5.29.24 Football Articles

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al.com

 

Casagrande: A striking new day for the SEC summed up in one moment

Published: May. 29, 2024, 7:28 a.m.

5–6 minutes

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This is an opinion column.

The moment was brief while perfectly illustrating this moment in the SEC scrapbook.

It was just after 10 a.m., Tuesday in the beachside resort hosting the league’s annual spring meetings. The lobby was starting to fill with VIPs when the Alabama football coach entered the space. Looking in a few directions, he stopped to ask an employee where he was headed.

Kalen DeBoer, at that moment, represented all that was new and uncertain about this blip on the timeline.

Where Nick Saban once figuratively presided over this event in the years leading up to this moment that’s more than settling minor conference issues.

No, a year after wrestling over the difference between playing eight or nine conference football games, this year’s Sandestin Summit will explore much heavier issues surrounding the very nature of collegiate sports’ existence.

From landmark legal settlements that’ll redefine the nature of amateurism to the ongoing struggle to police anything once considered foundational to the collegiate model, these are times drenched in big-picture uncertainty not unlike the new guy lost in the lobby.

Now, the SEC stands in a better position than its counterparts in the Big 12 and ACC. But real-world issues are coming to a head even for the SEC and Big Ten bullies on the block.

Just listen to the swaggering SEC commissioner Greg Sankey when addressing reporters Monday night before officially opening the meetings.

“We’ll see,” was the chorus in response to a litany of questions on everything from NIL, collective bargaining, private equity/capital, congressional elections … all of it.

• Casagrande: The world needs more Bill Waltons. Now we’ve lost the only one
• Casagrande: Don’t abandon feral children of Hoover, SEC. Keep baseball tourney here.
• Casagrande: The EA Sports College Football video game will only disappoint you. Don’t bother

Revenue sharing with athletes is a major component in recalibrating budgets less than a week after power conferences agreed to a settlement in the House vs. NCAA legal matter. Sankey has said carving out that money for athletes will lead to “hard decisions” for athletics departments. Sankey was asked what some of those decisions might be.

“Oh, we’ll see,” Sankey said. “I just said hard decisions. When you have a shift in revenue, 22%, things won’t remain the same. So that predicts people will have to make decisions. That may be any wide range of issues that I haven’t even begun to consider, some of which I can imagine, some of which I’m certain I will learn about this week and the weeks to follow.”

That’s a lot of words that add up to a shoulder shrug.

But, if we’re being honest, “hard decisions” is code for the prospect of cutting sports to take the budget hit that comes with spending up to 22% of annual revenue on payments to athletes.

To that point, new Texas A&M athletics director Trev Albert delivered one of the more definitive answers to reporters.

“We’ve just always had enough increasing revenue to overcome dumb expenses,” Alberts said to a group of writers. “I’ve said it 100 times, and I’ll say it again: We don’t have a revenue problem in college athletics, we have an expense problem.”

Interesting point.

And logical.

So what does all of this mean for NIL? Do collectives still have a place?

“We’ll see,” Sankey said. “I don’t know if my opinion on that matters right now. We’ll go through this settlement process to its conclusion. Again, there will be a set of decisions made. So we’ll see.”

There are trickle-down issues like the one that occupies more headspace for football coaches than anything. Among them is the potential to cap rosters at the 85 maximum scholarship athletes and eliminate the concept of walk-ons.

Coaches sounded uniformly opposed to such moves, none more so than Texas A&M’s Mike Elko. Another newcomer to this annual ritual on the panhandle, the new head Aggie is part of a program that made walk-ons part of its identity through the 12th Man.

His answer was as definitive as it came on a day of general indecision.

“Yeah, I’m strongly against the cap,” he said. “I think it’s absolutely against what college football stands for and what it’s about.”

But if the last few weeks taught us anything, that definition is a moving target.

Those changes are picking up speed as the legal system tightens its grip on the direction of collegiate sports -- even for the powerful in the SEC.

What does it all mean?

How does this impact the fans who’ve been there from Day 1?

Like Alabama’s new football coach in an unfamiliar lobby, the SEC isn’t immune to the big changes on the horizon.

What comes next?

