Mark Emmert has failed as NCAA president.

Not from the checkbook perspective, as television contracts reach absurd new apexes and money continues to pour in at exponential rates, but as a leader, where his business has gone from inherently flawed—as it has always been—to incompetent and embarrassing, all under his watch.

The end consequences will be a dramatic change that is already churning, and eventually, a new leader fit to handle the seemingly impossible task of managing it all.

On Monday, the NCAA provided some insight into its examination of its flawed investigation of Miami. The result was a 52-page report conducted by an outside law firm outlining why one of the most complex enforcement cases ever undertaken is now in jeopardy (via i.Turner.NCAA.com) 

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A little over a year ago, Mario Cristobal was one of college football's rising stars. The Cuban-American with the Miami ties had just gone 8-5 in back-to-back seasons at Florida International and taken the program to their first two bowl games in school history. As the Star-Ledger reported in January 2012, Cristobal turned down the offer to replace one of his mentors, Greg Schiano, at Rutgers.

Now, in February 2013, Cristobal is, according to a CBS Sports report, set to take an assistant job coaching offensive line in Tuscaloosa. After a surprising firing at Florida International following an injury-riddled 3-9 season, one of the game's brightest stars had been turned into just another guy looking for work.

We talked about it with Manny Diaz and how he went from the next big thing to a guy with a lot to prove following a disaster of a 2012 defensive campaign. Well, now we've got Cristobal as the guy who even further epitomizes the fleeting nature of success at the collegiate coaching level. 

A lot of folks that are auxiliary to the game, fans and media, beat the one-sided drum of loyalty. They beat it when it comes to recruits and commitments, and they most certainly bang it hard where coaches and taking promotions are concerned.

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Matt Barkley is off to the NFL, which means the USC Trojans will have a new quarterback in the fall.

We got a glimpse of life without Barkley late in the season when he suffered a shoulder injury and was ruled out of the team’s final games. This, however, was only a temporary, quick-fix plan. The long-term solution will certainly be slightly more intriguing, although Lane Kiffin has options.

Kiffin’s current status—or perhaps lack of—also creates an interesting scenario. He needs to win this season in order to keep the chatter away from the dreaded “hot seat,” and he’ll use any quarterback who can win and win now.

As for who will end up under center in Week 1, we go to the odds board to break down the contenders.

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Let’s just get this out on the table right now: You’re going to disagree with my Spring Football Top 25, and these disagreements will probably take place early and often. Heck, you probably disagree with this sentiment, at least for the moment.

Nothing angers the masses quite like being disrespected in a pre-preseason poll, and I will undoubtedly hear from you—many of you—in the comment section. Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated. 

Although we have plenty of time before actual preseason polls will be released, the rosters for most teams are now in place. Spring football is on the horizon, and for some, it's already underway.

Never has the term “spring” felt more loosely used. 

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The 2014 cycle is already started as the 247 Sports class rankings show schools hard at work for the next year's class. Schools are already taking commitments, handing out offers and hosting Junior Days to help try to build the next crop of ball players to fill their ranks.

Texas is leading the way with eight kids in the boat for 2014. A school that's made a habit of nabbing a boatload of early recruits, the Longhorns, and their rivals, Texas A&M, are leading the way for next year. Between them, 15 kids have pledged, and while there is a long way to go, they're off to a great start.

While the schools love getting the early pledge, it is a mixed bag for the kids, as there is both good and bad to being an early commit. 

On the good side of things, kids can use their place to lock into a highly desirable offer—at least in theory, they can. That commitment to the school of their choice should assure them a spot on the list as a part of the upcoming class. For schools like the aforementioned Texas, they have a finite amount of space and a plethora of kids who want to get on board.

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Every year the NCAA goes back to the drawing board to tweak, retouch and add to the rules that govern the on-field action of college football. This year, it has several new and potentially extremely influential proposals on the docket.

Ty Halpin of NCAA.org published a report not only about the most controversial rulings to come, but he also listed the other changes as well.

In addition to the ejections for "targeting" and blocking below the waist, other rule changes that were proposed include:

All of these are a pretty big deal, so let's hit on the good, because it is apparent that the rules committee is looking to push through some measures that will benefit the game. Actually, the bulk of these rules are going to have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the game.

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It's Thursday and we've got the Your Best 11 Mailbag, which is always fun. Last week, we went all in on one question, but we're now back to the regularly scheduled program of multiple questions. Got some good ones this week so let's get into it.

With all the hullabaloo surrounding the Charlotte Observer's Jadeveon Clowney article from earlier this week, this question has come up a time or two. I don't expect to see it, especially not in the explicit terms given, where a kid just decides to forgo his third year and says he's going to work out and do draft prep.

However, I do think that other circumstances would lend themselves to guys being okay with not getting that third year of film in the books.

First and foremost, injury. We've already seen Sam Bradford, hurt during the season, elect not to comeback for that extra year to prove he's healthy. I definitely think that if a guy gets hurt in spring or camp, sitting out the entire year and doing draft prep is a real option. Knile Davis probably would have been better served leaving after 2011, even though he didn't carry the ball once.

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The winds of change are blowing as the NCAA has moved to deregulate the recruiting landscape. While the Big Ten coaches and athletic directors hope to fight the news, the fact is that freedom is on the way for those in the recruiting game. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports falls into the same category, as his most recent piece on the recruiting "Wild, Wild West" details.

Ultimately, all of the talk is merely reinforcing the ideal that kids need to wrestle more power from the guys who are recruiting them. It should have started a long time ago, and indeed it did for some kids, but with the 2014 change coming, now more than ever, recruits have to recognize and act upon the upper hand they have in the process.

We've all heard the horror stories of the coaches that won't quit calling, the guys who text message and Facebook chat as soon as a prospect jumps on. We know about the ghost phone calls and the burner phones, too.

With the new rules coming, it all sounds like just an amplification of those original horror stories. Except it doesn't have to be, and more importantly, it shouldn't.

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