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After 13 years, suddenly Kirk Ferentz has a couple vacancies to fill [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 4:33 pm] In a profession that seems to relocate roughly 25 percent of its ranks on an annual basis, terms like "loyalty" and "stability" are defined radically downward. Any two football coaches who spend 13 years together on the same staff may as well be married. Which is why, even amid the usual game of musical chairs that clogs up the headlines every winter, the departure of Iowa offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe for the Miami Dolphins stands out: After more than a decade of delegating to the same two men on both sides of the ball, Kirk Ferentz is suddenly forced to replace both of his long-time coordinators at the same time. O'Keefe's exit comes almost two months after veteran defensive coordinator Norm Parker announced his retirement due to complications from diabetes (Parker had part of his left foot amputated at the start of the 2010 season), leaving both roles vacant for the first time since Ferentz replaced Hayden Fry as head coach in 1999. O'Keefe and Parker were his original hires. Thirteen years later, the fruits of their collaboration include 14 All-Americans, five first-round draft picks, four top-10 finishes, two BCS bowls, a share of two Big Ten titles and the most unlikely Heisman finalist of the last decade, which is not a bad run for an administration that went 1-10 its first year and 3-9 its second. Ferentz has never been a head coach without them, and considering he's known about Parker's retirement since (at least) early December, he's obviously not in any hurry to move on: During Wednesday's signing day news conference, Ferentz was asked Wednesday if had settled on a hire for defensive coordinator. "I think we're on the right path, I feel pretty good," he said. "Just in a nutshell, we moved like a tortoise again, kind of like '99 [when he hired his initial staff at Iowa]. There were a lot of different scenarios I wanted to run through my mind. . . . Unless you have to do something, why do something? "Give yourself some time to think the different scena Jameis Winston wraps another banner class for Florida State, if anyone is still paying attention [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 2:03 pm] Hueytown, Ala., quarterback Jameis Winston put his signature on a letter of intent to Florida State this, with a minimum of fanfare or drama for arguably the most coveted quarterback prospect since Matt Barkley. In Winston's case, the drama was over a long time ago: He committed to FSU last August, stuck with the 'Noles as he shot up the rankings during his senior season and never wavered despite overtures from Alabama (he grew up less than an hour from Tuscaloosa) a late visit to Stanford and a few extra days to think about it due to an all-star game in Austin, Texas, that occupied his attention on signing day. Recruitniks didn't even bother manufacturing a potential controversy. But his official addition to the fold is another reminder, as Florida State closes the books on another widely celebrated, top-10 haul â along with five-star defensive linemen Mario Edwards and Eddie Goldman, Winston gives the Seminoles three signees ranked among Rivals' top 10 players in the entire 2012 class â that the clock is still ticking on Jimbo Fisher's efforts to produce the proverbial chicken salad. After five years, five blue-chip recruiting classes and one sobering missed opportunity last fall, the achievement gap that defined the last decade of the Bowden era is as wide as ever. Make no mistake: Once again, the 2012 lineup is loaded. Including the incoming crop, the roster will include nine players who arrived with a 5-star rating from Rivals and 23 who were ranked among the top 100 overall recruits in their respective class â each of which has been regarded as the best in the ACC. And once again, the 'Noles will be overwhelmingly hyped as favorites to win the conference, just as they've been favored to win the conference pretty much every year since the last time they actually did it, in 2005. (Even then, they had to upset heavily favored Virginia Tech in the inaugural ACC Championship Game. The last time FSU laid legitimate claim to the title of "Best Team in the A Robert Griffin III challenges the President to hoops at National Prayer Breakfast [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 12:50 pm] The Robert Griffin III publicity tour hasn't slowed down despite being nearly two month removed from being the first Baylor quarterback to win a Heisman Trophy. Griffin, who recently announced that he was forgoing his final year of eligibility at Baylor to enter the NFL draft, delivered the closing prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. on Thursday. Griffin, his mother, father and fiancé, were all guests of the President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and sat with the first family at the head table. Before Griffin delivered the prayer, however, he had a couple jokes to liven up the mood and perhaps calm himself down in such a big moment. Griffin gave a "Sic 'em Bears" as a shout-out to his alma mater and then challenged the President, an avid college basketball fan, to a game of hoops. "To the President, if you ever get a little tired of running the country or anything like that, a little bored, I'd love to play you in basketball," Griffin said. "It would be a friendly competition because I wouldn't want anyone to feel like I was trying to hurt you or