Johnny Manziel’s perk-filled life comes at a price. He bears a burden that few veteran celebs could gracefully handle, let alone a 20-year-old unaccustomed to the circus.

It’s a burden that comes with incredible opportunities and eventual fortune, but also a spotlight so engulfing that, despite the glaring differences, Manziel and the average college football fan share a distinct sentiment as the offseason marches on.

August 29 can’t get here soon enough.

On Saturday night, Manziel’s often-discussed Twitter feed—the same feed he took a hiatus from earlier—had its most noteworthy moment yet. 

Read More »110

Les Miles, a coach who had an excessive obsession with Gunner Kiel during the 2012 offseason, has rebounded in a big way in 2013. The head coach of the LSU Tigers is back on the positive side of the "handling recruiting" news, as shown by the Tiger Bait look into his most recent moves.

Miles and his staff are doing it big in recruiting by doing it small.

The recruiting headlines have been dominated by big production efforts. Kentucky's 115 handwritten letters to a recruit. Ole Miss and its 54 letters to a recruit. Joker Phillips' #comeplaywrforthejoker campaign of tweets. Larry Fedora and his Fedora's Freak Show.

As well as the other code words, hashtags and what not, as Andy Staples at Sports Illustrated is cataloging.

Read More »31

Jon Solomon at The Birmingham News is working on a five-part series at AL.com on the implementation of the new targeting-ejection rule in college football. Sunday, Part 1 debuted revealed an eject-first-and-ask-questions-later policy, an outcome feared at Your Best 11 during the proposal stage of the rules change.

Yes, the flag for targeting and subsequent ejection will be reviewed, and even possibly overturned by replay officials. But as we have seen with other close calls, indisputable evidence is an iffy subject. Essentially, that's trusting a player's ejection to the same "do I have enough proof" ruling as determines calls that already fluster much of the college football world.

Although the rule is about "targeting above the shoulder," what we have seen in practical application is a rule that is focused on three things: How bad a hit looks, whether the recipient of the hit appears injured and whether there was helmet-to-helmet contact.

Big guys on little guys, high-speed contact, players not paying attention to who get walloped; Those all go into the "it looks bad" category and have drawn not only the gasps from the crowd, but flags from officials as well. Under the new policy, those flags go up the booth, where the offending player's fate is determined. 

Read More »7

I have a problem. I am a football junkie.

I watched the 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between Illinois and UCLA—each team operating with interim coaches, minimal offensive firepower and 12 combined victories—in its entirety. I did this because even the worst, brain cell-killing football between two abysmal teams is better than the alternative of no football at all.

So when the possibility of more games surfaces, excitement begins to build. It doesn’t matter when, where or how, just give me more.

ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy is reporting that more football could be on the horizon once the BCS is officially pronounced dead in 2014. With a new playoff set to become a reality after the upcoming season, new bowl games (in some potentially exotic locations) might not be far behind.

Read More »35

Clemson revealed to the world Wednesday that Howard's Rock had been vandalized, including a piece of the rock being broken off as the vandals broke the surrounding casing. The centerpiece of one of college football's most visible traditions has been damaged.

Here is where you're supposed to say it is a shame. That you hate that this happened. That this radical fan does not represent the vast majority of fair-minded supporters of college athletics..

And that is all probably true. But it doesn't hide this fact. A real problem exists and the problem is fans. Although we do not know just who vandalized Howard's Rock, now is as good a time as any to point out that fans are a problem in and of themselves.

It is not the spoiled athlete or the coach who makes too much money that is ruining the game. It is the entitled, self-important fan who takes it upon himself to become a part of the story. It's the fan who injects himself into the mix because just reading and watching the game is not enough.

Read More »70

It is Thursday and that means the mailbag, people. We only have three questions today, not because of a lack of submissions, but because I shut it down to get to this good long emailed question that we received.... So, here we go!

Should you be cautiously optimistic about the Hokies? Absolutely.

Last year, especially on defense, the Hokies were uncharacteristically bad. I think this year they get back to, as my buddy, The Key Play, terms it, a real Bud Foster defense. By that, I mean this group has a chance to once again be a ball-stopping, get-off-the-field-and-give-your-offense-chance unit.

On offense, the staff shakeup is going to help. People are worried about new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, but I think we'll see a lot more of what he did at Temple than what he had to be at Auburn. Virginia Tech has some traditional role-fillers on offense, and given that slate, I think Loeffler can get good production out of them.

Read More »8

Brian Kelly, speaking to the Associated Press at Lost Dunes Golf Club, revealed how easy both the Everett Golson and Eddie Vanderdoes decisions were for him. Via USA Today, Kelly talks about both players having standards to uphold and criteria to live up to:

The coach is right. Golson's poor judgement created an easy decision for Kelly and Notre Dame. Vanderdoes' situation, even as it played out in public, had a path that was already laid out for Kelly and the Irish. 

Brian Kelly is a coach who understands both sides of the coin, and, if fans are paying attention, can help others understand it as well.

The Vanderdoes situation was not about teaching a kid a lesson. It was not about an overarching fear of "breaking the system" or setting a precedent. It was merely about using the rules as they exist. Brian Kelly was not trying to strong arm the kid into attending Notre Dame or teach him a lesson; he was just working through the process.

Read More »26

Call them skills camps. Or, perhaps you prefer the term minicamp. Maybe you want to slap a school-specific name or advanced, elite or senior on them to dress them up. No matter what you call them, they exist across the collegiate football landscape: one-day camps for college coaches to truly interact with the players they are recruiting.

At around $40 a pop, these camps are not the big business that the sleepover youth camps have grown into. Rather, these are sessions where schools look to pack in the best of the best for a chance to watch the players compete.

Compete is what the kids do, hoping to earn offers, and many times coaches walk away with commitments pledged to their school.

College coaches cannot attend the regional and national 7-on-7 events that have risen to prominence in recent years. Nor can they go to the combines that try to help kids learn skills and compete against elite competition.

Read More »0