Janzen Jackson returns -- for now
What can you say about Janzen Jackson at this point? There's no question that Tennessee is a better team when he's on the field, but the problem is always the uncertainty about how long he will remain on the field. Jackson has now essentially walked away from the team twice, yet it's not entirely clear that the next time Jackson walks away would be the last.
For now, Tennessee fans will welcome back Jackson, and they should. But those fans and those of us who just like watching solid football should hope that Jackson has returned to finish his career, and not just to finish another bizarre stint with the Vols.
Dee Hart done for 2011
The injury mill has started up again. This time, it's Alabama running back Dee Hart. Which is unfortunate, because we all know that Alabama has had no depth at running back for years now.
According to Smith, Hart sustained the injury during a seven-on-seven summer workout, will undergo surgery Thursday morning, and is expected to require 7-10 months of rehabilitation pending surgery results. If that projection does not change following surgery, even the most optimistic scenario for Hart would still prevent him from playing at all this season.
Despite the joke about depth, Alabama does have just three scholarship running backs. When one of those backs is Trent Richardson, though, you probably don't have to worry quite as much.
Alabama and Virginia Tech make it official
The two will play the annual opening-weekend game in Atlanta in 2013. That dovetails nicely with the premier of the new College Football Hall of Fame, which will probably have a great deal of Alabama material.
Charges retired against the Skinners
Let's hope that Mississippi State's Deontae Skinner and his girlfriend get things straightened out, if for no other reason than the fact that they have a child.
Message From Danny
There are two directions you can take when recovering from a long-term illness. You can draw into your shell and drag along. Or you can stop and think about it. Danny Wuerffel has taken the latter path with his Guillain Barre Syndrome. The medical side is that Wuerffel is getting better.
My scripture for the day was Isaiah 40:31, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." ...
Our real strength -- the strength of our soul -- comes from waiting, from being quiet and still. We can’t force it, expedite it, or control it. Noise and activity keep us from it. We usually don’t even know what we’re waiting for, and that makes it seem like a waste of time, totally inefficient. We just need to wait -- patiently and quietly -- even when it’s difficult or even painful.
It's a thoughtful piece for anyone who's got a few minutes to read it.
Sean Matti's death an accidental drowning
Thoughts and prayers to his family and to the broader Purdue family.
South Carolina pitching stars considering coming back
If Michael Roth and Matt Price both return and form the backbone of a Gamecocks pitching staff, the SEC East could be a barnburner again.
Bruce Pearl is surprisingly self-aware
Whatever you think about the former Tennessee basketball head coach, who believes he will coach again somewhere, you can't say that Bruce Pearl is living in denial. To the contrary, Pearl seems to be well aware of what he's done.
"Do you want me to write the book about how do you lose $10 million jobs? I can write the book," he told the radio station. "How can you be so dumb and so careless? ... It's not so much about what we did, it's about how we handled it."
Not that any of that is likely to make Tennessee fans or the NCAA think differently about Pearl. But it's refreshing at a time when too many coaches seem willing to explain away their infractions instead of copping to their mistakes.