anything. I wouldn't dunk on you at all." Griffin also commented on the length of the breakfast before stating that he had had too much to drink and, "⦠I really have to use the bathroom." All of Griffin's comments were met with laughter and his prayer, which was exceptional, was met with applause. There was no word on which socks Griffin decided to wear for the occasion. Griffin is becoming quite the ambassador for Baylor football and giving he program far more pub than it probably could have ever dreamed. Griffin actually left Washington D.C. to got to Indianapolis where he was going to spread more Baylor cheer during interviews at the Super Bowl. In between public appearances, Griffin has been getting read for the NFL combine. He's been training at Athletes' Performance in Arizona along with Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Alabama running back Trent Richardson among others. - - - Video: Robert Griffin III challenges Obama to a game of hoops [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 12:22 pm] We're nearly two months removed from his triumph as the first Baylor quarterback to win a Heisman Trophy, but the Robert Griffin III publicity tour hasn't slowed down. Griffin, who recently announced that he was forgoing his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft, delivered the closing prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. on Thursday, along with a personal challenge for the commander-in-chief. Griffin, his mother, father and fiancée, were all guests of the President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and sat with the first family at the head table. Before Griffin delivered the prayer, however, he had a couple jokes to liven up the mood and perhaps calm himself down in such a big moment. Griffin gave a "Sic 'em Bears" as a shout-out to his alma mater and then challenged the President, an avid college basketball fan, to a game of hoops. "To the President, if you ever get a little tired of running the country or anything like that, a little bored, I'd love to play you in basketball," Griffin said. "It would be a friendly competition because I wouldn't want anyone to feel like I was trying to hurt you or anything. I wouldn't dunk on you at all." Griffin also commented on the length of the breakfast before stating that he had had too much to drink and, "⦠I really have to use the bathroom." After the last few months, Griffin is almost as polished at working a friendly crowd as a seasoned politician. All of his comments were met with laughter and his prayer, which was exceptional, was met with applause. No word on which socks Griffin decided to wear for the occasion. Griffin is becoming quite the ambassador for Baylor football, and giving the program far more pub than it probably could have ever dreamed. Griffin actually left Washington D.C. to got to Indianapolis, where he was going to spread more Baylor cheer during interviews at the Super Bowl. In between public appearances, Griffin has been getting read for the NFL combine. He's Kyle Dodson’s Ohio State announcement may have provoked Bret Bielema [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 11:16 am] Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema has taken a little bit of heat for his crusade against Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics at Ohio State as he continues to push for some authority figure to recognize and perhaps reprimand Meyer for his potential recruiting misdeeds. But why is Bielema pushing so hard? (Other than the fact that he said he doesn't want the Big Ten to become the SEC.) Perhaps it's because of the way former Wisconsin commit â now Ohio State signee â Kyle Dodson announced his pledge to the Buckeyes - in a singsong kind of rap. Dodson, a four-star offensive tackle from Cleveland, was one of the jewels of Wisconsin's class, but was wooed away to Columbus, Ohio when Meyer became a Buckeye. Bielema took issue with some of Meyer's recruiting ways â though never specifically linked them to Dodson publicly â and has now reportedly asked Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez to take his grievances to Big Ten commission Jim Delany. Alvarez told ESPN reporter Joe Schad that he has not spoken to Delany and then the former Wisconsin coach more or less defended Meyer's tactics while seemingly undermining his coach's plight. "Recruiting is recruiting until they sign," Alvarez told ESPN's Joe Schad. "If we had somebody who changed their mind and came to us, that's OK. "Urban was very aggressive but there is no pact within the conference not to continue to recruit. Open season until they sign." Of course, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith also defended Meyer stating that Meyer and his staff have had a "compliance conscience since they have arrived." "I am disappointed that negative references have been made about our football coaches, and particularly head coach Urban Meyer regarding recruiting. In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns, is to share those concerns with your Athletic Director (AD). Then your AD will make the determination on the appropriate communication from that point forward. The ADs in our league are professionals an Barry Alvarez sides with Urban Meyer not Bret Bielema [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 11:16 am] Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez doesn't seem nearly as upset with Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics as his coach Bret Bielema. Bielema has taken a little bit of heat for his crusade against Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics at Ohio State as he continues to push for some authority figure to recognize and perhaps reprimand Meyer for his potential recruiting misdeeds. But Alvarez isn't buying. He told ESPN's Joe Schad that he has no plans to speak with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany - as reportedly requested by Bielema - and then the former Wisconsin coach more or less defended Meyer's tactics while seemingly undermining his current coach's plight. "Recruiting is recruiting until they sign," Alvarez told ESPN's Joe Schad. "If we had somebody who changed their mind and came to us, that's OK. "Urban was very aggressive but there is no pact within the conference not to continue to recruit. Open season until they sign." Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith also defended Meyer stating that Meyer and his staff have had a "compliance conscience since they have arrived" (which has to be refreshing at Ohio State) and that if a coach has an issue it will be handled by the athletic directors. "I am disappointed that negative references have been made about our football coaches, and particularly head coach Urban Meyer regarding recruiting. In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns, is to share those concerns with your Athletic Director (AD). Then your AD will make the determination on the appropriate communication from that point forward. The ADs in our league are professionals and communicate with each other extremely well. Urban Meyer and his staff have had a compliance conscience since they have arrived." But why is Bielema pushing so hard? (Other than the fact that he said he doesn't want the Big Ten to become the SEC.) Perhaps it's because of the way former Wisconsin commit â now Ohio State signee â Kyle Dodson announced his Big Ten fans have spoken, and they are totally down with ‘Legends’ and ‘Leaders’ [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 10:11 am] The Big Ten got an awful lot right in last year's expansion effort, pulling off as seamless a transition to a 12-team, two-division format as anyone could have reasonably. But there was one thing virtually everyone agreed the conference got spectacularly wrong: The bizarre, widely mocked decision to name the new divisions the "Legends" Division and the "Leaders" Division. What is that even supposed to mean? Within days of introducing the names in December 2010, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany began backing down in the face of a "90 percent non-approval rating," expressing sincere surprise over how poorly the initiative had been received and promising to "revisit" the names at some point in the near future, after they'd had the opportunity to "breath a bit." That point is today. And as expected, the conference's research discovered that Big Ten fans overwhelmingly⦠wait, they actually like the names? According to survey results released to ESPN, yes. In fact, compared to the "90 percent non-approval rating" Delany cited 14 months ago, they kind of love them: Bottom line: Legends and Leaders will remain through the 2012 football season. Here's the part that will surprise some folks: Many Big Ten fans seem to want it that way. Of the 516 fans surveyed, 57 percent either liked the division names "somewhat" or "very much." About 35 percent disliked the names somewhat or very much, while only 8 percent were neutral. The study found that fans warmed up to the names as the season went along and saw them as unique and reflective of Big Ten history. The shift in opinion came in part by way of education efforts â see the ad at the top of the post, which seemed to win over a lot of people who were initially confused by the names â and in part by way of simple familiarity. The fans who eventually went for the rebranding in the survey liked the fact that (in their words) it "fits the integrity of the conference" and is "not just a representation of whether we're someplac Barry Alvarez sides with Urban Meyer in the burgeoning Big Ten recruiting wars [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 8:55 am] Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez doesn't seem nearly as upset with Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics as his coach Bret Bielema. Bielema has taken a little bit of heat for his crusade against Urban Meyer's recruiting tactics at Ohio State as he continues to push for some authority figure to recognize and perhaps reprimand Meyer for his potential recruiting misdeeds. But Alvarez isn't buying. Today, he told ESPN's Joe Schad that he has no plans to speak with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany - as reportedly requested by Bielema - and then the former Wisconsin coach more or less defended Meyer's tactics while seemingly undermining his current coach's plight. "Recruiting is recruiting until they sign," Alvarez told ESPN's Joe Schad. "If we had somebody who changed their mind and came to us, that's OK. Urban was very aggressive but there is no pact within the conference not to continue to recruit. Open season until they sign." Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith also came to his head coach's defense, releasing a statement that commended Meyer and his staff for having a "compliance conscience since they have arrived" â which has to be refreshing at Ohio State â and that if a coach has an issue it will be handled by the athletic directors. "I am disappointed that negative references have been made about our football coaches, and particularly head coach Urban Meyer regarding recruiting," Smith said. "In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns, is to share those concerns with your Athletic Director (AD). Then your AD will make the determination on the appropriate communication from that point forward. The ADs in our league are professionals and communicate with each other extremely well. Urban Meyer and his staff have had a compliance conscience since they have arrived." But why is Bielema pushing so hard? Aside from the fact that he said he doesn't want the Big Ten to become the SEC, perhaps it's because of the way former Wiscon Headlinin’: Bret Bielema takes his anti-Urban campaign to a higher power [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 5:52 am] Making the morning rounds. ⢠I shall have satisfaction. Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema followed up his signing day shot at Urban Meyer Thursday by asking his athletic director, Barry Alvarez, to have a little chat with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany during today's athletic director meetings in Chicago about Meyer's "unethical" recruiting tactics at Ohio State. Bielema and coaches from Michigan State took aim at Meyer on Wednesday for violating a "gentleman's agreement" among Big Ten coaches not to pursue recruits already committed to another Big Ten school, standard operating procedure in Meyer's old SEC stomping grounds at Florida. This year, Ohio State flipped eight prospects who were already committed elsewhere after Meyer was hired in late November, including four-star linemen Kyle Dodson and Se'Von Pittman from Wisconsin and Michigan State, respectively, giving the Buckeyes the best overall class in the conference. "I can tell you this. We at the Big Ten don't want to be like the SECâin any way, shape or form," Bielema told the Sporting News. "I called Urban and we spoke about it. We talked about it, and he said it would stop and it did. I'll let our commissioner deal with anything else. That's not who we are [in the Big Ten]. We settle things among ourselves as coaches." Well, until you get the athletic director and commissioner involved. [The Sporting News] ⢠Boy Wonder. If it seems like just yesterday that Utah quarterback Brian Johnson was leading a Sugar Bowl ambush of Alabama, that's because it basically was: Johnson graduated just three years ago, in the spring of 2009, which makes his promotion to offensive coordinator at his alma mater at the tender of age of 24 all the more startling. It helps, of course, that he'll be working for his old head coach, Kyle Whittingham, for whom he's also served the last two years as the Utes' quarterbacks coach. "Brian is a leader and a special coaching talent, just as he was a special player," Whittingham said Ohio State revives a traditional Michigan diss [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 2:49 pm] Last year, when it was Michigan suffering through a miserable, seven-year skid against Ohio State, the new administration under first-year coach Brady Hoke installed a countdown clock, a count-up clock and an self-censoring patois that omitted the term "Ohio State" altogether. Now that Ohio State has returned to the wrong side of the ledger, it looks like Urban Meyer is intent on returning the favor in Columbus. Yes, that's the 2012 schedule in Ohio State's locker room, pointedly replacing Michigan on Nov. 24 with "THAT TEAM UP NORTH," an old-school nod to the pater Buckeye, Woody Hayes, who famously hated "that team up north" to the extent that he'd rather push a car across the state line before he contributed to the Michigan economy by filling up the tank there. Apocryphal, probably, but effective. At this rate, we may be on the verge of another era akin to Hayes' "Ten-Year War" with Bo Schembechler in the seventies: The Buckeyes and Wolverines both finished in the top 10 nationally in Rivals' final 2012 recruiting rankings, which only included one other Big Ten team (Nebraska at No. 25) among the top thirty. Incredibly, between the Rich Rodriguez debacle at Michigan and the Lost Year at Ohio State following the Tressel-Pryor Affair, they haven't met with both sides ranked in the top 20 since the epic 1 vs. 2 collision in 2006. Not that the animosity has diminished, but after five years of predictable, largely one-sided games in November, it's refreshing to see them both embracing their heritage of hate with such enthusiasm. - - - Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday. Jerry Kill’s wife hit the recruiting trail with her husband [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 2:43 pm] Jerry Kill made national headlines this season after suffering a seizure on the sidelines during a game against New Mexico State and after several other seizures he still hasn't completely recovered. So Kill had to do something a little unorthodox while out recruiting his 2012 class â bring his wife just in case he had an episode while recruiting. "My wife had to travel with me because of the situation I'm in," Kill said. "That's the deal. She came because of my health situation. We had to get it cleared with the NCAA. ... If I had a seizure, she knows what to do. She'd take care of it, and I'd go right back into recruiting. That's how that works." Since that first major seizure on Sept. 10, Kill and his wife, Rebecca, have been nearly inseparable. That's not because they're so madly in love with each other that they can't bear to be apart â though I'm sure the flame is still there â it's because Kill doesn't know when his next attack might strike. In the days following the sidelines seizure, Kill said