We’ll see.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

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al.com

 

Auburn’s Brian Battie ‘seems to be getting better each day,' Hugh Freeze says

Updated: May. 28, 2024, 8:11 p.m.|Published: May. 28, 2024, 7:09 p.m.

3–4 minutes

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1. Auburn Football

Court documents say Auburn running back could have ’permanent paralysis’ after shooting

 

Auburn's Hugh Freeze speaks to reporters at SEC Spring Meetings 2024

By

• Ainslie Lee | alee@al.com
• Matt Cohen | mcohen@al.com

Auburn running back Brian Battie could have “permanent paralysis“ after a shooting in his hometown of Sarasota, according to court documents filed May 24 acquired by AL.com and first reported by the Tampa Bay Times.

“The other Battie brother remains in critical condition, with the prognosis of permanent paralysis if he survives,” the pretrial detention order for alleged shooter Darryl Brookins says.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze offered a brief update on the status of Battie during his appearance at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida, on Tuesday.

“He’s getting better,” Freeze told reporters. “Honor the family, I don’t want to go into too many things. But they appreciate all the prayers, for sure. It’s been a difficult time for the whole family, but he seems to be getting better each day.”

Freeze added that Battie remains in the hospital.

Battie was one of five victims of a shooting that took place near the Tallywood Centre Plaza in Sarasota, Florida, in the early hours of May 18.

Battie’s older brother, Tommie Battie IV, 24, was also among the victims and was killed in the shooting.

On May 22, four days after the shooting, Sarasota County deputies arrested Darryl Brookins, 28, of Sarasota after he was the subject of several Crimestoppers tips that identified him as the shooter. Brookins has been charged with murder, attempted murder, and as a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to his probable cause affidavit, Brookins has four previous felony convictions, of which all were ruled guilty.

In Brookins’ first court appearance on Thursday, his attorney, Jacob Grollman, argued that Brookins was acting in self-defense.

“This was a mistake,” Grollman said. “Had Mr. Brookins been given a chance to sit down with them, he could’ve simply explained he was acting in self-defense when he was approached and shot at by multiple armed individuals, including Tommie and Brian Battie.”

Video footage obtained by surrounding businesses show Brookins leaning against the window of a nearby business, when the Battie brothers approach him, at which point Brookins “immediately drew a firearm and began shooting at both,” the affidavit states.

The affidavit continues to claim the video footage shows the Battie brothers returning gunfire before both falling to the ground.

“The parents of the victim are living a waking nightmare. They are grieving for one and praying for another,” prosecutor Dale Race said during Thursday’s court appearance.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched in support of the Battie family. Initially launched on May 19 with a goal of $100,000, the fundraiser has since eclipsed the goal and has raised more than $104,000 as of Tuesday night.

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i thought some of you folks MIGHT be interested in this short video.

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It is hump day so smoke em if ya got em!

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Will Hugh Freeze regret not adding a transfer quarterback this offseason?

Taylor Jones

Tue, May 28, 2024 at 3:00 PM CDT·1 min read

 

 

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There is zero doubt that Hugh Freeze wants to improve upon last season’s passing numbers that ranked last in the SEC.

He added confidence to the offense by landing four talented in-state receivers from the high school recruiting cycle, as well as two experienced wide receivers in KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Robert Lewis. The question now is at quarterback… will Payton Thorne allow the receivers to reach their full potential?

Brad Crawford of 247Sports has doubts regarding Thorne’s ability to remain consistent throughout the season. In his piece titled 50 thoughts on college football’s 2024 season: Predictions, analysis, more. Crawford predicts that Freeze will regret not pursuing a quarterback within the transfer portal this offseason citing Thorne’s inconsistent tendencies.

Auburn’s quarterback situation is unsettled exiting spring, but chances are last season’s starter — Payton Thorne — will be the guy in charge of this offense. Freeze said ahead of his second season on the Plains he wasn’t willing to spend $1 million plus on a signal caller this cycle. Given Thorne’s up-and-down career, he should have done so now that there’s wide receiver talent on the outside.

 

Freeze shared recently that he “believed” in his quarterback room, and feels that building a solid receiver room will bring out the best in Thorne. Thorne is poised to return to the QB1 role in 2024, and will look to return to his 2021 form when he threw for 3,240 yards and 27 touchdowns as a sophomore at Michigan State.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire