman, C, Altamonte Springs, FL/Lake Brantley; 365. Jake Clemente, RHP, Parkland, FL/Marjory Stoneman Douglas; 368. Yoel Tejada Jr., 1B/RHP. Prospect Live’s top 500 draft prospects Current Gators: 36. Sterlin Thompson, INF/OF; 80. Jud Fabian, OF; 83. Hunter Barco, LHP; 108. Brandon Sproat, RHP; 325. Josh Rivera, SS; 379. Tyler Nesbitt, RHP; 432. Colby Halter, 3B/2B Signees: 94. Xavier Isaac, 1B, Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth; 220, Cade Fisher, LHP, Dalton, GA/Northwest Whitfield; 235. Luke Heyman, C, Altamonte Springs, FL/Lake Brantley; 365. Jake Clemente, RHP, Parkland, FL/Marjory Stoneman Douglas; 368. Yoel Tejada Jr., 1B/RHP, Davie, FL/North Broward Prep; 397. Magnus Ellerts, RHP, Woodbridge, VA/Florida Southwestern Gators in The Athletic’s top 100 draft prospects Keith Law of The Athletic updated his top 100 draft prospects on June 25. Current Gators: 19. Sterlin Thompson, INF/OF; 47. Jud Fabian, OF; 74. Hunter Barco, LHP; 81. Brandon Sproat, RHP. Evaluating who goes, who stays: Sterlin Thompson: His draft stock has continued to rise, in part because he proved he can play second base at a high level. First round for sure, could be top 20. He will sign. Brandon Sproat: His draft stock is blowing up. Baseball America has him top 50 and he could go higher than that. That’s what throwing strikes with a 99mph fast ball will do for you. He will sign. Jud Fabian: He turned down $2 million from the Red Sox last year. He may not get offered $2 million this year, but he should go first two rounds. He will sign this time. Hunter Barco: He’s committed to the draft and seems likely to go first three rounds. He can come back if he doesn’t like the team or the money, but right now figure he’s a goner. BT Riopelle: There are concerns that he strikes out way too much. He seems likely to go in the final five rounds. If it’s not the right team, he probably comes back. He needs to. Josh Rivera: He’s late round. The defense is good and he hits with power, but he needs to make better contact. He has two years of eligibility so unless it’s a wowser of an offer, figure he’s back. Tyler Nesbitt: It took awhile for him to get back into a groove since he injured his arm as a true freshman in 2021, but he throws hard. If he is drafted it will be very late rounds. He will be back almost certainly. Colby Halter: He blossomed in the field when he switched to third base. He showed power but he had a couple of big slumps that will cost him with the scouts. He needs to come back and become a more consistent contact hitter. The transfer Colby Thomas: His stock is rising, but he has leverage since he has two seasons of eligibility remaining. He is recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum, so unless he gets the right team and the right money, figure he’s a Gator next year. The signees Xavier Isaac: He’s strictly a first baseman or DH. He’s not very fast and not very good in the field, but he hits moonshots. Maybe generates the best bat speed of any prospect in the draft. If he goes first three rounds, he’s a goner for sure. Age: 18 years, 7 months. Jake Clemente: He’s got the size (6-4, 220) and the fast ball (96-97). He seems likely to be a Gator unless he goes first five rounds. Age: 18 years, 6 months. Cade Fisher: He’s got a long, lanky fame (6-4, 190) and the ability to add 20-25 pounds. Throws low 90s but the ball moves well and his slider is wicked. He’s a great student. Seems likely to be a Gator. Age: 18 years, 10 months. Luke Heyman: Injured during his senior year but he’s a tremendous prospect with a big arm and serious power. He will be 19 on draft day which means he will be draft eligible after two years at UF. That could tilt the odds that he will spend the next two years as a Gator. Chris Arroyo: He’s a lefty with a 93 mph heater and a good slider, but he may be a better prospect as an outfielder. Good contact hitter with gap power. He’s projected outside the first 10 rounds so it’s likely he will be in Gainesville. Age: 17 years, 11 months. Yoel Tejada Jr.: He's 6-7, 220 and still growing. He throws low 90s, hits for power. The big question is what position will be his best? He may get drafted in the later rounds, but needs to spend three years in Gainesville finding his niche. Age: 19 years. Magnus Ellerts: He's a big (6-5, 225) hard-throwing righty from Florida Southwestern juco who throws a consistent 94-95 heater that elevates occasionally to 97-98. High strikeout ratio. If he gets taken in the first 10 rounds there's a good chance he will sign. SEC FOOTBALL/BASEBALL Kentucky: The Wildcats have added former Tennessee running back Dee Beckwith (6-5, 230), who had four carries for 27 yards in two years in Knoxville. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining … Former Sam Houston State running back Ramon Jefferson, who gained 1,155 yards and scored 13 touchdowns yards last season, has transferred to Kentucky. LSU: Vanderbilt shortstop Carter Young (207, 7 HR, 26 RBI) has transferred to LSU. Mississippi State: HBC Mike Leach signed a two-year contract extension. Best of the SEC: The league’s 14 sports information directors voted the following superlatives while looking ahead to 2022: MVP: Bryce Young and Will Anderson, both from Alabama; Top Heisman candidate: Young; Most versatile: Ainias Smith, Texas A&M; Most underrated: Will Rogers, Mississippi State; Best athlete: Anderson; Best leader: Young; Best outside linebacker: Anderson; Best inside linebacker: Henry To’oTo’o, Alabama; Best cornerback: Cam Smith, South Carolina; Best safety: Jordan Battle, Alabama; Best defensive lineman: Jalen Carter, Georgia; Best offensive lineman: Ricky Stromberg, Arkansas; Best receiver: Kayshon Boutte, LSU; Best running back: Tank Bigsby, Auburn; Best blocking back: Casey Kelly, Ole Miss; Best passer: Young; Best kick returner: Ainias Smith; Best punter: Nick Constantinou, Texas A&M; Top newcomer: Spencer Rattler, South Carolina. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I know, maybe the last thing in the world you’re expecting are words of wisdom from Coach O. He has emerged from wherever he’s been hanging out lately to pay a visit to the Legends camp at the University of Miami, the place he made his name as an assistant coach while working for Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson. While at Miami, the former LSU head coach weighed in on NIL and transfers. On the subject of NIL: “First of all, the game is changing and if you want to have success, you better change. Number one, you’ve got to find a way to compete at the highest level and now it’s different. It’s a different lay of the land, but, my own personal opinion, they don’t care about it but I will say it anyway: They have to govern it. There’s got to be something and I think the players would appreciate it. “The players that get way too much money in the beginning may not be as hungry, and maybe not in the end get all that he needs to get. So, I think players will learn to appreciate it, that you’ve got to earn things. I’m not against them getting money but I think there needs to be some kind of governing.” Orgeron isn’t all that gung-ho about current transfer rules although it should be noted that he landed the most famous transfer of the past four years in Joe Burrow. Burrow, didn’t have to sit a year because he had already graduated from Ohio State when he showed up at LSU. Coach O on the portal: “It’s like free agency. It’s moving too fast. For me, I was all for the graduate transfer portal. I think once you’ve graduated, hey, you’ve got a shot, go take another shot. It was good for Joe. Thank God we had him for two years, but I think this transferring – hopping from school to school, especially within the conference and within your division is a little tough. You wear one uniform the next day you’re wearing your rival’s.” It's rather hard to argue with his logic. There should be rules regarding NIL, but it’s going to be very difficult since the NCAA never had a plan in place complete with a set of rules when it lost the Alston case in the Supreme Court. The transfer portal is here to stay although the NCAA is putting more structure in place. If the new transfer guidelines are passed, then players will have only a couple of times a year they can enter the transfer portal in order to transfer without having to sit a year. I’d like to see a rule in place that require a player to be on campus for two full semesters (fall and spring) before he can transfer without having to sit a year.