Morning Six Pack: May 24, 2013, and only 99 days until kickoff!

We’re celebrating the under hundred with six cool, clear and heady college football stories from here and there.

Notre Dame paid Weis more than Kelly in 2011

Former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made more from the school in the 2011 season than Brian Kelly, the man who actually coached the Irish…

Oklahoma schools team up for disaster relief effort

The three biggest schools in Oklahoma have teamed up to design a shirt to sell to raise money for disaster relief in the state.

Big freshman checks in at No. 13 in countdown

Just a quick recap of what this countdown is. Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at our choices for the 25 people who will have a short-term and a long-term effect on the rebuilding of the Auburn football program.

Butch Jones quickly wins over UT fans

He hasn’t won (or lost) a game as Tennessee Vols coach yet, but Butch Jones is being treated like a conquering hero.

Univ. Maryland attorney argues against ACC exit fee

The ACC is asking Maryland for the full exit fee mandated by the Terps' league departure.

Quotable:

Kenny Bell has made a living with the deep ball. Kevin Norwood tends to get overlooked, but has been the source of many an LSU fan’s nightmare. Christion Jones’ hands are made of industrial grade flypaper, and moves like a fart in a whirlwind. Erase any of the aforementioned and DeAndrew White becomes one of the 2-3 most talented receivers Bama has had in over a decade. Then there’s talk of Chris Black, sidelined early by injury last season, being the best of the lot. And Falkins, Foster and Stewart could start for half the SEC right now.

Simply put, this receiving corps has the kind of talent that could’ve made former Bama quarterback (and transfer) Jimmy Barnes look like a gun slinger.

It’s easy to understand how important this year’s wide receiver group will be to the success of this Alabama team. Take away the 6 touchdown passes thrown to running backs and tight ends last season, and McCarron still would have broken the Alabama school record for touchdown passes in a season with the remaining pair he threw to his wide receivers.

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Morning Six Pack: May 23, 2013 and 100 days until kickoff

Thirsty Thursday! Continuing our vigil with another six fresh college football stories from around the country.

Predicting the 2013 SEC Football Season…

In a series leading up to fall camps, I have purchased a German predicting octopus to help me figure out how it will all unfold in the upcoming season. I have named him Rocko.

Alabama's Mal Moore posthumously named Athletic Director of the Year by Sports Business Daily

Alabama won five national championships during the final 14 months of Moore's career.

College Football Hall of Fame construction underway

The construction caught many business owners and residents off guard.

A-List No. 7: Carver-Montgomery's Shaun Dion Hamilton puts his grades before football

With a 4.0 grade-point average, the Alabama commit is on track to be the valedictorian of Carver-Montgomery's 2014 class.

Georgia loses a TE to transfer

Though Aaron Murray will be looking to the likes of Arthur Lynch and Jay Rome to make plays at the tight end position, Georgia’s depth at that spot has taken a bit of a hit.

Quotable:

… Nick Saban brought LSU a national title in 2003, but he's done real wonders at Alabama. With Alabama's 42-14 win over Notre Dame in last season's Discover BCS National Championship Game, the Crimson Tide became the first team in modern history to win three national championships in four seasons. Alabama has won two straight national championships, has dynasty status and should be one of the favorites to win it all in 2013.

…The SEC's dominance during the BCS era hasn't just been about bling. The league also has a nice collection of bronze statues, as four of the past seven Heisman Trophy winners have come from the SEC. Last season, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to win the award, while Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the first sophomore to win it in 2007 when he became the first player to rush and throw for 20-plus touchdowns in a single season. Alabama running back Mark Ingram took home the trophy in 2009, while Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, who became the first SEC player to run for at least 1,000 yards and pass for at least 2,000 in the same season, won in 2010.

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Morning Six Pack: May 22, 2013. 101 Days until kickoff!

Humpin’ right along on the countdown. Check out six college football stories from around the country.

Online petition to reinstate unfairly banned lineman goes viral

At long last, a college sports-related petition that actually makes a lot of sense.

Sooners coach Bob Stoops on Oklahoma tornado: It was 'just about a mile from our home'

"My family actually saw the tornado coming from the west through our back window, literally a mile away,"

Show cause of ex-Texas Southern coach upheld

The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee has upheld a three-year show-cause order for former Texas Southern football coach Johnnie Cole.

Former Prattville star thrilled to be committed to Auburn

Derrick Moncrief can vividly recall his emotions from Feb. 1, 2012.

What will Paul Finebaum’s move mean to Alabama, Auburn?

Paul Finebaum, antagonist extraordinaire. One has to wonder what the Alabama – Auburn rivalry would have been over the last 30 years without Paul Finebaum. News broke Tuesday that Finebaum’s silence would soon cease…

Quotable:

“Oh,” Whitfield said to Manziel, “you’re going to throw it.”

Whitfield already had asked that all cameras be turned off, half-expecting Manziel to be all over the place once he did throw the ball.

“I felt it,” Manziel said after the first blindfold attempt.

Manziel threw only two uncatchable passes in 29 attempts while blindfolded, prompting a bystander to ask if Manziel could somehow see.

“I have always said he has the best antenna in football,” Whitfield said. “I think he just proved that.”

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Morning Six Pack: May 21, 2013 and 102 days until kickoff

Continuing the countdown and checking off another six cool, clear and refreshing college football stories from around the country.

Derrick Thomas' hall of fame snub inspires 'boycott' from Alabama great Cornelius Bennett

The Alabama legend says there's "no doubt" Derrick Thomas should be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Woodson leaves Tide for South Alabama

Former Alabama receiver Danny Woodson is transferring to South Alabama.

Auburn's Gus Malzahn greeted recruit at 3 a.m. in morning

When everything appears to be just about equal in a tight recruiting battle, it’s often the “little things” that can help a top recruit pick one school over another.

Military Bowl moves to Navy’s Memorial Stadium

The Military Bowl is getting a venue change, and a slightly more appropriate one at that.

Coach confident in Tennessee Vols' strength staff

Butch Jones soon will turn his first Tennessee football team over to his strength and conditioning staff.

Quotable:

''These are rules about preserving the basic character and integrity of athletic competition and its relation to the goals, the most important goals, of higher education,'' Ballenger said. The NCAA and its members, he said, have a right to determine how they want to maintain college sports' tradition of amateur athletics.

Along with the fine, the consent agreement also imposed a four-year ban on postseason play, a temporary reduction in scholarships and the elimination of more than 100 wins under former coach Joe Paterno. The deal has angered many Penn State fans and alumni.

A weakened Penn State football program has implications for students, businesses and others, said Jim Schultz, Corbett's general counsel.

''Penn State football is an economic power source for the commonwealth and its citizens,'' Schultz told Kane, and that power source would be ''seriously damaged'' by the NCAA.

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Morning Six Pack: May 20, 2013. 103 days until kickoff!

Commencing countdown! 103 days until the Crimson Tide kicks ass off. Meanwhile… y’all know this drill.

Is Nick Saban as bad as some are saying?

Four writers debate.    

Pac-12 commissioner Scott's pay surpasses Delany, Slive

Larry Scott's total compensation surpasses commissioner pay in the Big Ten and the SEC.

Mizzou ready for SEC rebound

While Texas A&M was making an instant splash in its Southeastern Conference debut last football season, Missouri was darting straight into obscurity.

Four-star receiver returning to Mountaineers

In early November of last year, Ivan McCartney was the second West Virginia wide receiver in a span of four days to leave the football program. A half a year later, the wayward receiving son has returned home.

McNabb, McPherson to have Syracuse numbers retired

A pair of standout Syracuse signal callers will not so unexpectedly be honored by their alma mater, the school announced Sunday. In a press release,

Quotable:

In his 16 years as president of the University of Georgia, Michael Adams’ influence on athletics at the school has been felt, as he put it, by keeping “a hand on the rudder.”

That has made for some smooth sailing as well as some choppy times during his tenure. Georgia’s athletic revenue has grown from $25.7 million in 1997 when Adams became president to a projected $92.1 million for fiscal year 2013, and the Bulldogs have won 19 national titles in six sports during that time.

He had a messy parting of ways with athletic director Vince Dooley that enraged much of the Bulldog Nation and played a large role in the hiring of basketball coach Jim Harrick Sr., who resigned after four seasons following an academic scandal.

“I don’t have many regrets,” Adams said during an interview in his north campus office in his final weeks as president before his retirement on June 30. “You want to know what my biggest regret is? Not getting the final five yards against Alabama. To have gone out in the national championship game, and I felt that night that was the national championship game and I think the following events proved me right. I’m not sure I’m over that one yet.”

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