he had several more attacks. He also had a seizure on the team plane coming back from a game against Northwestern. The unpredictability of his illness has also turned the coach into a permanent passenger in any car, a designation he's eager to ditch. "I love my wife, she loves me, but we've been together enough right now," he said. "I'm a pretty (independent) person, so it's very difficult for me. ... I need to be seizure free here pretty quick so I can relax a little bit. My wife's got me under a microscope, that's what I'm telling you. It's a good thing. I love her to death." - - - Curtsy to Cameron Smith Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham Video: Les Miles mocks Gunner Kiel’s ‘chest and ability to lead a program’ to the delight of LSU fans [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 12:22 pm] Still smarting from a BCS Championship blowout at the hands of Alabama, LSU fans were in the market for a little good news Wednesday, and they certainly didn't get it from the recruitniks: Rivals rated the Tigers' latest signing class 17th nationally, far below their usual perch in the top ten, in large part due to the absence of a single signature from any of the top four prospects in Louisiana. Fortunately, coach Les Miles showed up to the annual "Bayou Bash" Wednesday night armed with a little red meat at the expense of a certain out-of-stater: Gunner Kiel, the former crown jewel of the 2012 class. Kiel, of course, is the coveted, five-star slinger from Columbus, Ind., who was briefly committed to LSU before his eleventh-hour defection to Notre Dame last month. Barely two weeks later, the kid is such a pariah in Baton Rouge that Miles basically challenged Kiel's manhood to a chorus of lusty cheers. "We needed a quarterback," Miles told the crowd. "We lost two. We needed a quarterback in this class. There was a gentleman from Indiana that thought about coming to the Bayou State. He did not necessarily have the chest and the ability to lead a program, so you know." That unprovoked public attack by a grown man on the character of an 18-year-old prompted the obligatory outburst from the partisans â although, to be fair, not as loud as the cheer for the quarterback the Tigers did sign, 6-foot-3, 270-pound Jeremy Liggins of Oxford, Miss., who mustered the chutzpah (or "the chest," in Miles' lingo) to gather a standing-room-only audience in a restaurant bordering Ole Miss' campus Monday night for the express purpose of picking up an LSU helmet and telling the hometown crowd "Go Tigers baby." No questions about the chest on that kid, although (unlike Kiel) no one realistically expects Liggins to compete for the starting job right away as raw passer with a relatively middling three-star grade from scouts. How do you measure a three-star chest against a five-star arm? Urban Meyer’s recruting tactics draw the ire of fellow Big Ten coaches [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 11:48 am] The Big Ten welcome wagon has officially left Columbus and nearly ran over new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on its way out. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema both publicly criticized Meyer's recruiting tactics after Meyer secured the nation's No. 4 class, according to Rivals, in just 65 days on the job. "There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn't want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues," Bielema told Chicago's CBS affiliate. "Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal. "I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to Coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified." Apparently, recruiting is more civilized in the Big Ten than it is in the SEC. However, uncivilized recruiting seems to create national championships. But I digress⦠It's no secret Meyer used his star power to lure several recruits out of their commitments and to Ohio State. Of the 10 players that committed to Ohio State after Meyer was hired, eight had been committed somewhere else. Included in that list was offensive tackle Kyle Dodson, who was committed to Wisconsin before signing with Ohio State, and defensive end Se'Von Pittman, who was a Michigan State pledge. Meyer also nabbed four players previously committed to Penn State and two committed to Notre Dame. "Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all." But like the games themselves, even recruiting is about competition and part of that competition means keeping the guys on the hook happy. It's no Urban Meyer’s recruiting tactics draw the ire of fellow Big Ten coaches [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 11:48 am] The Big Ten welcome wagon has officially left Columbus and nearly ran over new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on its way out. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema both publicly criticized Meyer's recruiting tactics after Meyer secured the nation's No. 4 class, according to Rivals, in just 65 days on the job. Bielema took issue with some of the tactics Meyer used to secure the class and called him on it. "There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn't want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues," Bielema said during his media day. "Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal. "I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified." Apparently, recruiting is more civilized in the Big Ten than it is in the SEC. However, uncivilized recruiting seems to create national championships. But I digress⦠It's no secret Meyer used his star power to lure several recruits out of their commitments and to Ohio State. Of the 10 players that committed to Ohio State after Meyer was hired, eight had been committed somewhere else. Included in that list was offensive tackle Kyle Dodson, who was committed to Wisconsin before signing with Ohio State, and defensive end Se'Von Pittman, who was a Michigan State pledge. Meyer also nabbed four players previously committed to Penn State and two committed to Notre Dame. "Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all." But like the games themselves, even recruiting is ab Big Ten coaches would like Urban Meyer to stop taking their recruits, please [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 10:33 am] The Big Ten welcome wagon has officially left Columbus and nearly ran over new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on its way out. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema both publicly criticized Meyer's recruiting tactics after Meyer secured the nation's No. 4 class, according to Rivals, in just 65 days on the job. Bielema, especially, took issue with some of the tactics Meyer used to secure the class and called him on it. "There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn't want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues," Bielema said during his media day. "Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal. I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified." Apparently, recruiting is more civilized in the Big Ten than it is in the SEC. However, uncivilized recruiting seems to coincide with national championships. But I digress⦠It's no secret Meyer used his star power to lure several recruits out of their commitments and to Ohio State. Of the 10 players that committed to Ohio State after Meyer was hired, eight had been committed somewhere else, including four-star offensive tackle Kyle Dodson of Cleveland, who was committed to Wisconsin before signing with Ohio State, and Canton, Ohio, defensive end Se'Von Pittman (right), who was a Michigan State pledge. Meyer also nabbed four players previously committed to Penn State and two committed to Notre Dame. "Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all." But Big Ten coaches would like Urban Meyer to stop poaching their recruits, please [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 10:33 am] The Big Ten welcome wagon has officially left Columbus and nearly ran over new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer on its way out. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema both publicly criticized Meyer's recruiting tactics after Meyer secured the nation's No. 4 class, according to Rivals, in just 65 days on the job. Bielema, especially, took issue with some of the tactics Meyer used to secure the class and called him on it. "There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn't want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues," Bielema said during his media day. "Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal. I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified." Apparently, recruiting is more civilized in the Big Ten than it is in the SEC. However, uncivilized recruiting seems to coincide with national championships. But I digress⦠It's no secret Meyer used his star power to lure several recruits out of their commitments and to Ohio State. Of the 10 players that committed to Ohio State after Meyer was hired, eight had been committed somewhere else, including four-star offensive tackle Kyle Dodson of Cleveland, who was committed to Wisconsin before signing with Ohio State, and Canton, Ohio, defensive end Se'Von Pittman (right), who was a Michigan State pledge. Meyer also nabbed four players previously committed to Penn State and two committed to Notre Dame. "Sometimes they say, 'How can you go recruit a young guy committed to another school?'" Meyer said. "You ask a question, 'Are you interested?' If they say, 'No,' you move on. If they say, 'Yes, very interested,' then you throw that hook out there. If they're interested, absolutely [you recruit them], especially from your home state. Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all." But RIP Tyrone Duplessis: Louisiana Tech running back found dead at age 21 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 7:48 am] Louisiana Tech has confirmed that running back Tyrone Duplessis was found dead this morning at his off-campus apartment in Ruston. Cause of death has not been determined. He was 21 years old. Duplessis, a redshirt sophomore from New Orleans, carried the ball seven times last year after sitting out the entire 2010 season with a knee injury. As a true freshman in 2009, he saw the field regularly, gaining 355 yards in nine games as a rusher and return man before forced to sit out the last month of the season. Teammates have been informed of his death by Bulldog coach Spike Dykes and grief counselors made available through the university. An autopsy is pending. Duplessis' death is the first in college football in 2012, after an unusually lethal year that claimed the lives of six Division I players in 2011, two of them victims of apparent heart conditions. Sincere condolences to his family and teammates in the face of a senseless tragedy. - - - Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday. Headlinin’: Akron brings Jim Tressel back to the Buckeye State [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 6:06 am] Making the morning rounds. ⢠The vest is back. Nine months after he was fired for a gross lapse of administrative oversight at