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: PAUL FINEBAUM ON THE STATE OF THE FLORIDA FOOTBALL PROGRAM During his weekly Monday appearance on WJOX in Birmingham with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelik, Paul Finebaum offered a not so flattering opinion of where the Florida football program is at the moment. Finebaum compares where Florida is today to where Alabama was in 2006, the year before Nick Saban rescued the program from a roller coaster that turned into freefall in the final year of Mike Shula. Here is Finebaum’s assessment of the Gators: “Alabama went through this period of 15 or 20 years when almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. However, it didn’t stop the fans and Cole – you played during this era, and Greg, you were about to go to Alabama during this era – but no matter, like 2006, let’s go back to the year before you got there … you’re doing a show in June and in your heart of hearts you know Alabama is going to have a losing season or go 6-6, and you go to the [phone] lines and ‘Alabama is going to win a national championship.’ “That’s how Florida fans are. They cannot accept that they are really a mediocre program right now. They can’t accept that it’s been forever since they won a national championship or an SEC championship. All they can do is say, ‘We almost beat Alabama last year. We should have beaten them maybe the year before. We’ve been to a bunch of big-time games.’ I think that’s part of the problem. “When you start talking about the Gators, let’s forget this weekend and what’s gone wrong down there. I would have said they got AR15, they’ve got a lot of skill players … they were this or they were that. You tend to give them way too much credit when realistically how can you put them anywhere above three or four in the SEC East after Georgia and Kentucky and Tennessee? … Tennessee has been their best friend, guys. Every time we think that Florida is about to slip they beat Tennessee early in the season, which they do pretty much every year and that keeps them going.” SOMEBODY’S FIBBING: NOW JOHN RUIZ DISPUTES MICHAEL CASPINO Sunday, it was the Gator Collective issuing a statement disputing California attorney Michael Caspino’s version of how Miami landed quarterback Jaden Rashada. Monday, Miami lawyer John Ruiz, who has been putting up big NIL bucks to help The Ewe, disputed Caspino’s version. Gator Collective attorney Darren Heitner, also issued a statement that denied Caspino’s allegations that the Gator Collective had negotiated with him regarding Rashada. Ruiz said, “The report by on3.com is inaccurate as it relates to Jaden Rashada. I have never spoken to Mr. Caspino about Jaden Rashada. Mr. Caspino and I spoke about an unrelated player months ago and had a very professional and pleasant conversation. I respect him.” Heitner said, “The Gator Collective has never even spoken with lawyer Michael Caspino about Jaden Rashada or any recruits.” So, someone is telling a big fib here. Chances are it’s Caspino. JIMBO FISHER ON FUTURE SEC SCHEDULING When asked by Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South about his preference for future scheduling in the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, perhaps unwittingly, made the strongest comment yet about why there is not going to be a super league of maybe 65-70 teams with no outside scheduling: “I don’t mind 8 or 9 [games] but we need to play an [FCS] game. I came from that league of ball. A lot of great coaches did. How do those schools make budget? You have to trickle the wealth down. If you don’t and those schools have to fold up, where do those kids get to play and get an education.” The Power 5 schools cannot ignore their Group of 5 and D1AA – the NCAA calls it FCS but I refuse – brethren that depend on paycheck games to meet their budgets but also because of the transfer portal. More and more players from the FCS and D1AA will be transferring to Power 5 schools to get their shot at the big time. By the same token, there will be players who will never see the field at a Power 5 school who can play at the lower levels so this is a door that has to remain open in both directions. It’s only going to stay open if the Group of 5 and D1AA schools can keep their football programs open for business. This is one of the reasons SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been pushing for a 12-team playoff because it would give at least one team from the Group of 5 its chance to play the role of Cinderella. Sankey knows what Jimbo is talking about since he was once the commish of the D1AA Southland Conference. I still believe the better idea for games with D1AA schools is to play the games in the spring. Oh, we’ll hear that argument that players can get hurt. Well, players get hurt in the spring every year even before the spring game. Instead of some silly scrimmage in which nothing is really accomplished, play the D1AA team then. Instead of free admission to the spring game, sell tickets for games with D1AA opponents. What a concept. The D1AA team will benefit from playing the game in the spring because they don’t take their “will work for beer” beating during the regular season. The Power 5/Division I teams will benefit because coaches will get to see their players in a real game situation against someone other than the same guys that are seen every day in practice. If you lose, then it’s not an embarrassment like it would be in the fall. Anyone remember Georgia Southern in 2013? GATORS FINISH NO. 21 IN FINAL D1BASEBALL POLL The final top 25: 1. Ole Miss 42-23; 2. Oklahoma 45-24; 3. Texas A&M 44-20; 4. Arkansas 46-21; 5. Stanford 47-18; 6. Notre Dame 41-17; 7. Auburn 43-22; 8. Texas 47-22; 9. Tennessee 57-9; 10. Oregon State 48-18; 11. Virginia Tech 45-14; 12. Louisville 42-21-1; 13. East Carolina 46-21; 14. North Carolina 42-22; 15. Southern Miss 47-19; 16. UConn 50-16; 17. Oklahoma State 42-22; 18. Maryland 48-14; 19. Texas State 47-14; 20. Miami 40-20; 21. FLORIDA 42-24; 22. UCLA 40-24; 23. TCU 38-22; 24. Texas Tech 39-22; 25. LSU 40-22 SEC BASEBALL Alabama: Seven players are in the transfer portal including third baseman Zane Denton (.263, 13 HR, 48 RBI). The lone incoming transfer so far is UAB reliever Aidan Moza (2-2, 4.41 ERA, 3 saves). Arkansas: Five Razorbacks are in the transfer portal, none of them a significant loss. The Hogs did score a major transfer in outfielder Jared Wegner (.348, 11 HR, 52 RBI) from Creighton. Auburn: So far there are two in the transfer portal, none significant. The Tigers have two significant incoming transfers, righthanded pitcher Jonathan Brand (from Miami OH, 8-2, 1.40 ERA), a second team All-American, and Kent State outfielder Justin Kirby (323, 15 HR, 45 RBI), a first team All-MAC selection. FLORIDA: Seven are in the transfer portal including pitchers Nick Pogue (to Ole Miss, 4-3, 4.81 ERA) and Timmy Manning (1-0, 4.76 ERA), catcher Mac Guscette (238, 5 HR, 18 RBI) and first baseman Kris Armstrong (.230, 2 HR, 10 RBI). The Gators have two significant incoming transfers outfielder Colby Thomas (from Mercer, .323, 17 HR, 45 RBI) and second baseman Dale Thomas (from Coastal Carolina, .284, 13 HR, 49 RBI). Georgia: Georgia has four outgoing transfers, none significant. Kentucky: Two players are leaving the program. Among the four who are transferring in are Western Kentucky righthander Mason Vinyard (2-2, 4.26 ERA), Longwood first baseman Hunter Gilliam (.281, 13 HR, 43 RBI) and Charleston Southern outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (.310, 9 HR, 43 RBI). LSU: LSU is hiring Minnesota Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson to replace Jason Kelly, who left to become the head coach at Washington … The Tigers have lost nine in the portal, none of them significant. There are four incoming transfers including North Carolina State outfielder Tommy White (.362, 27 HR, 74 RBI), Vanderbilt righthanded pitcher Christian Little (1-2, 3.72 ERA), All-Big East righthander from Creighton Dylan Tebrake (8-2, 2.71 ERA) and Baylor shortstop Jack Pineda (.300, 7 HR, 35 RBI). Mississippi State: Ten players have transferred out. Four are transferring in including Memphis righthander Nathan Dohm (7-1, 3.56 ERA) and Samford outfielder Colton Ledbetter (.318, 16 HR, 57 RBI). Missouri: Of the 15 players who have transferred out, the biggest loss is first baseman Torin Montgomery (365, 7 HR, 49 RBI). Ole Miss: Ole Miss is the landing spot for Florida righthanded pitcher Nick Pogue (4-3, 4.81 ERA). Four players have transferred out. South Carolina: This is a revolving door as seven have transferred out and six have transferred in including three from Clemson. Infielder Christopher Veach (from Presbyterian, 322, 2 HR, 11 RBI) is a good pickup as is Memphis outfielder Jacob Compton (.291, 11 HR, 55 RBI). The Gamecocks also have an experienced long reliever coming in from California, Nicholas Proctor (4-1, 4.11 ERA, 1 save). Tennessee: So far no one has announced he’s leaving the program. The one pickup is Kansas shortstop Walter Ahuna III (.357, 8 HR, 48 RBI), a first team All-Big 12 selection. Texas A&M: The Aggies have five in the portal. They have added four including Southern Cal righty Carson Lambert (6-3, 3.46 ERA) and Cincinnati catcher Joe Powell (.326, 5 HR, 26 RBI). Vanderbilt: The Commodores are losing 17 players in the portal of which three are significant – shortstop Carter Young (.207, 7 HR, 26 RBI), righthander Christian Little (to LSU, 1-2, 3.72 ERA) and outfielder Isaiah Thomas (.305, 13 HR, 40 RBI in 2021), who went into the portal in January and sat out 2022. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Trinity Thomas made the final three for the annual Honda Award, the winner of which is declared the top female athlete in all of college sports every year. Oklahoma softball legend Jocelyn Alo and South Carolina’s basketball player of the year Aliya Boston made the podium with Trinity with Boston surprisingly announced as the winner. From my personal perspective, having seen all three perform this year, I would have had Trinity and Alo neck-and-neck for the top spot but that’s just my opinion. I would have had Trinity in the top spot because she had 12 perfect 10s and posted one of the highest all-around scores in history to win the event at the NCAA championships. Her 2022 was one of the most remarkable seasons in NCAA gymnastics history. An hour before they announced the finalists for the Honda Award, Trinity Thomas let it be known she will take advantage of her COVID year of eligibility (2020) to return for one last season with the Gators next year. She was the 2022 NCAA gymnast of the year and the winner of the Honda Award for gymnastics. It might be difficult to top the season she had this year, but there is a teensy matter of unfinished business: The Gators lost the national championship to Oklahoma by a tenth of a point. With Thomas back to anchor a Florida lineup that might be one of the greatest ever assembled on the collegiate stage, the Gators will be favored to win the national title that has eluded them since they went back-to-back-to-back from 2013-15. Expect an announcement any day now that All-Americans Leah Clapper and Nya Reed will also take advantage of their COVID years, adding to a lineup that will feature former world championships all-around gold medalist Morgan Hurd (injured in 2022), former world championships all-around silver medalist Leanne Wong, former US national team members Riley McCusker and Sloane Blakely, incoming freshman and former world championships all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello and Georgia transfer and former US national team member Victoria Nguyen.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION Quarterback Jaden Rashada has committed to the University of Miami. The California lawyer who represented Rashada in NIL negotiations says Rashada left millions of dollars on the table to go with Miami. There are reports that the Miami deal is worth $9.5 million and that the Gator Collective offered $11 million. Caspino, per reports, says the Gator Collective is dysfunctional and that he won’t deal with them again. In a Twitter statement, the Gator Collective responded: “The recent comments by California lawyer Michael Caspino have been brought to our attention. Gator Collective has never had any communications with Mr. Caspino about Jaden Rashada or any other recruits. Rather, Gator Collective has refused to engage in any dialogue with Mr. Caspino on numerous occasions as Gator Collective does not approve of his tactics and has no interest in engaging in activities which violate Florida law and NCAA Interim Policy and may put athletes’ eligibility at risk.” I have no way of knowing exactly how much money was involved in the deal that clinched it for Rashada, but I know this: It’s way, way, way too much for a kid who has yet to take a college snap. He could be the greatest thing since the invention of crushed ice. He could also be the next Tate Martel. Know this: before it gets better, things will get worse. Much, much worse. Essentially, the NCAA is powerless. It should have had a contingency plan in place for the eventuality of losing Alston v. NCAA in the Supreme Court, a plan with rules and regulations for NIL agreed to by every member of the NCAA. The few guidelines we have are weak and practically unenforceable, so we have chaos on our hands that has turned recruiting into sold to the highest bidder. The only way things are going to get better is for some of these kids signing mega-NIL deals to bust so badly that the bottom falls out of the market. I don’t think it’s a bad thing for kids to get some money, particularly in a sport that takes such a physical toll on its participants, but things are out of hand right now. I just hope there is a market correction before college football as we know it becomes nothing more than a professional league complete with unions and salary caps. TIME TO END THE PETTINESS REGARDING VERNON MAXWELL Vernon Maxwell scored 2,450 points during his University of Florida basketball career from (1984-88) yet if you look in the Florida media guide, the leading scorer in Florida basketball history is the late Ronnie Williams, who scored 2,086. Why the discrepancy? Because the higher-ups at UF, in their infinite wisdom, have erased the last two seasons of Vernon’s records because he took money from agents and accepted a free ticket to a basketball camp. Norm Sloan was fired for what Vernon did and probably a few other violations that occurred during his second tenure (first was 1960-66) at the University of Florida. This was at a time when Florida was viewed as a rogue school because of NCAA issues that occurred under football coaches Charley Pell and Galen Hall. What Vernon did was wrong, but does it merit erasing two years and 1,404 points? Here is what one former Florida player, who graduated in the decade prior to Vernon said in an email that I was made privy to only recently: “Then Sloan’s records need to be removed as well, and Pell’s, and (Aaron) Hernandez’s, etc. That record needs to be reinstated. Ronnie Williams is NOT the leading scorer. Journalistically incorrect. I would have flunked out of UF … with that kind of fact error. A top five public university should not have that kind of caliber of mistake in its athletic department’s records.” He is absolutely correct. The Gators went on a harsh NCAA probation for violations that occurred on Charley Pell’s watch. Charley’s coaching record remains intact and none of the players cited in the NCAA violations have had their records purged. UF did have its SEC championship vacated by the SEC, but that was wrong, too. If Alabama can have its SEC title from 1999 even though there were egregious NCAA violations, then why does the SEC continue to have UF’s 1984 SEC title vacant? Jarvis Williams allegedly was the recipient of an extra benefit from Galen Hall. The NCAA put UF on probation that kept the Gators from winning the SEC in Steve Spurrier’s first year (1990) on the job even though there wasn’t a single player on the team that was even on the team when the violation allegedly occurred. Galen’s records remain intact. Purging the last two years of Vernon’s on-the-court records has accomplished nothing except to make the University of Florida look petty and vindictive. It doesn’t make the Gators look righteous but people who know what happened tend to think of it as a holier than thou type of decision. If UF is willing to keep the names and records of Charley Pell, Galen Hall and Aaron Hernandez in its record books and media guides, then Vernon Maxwell’s records should be there also. It is time to end this ridiculous vendetta against Vernon. You can argue until the cows come home that Vernon has always been a rather shady character and no one could dispute it. However, that doesn’t change the fact he scored TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY points in his career, nor does it change the fact that one of the reasons there is a disconnect between former Gator players and UF is because of this kind of stupidity. LAST TEAM STANDING AT THE CWS: OLE MISS The Rebels were one of the last four teams selected to play in the NCAA Tournament, but they are the last team standing after taking out Oklahoma in two games win their first national championship in baseball. Ole Miss wasn’t the best team for an entire season, but they didn’t have to be. They only had to be the best team in the country for four weekends, which they were. Not bad for a team that at one point in the SEC season was 7-14. The Rebels nearly didn’t make it to Hoover for the SEC tournament and on selection Monday when the NCAA chose 64 baseball teams, they almost didn’t make it. The difference for Ole Miss was a pitching staff that allowed only 25 runs in 11 tournament games. In the Hattiesburg super regional they shut out host Southern Miss back-to-back and in Omaha the Rebels gave up 14 runs in six games. In the championship series against Oklahoma, Ole Miss pitchers gave up eight hits in two days. Tournament MVP Dylan DeLucia, a Port Orange native who went the juco route before arriving in Oxford, pitched 16-2/3 innings in Omaha, allowing just eight hits and one run while striking out 17 without walking a single hitter. Watching the joyous celebration on the field after Ole Miss took out Oklahoma, 4-2, Sunday and in the stands where Rebel fans accounted for nearly 20,000 of the nearly 26,000 in attendance, I couldn’t help but think about our poor country cousins up in Knoxville, who set NCAA records for obnoxious behavior and arrogance. The Vols were the unquestioned No. 1 seed in the tournament and they had their share of media folks proclaiming them a team for the ages. The team for the ages never made it to Omaha. Were the Vols the best team in the country? Maybe, but I’m reminded of something Billy Donovan had to say after the Gators won the 2006 NCAA basketball championship: “You don’t have to be the best team in the country. You only have to be the best team in the country for three weekends.” Ole Miss was the best team in the country for the only four weekends that matter. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Take a moment and scan the following list: Mary Beth Cooper, president, Springfield College; Beth DeBauche, commissioner, Ohio Valley Conference; John DeGioia, president, Georgetown University; Grant Hill, co-owner, Atlanta Hawks; Linda Livingston, president, Baylor University; Jere Morehead, president, University of Georgia; Steven Shirley, president, Minot State University; Nadja West, 44th Surgeon General of the United States Army. Do you know why these eight people are bunched together on a list? If your guess was “beats the ever-loving hell out of me,” then you probably join 99.9 percent of all the people in the free world. Perhaps there are four among China’s 1.7 billion inhabitants who aren’t miffed, but I wouldn’t count on it. If your answer was the new Board of Governors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, then you win the kewpie doll and should sign up the next time the Jeopardy people are in your area in search of the next Cliff Clavin. Study those names once again and somebody tell me how many of these people actually have a clue about college football played at the Division I level. Livingston and Morehead? Maybe. Just because they are presidents of Power Five institutions doesn’t mean they actually know more about the intricacies and problems facing college football in the foreseeable future than a Sherpa awaiting his next gig guiding climbers up Mount Everest. In the immortal and misquoted words of Jack Swigert, “Houston, we have a problem.” I’m sure all of these folks are all fine, wonderful human beings. I’m sure Grant Hill knows more about football than any of the others since his dad – Calvin Hill – made the Pro Bowl four times while playing for the Dallas Cowboys but Grant played basketball at Duke in the post-Steve Spurrier football era and now he’s the co-owner of an NBA team. I doubt seriously he’s got a clue what John Ruiz is up to down at Miami or what to make of the pending spending war between the Longhorns and the Aggies. Only God has more money than they do. Do any of you, for even a nanosecond believe Mary Beth Cooper, the president of Springfield College – 3,600-plus students and a member of Division III – has a clue about NIL or the transfer portal? Beth DeBauche is the commish of the Ohio Valley Conference. They play Division IAA football. Georgetown plays non-scholarship football at 3,750-fan capacity Cooper Field, which doubles as a lacrosse and women’s field hockey venue. I’m sure John DeGioia, who has been at Georgetown since he began school there in 1982 and has never held a job in the real world, can tell us all about football on a Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Did you know that Minot State University in North Dakota has a women’s hockey team? At least the surgeon general might be able to carry on a decent discussion about a torn ACL or Tommy John surgery. If I am the athletic director at a Division I football school one word comes to mind when I see this Board of Governors: FLEE! It is indeed time for the Division I football schools to hightail it from the NCAA. FLEE! Secede! Take college football completely out of the NCAA equation. Form your own organization. Put people in charge who actually have a clue about the monumental problems that will have to be tackled in the future. These issues aren’t going to go away and the NCAA, with its one size fits all approach, cannot and will not provide the answers. We cannot allow any organization overseen by Mark Emmert to have a say in the future direction of college football. When I contemplate what the NCAA has just done, I’m reminded of these powerful words from the late Howell Heflin, senator from the great state of Alabama: “Ah am perplexed!” Say it five times out loud, each time with a more pronounced southern accent. It won’t change anything if you do, but you might begin to feel as miffed as I am.