Morning Six Pack: July 19, 2012

Only ONE MOWER DAY OF SEC MEDIA DAYS. whine Oh well. Check out these six college football stories from around the country.

“I have not looked back once and I don’t plan on doing so.”

We’re just over a month away from the start of the 2012 college football season, which, among other things, means we’ll soon know whether Matt Barkley made a smart choice to return to USC for his senior season.

John L. Smith, Arkansas players get calls from Bobby Petrino

Odds are that the conversations didn’t include tips on chicks or motorbikes.

Samantha Steele replaces Erin Andrews on ESPN

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. This is an upgrade.

Bye, bye, AC Leonard

Florida tight end A.C. Leonard, who in April pleaded no contest to a charge of misdemeanor battery stemming from a February altercation with his live-in girlfriend, is leaving the program, coach Will Muschamp said.

Geno Smith, not Landry Jones, given preseason Big 12 POY honors

Snubbed — and that’s putting it lightly — by the Big East for Offensive Player of the Year in 2011, West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith is feeling the love in his new conference, the Big 12.

Quotable:

Smith certainly has had some memorable moments at the podium and on the sideline during his career, but his 110-59 mark before arriving in East Lansing proves that he's been a successful head football coach. The question is whether he can help orchestrate a standout victory over Nick Saban or Les Miles in a season that just became even more interesting for Hog and college football fans nationwide.

We don't know if the Smith hire will work out in 2012. But Long could have done a lot worse than bringing back a former Hogs assistant that just may be able to press the right buttons on a veteran team in the best conference in the country. Razorback fans can take solace in the fact that Smith is accustomed to being the face of a program. And, if anything, he has the personality to at least keep a veteran team loose in its quest to maintain its upper-tier status in the SEC.

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