Ohio State â and a little less than a week after he was passed over for the top job with the Indianapolis Colts â former Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel has accepted an unspecified administrative position at the University of Akron. He's expected to be introduced today and paid a salary of $200,000 a year. As a coach, Tressel remains toxic due to a "show-cause" penalty handed down as part of the NCAA sanctions levied against Ohio State in December, effectively rendering him unemployable for the next five years for his role in covering up his knowledge of multiple violations by star players in 2010 â and then keeping that knowledge secret even after the NCAA came calling about said violations and allowed the offending players to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl. As an administrator, however, apparently everything is copacetic. With a cushion in the low six figures, at least you can't say the man isn't being forced to make sacrifices, right? [Cleveland Plain-Dealer, NewsChannel5] ⢠. All things considered, Tennessee did alright Wednesday, inking a recruiting class that ranked 17th nationally and fifth in a cutthroat SEC race, according to Rivals, just ahead of East Division rivals Georgia and South Carolina. There's just one thing: There are no offensive linemen. The Vols are one of only three teams nationally (along with BYU and Army) that failed to sign a single O-line prospect, a particularly ominous sign for a team that came in 103rd nationally last year in total offense and 106th in scoring. That was despite a front line that remained astonishingly intact. Four of the five positions up front were manned by returning starters Zach Fulton, Dallas Thomas and Ju'Wuan James and Notre Dame transfer Alex Bullard in every single game. The fifth spot remained in flux not because of injury, but because sophomore James Stone was demoted at mi Another year, another mile between Alabama and everyone else on the trail [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 4:58 am] Even for someone like me, who generally vouches for the broad utility of recruiting rankings in the big picture, the idea of a "recruiting national champion" only has utility as a joke. There are no "winners" or "losers" yet. There are no trophies. Even in the rare year like this one, where there's a broad consensus about the best class across the major recruiting sites, there's no point in treating the distinction as an end unto itself: The only assessments that matter will come in December and January, not February. But it is no coincidence that Alabama's dominance in the real polls under Nick Saban has explicitly coincided with its iron grip on the mythical recruiting crown, which perpetuated itself Wednesday with arguably the most impressive assortment of talent to date. They flipped the top player in the state (five-star tailback T.J. Yeldon) from Auburn, beat LSU for the top player in Louisiana (five-star safety Landon Collins) and lured the No. 1 "athlete" in the nation (five-star Eddie Williams) from Florida and Florida State, giving them three of the top 25 players in the nation. Altogether, the Tide came away with nine players ranked among Rivals' top 100 overall â six of them from out of state â and six more ranked in the top 200. For the second year in a row, they went into Arizona for one of the nation's top juco players, cornerback Travell Dixon. Not only was no position neglected: With the surprise addition of Lynchburg, Va., defensive tackle Korren Kirven, there are at least two four or five-star players at every position except quarterback and tight end. (And yes, there's a kicker.) Make of that haul â or the fuzzy math necessary to fit all of its members under NCAA scholarship limits â what you will. But fundamentally, recruiting is a perpetual construction project, and Alabama's latest crop is even more impressive when taken as the latest expansion of an already formidable skyscraper. By Rivals' count, it's 'Bama's fourth No. 1 class in Video: Cassanova McKinzy spurned Clemson because it didn’t have a Chick-Fil-A [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 1, 2012, 6:55 pm] What's really important to a college football athlete when choosing the right school? Location, academics, the ability to start early? How about a school's proximity to Chick-Fil-A? That's what swayed Woodlawn (Birmingham, Ala.) linebacker Cassanova McKinzy from Clemson to Auburn. When McKinzy visited the Clemson campus there wasn't a Chick-Fil-A in sight and that just wasn't acceptable (go to the 1:30 mark). "(It was) kind of the environment and plus they had no Chick-Fil-A on campus," McKinzy said when asked why he didn't choose Clemson. "You had to go like, probably like 15 minutes off campus to go to like a real restaurant. They're café was kind of small." If you've ever been to a Chick-Fil-A you can sympathize with McKinzy. There's no better way to start a morning than with a spicy chicken biscuit and no better way to settle into an evening of studying than with some waffle fries. I had never tasted Chick-Fil-A before attending college and I can honestly say it was one of the reason why I stayed. Of course, McKinzy goes on to say something about the Clemson facilities being too far away from the classes and dorms, but we know the absence Chick-Fil-A was the real reason for him choosing Auburn. Bravo Auburn for putting the tastes of the students first. Clemson, it looks like you need a food court upgrade. - - - Curtsy to Kegs 'N Eggs and SB Nation Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham |