To know list: 7 months till NFL week 1

Sporting News, The, Feb 16, 2004

(1) COLLEGE FOOTBALL

SEC aims to help clean up ugly messes in recruiting

Sex, drugs and strippers: the life of an 18-year-old on a college football recruiting trip. It's the great untold story in the game; rumors have hung over the sport for decades but rarely have been brought to light, and some in the recruiting business continue to bet their jobs that recruits won't rat out schools that show them a "good time."

But, slowly, the stories are leaking out: a bizarre sex and drugs case last year at Oregon, a wild night at a strip club last month at Minnesota and most recently, the disturbing allegations of a sex party at Colorado. In this age when more coaches are being fired for off-field transgressions and less is being tolerated by boosters and alumni, the blame eventually will rest squarely on one person.

"It's a coach's responsibility," says an SEC official. "It's just that simple."

To that end, the SEC is in the early stages of formulating a reorganization of recruiting policies within the league, and there's hope that other BCS conferences will soon follow. The league wants to regulate how much money is spent on recruiting and what can and can't be done during a recruiting visit. The goal of the proposed policy is to have very specific guidelines that likely will include---for the first time--acknowledgement of the seediness that continues to permeate the sport. There also would be sanctions for those who break the rules.

That the SEC is taking such groundbreaking steps doesn't necessarily mean there is more illicit activity among its programs than there is in other leagues.

Last year, tailback Lynell Hamilton admitted he chose San Diego State after he was offered alcohol, drugs and sex at a party on the Oregon campus. He also said he had similar offers on recruiting trips to Michigan and Colorado. Minnesota recently admitted its players took recruits to a strip club as part of their visits. At Colorado, three women say they were sexually assaulted at a "sex party" and even though the Boulder, Colo., district attorney says there isn't enough evidence to prosecute, the women are filing civil suits.

It's too soon to know how effective the SEC's proposed changes would be. At the least, they represent a far less damaging philosophy than: Don't acknowledge it, and no one will get hurt.--Matt Hayes

(2) HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Next years top recruits

Rivals.com has compiled an All-American team of the
top junior recruits. Not listed is Rivals.com's
national junior of the year, Derrick Williams of
Greenbelt, Md. Instead of being designated on the
website at an offensive or defensive position, he
is an "athlete" because he plays multiple spots.

Offense

QB        Ryan Perrilloux    Reserve, La.
RB        Kevin Grady        Grand Rapids, Mich.
RB        Jonathan Stewart   Olympia, Wash.
WR        Malcolm Kelly      Longview, Texas
WR        Fred Rouse         Tallahassee, Fla.
TE        Dajleon Farr       Galena Park, Texas
OL        Alex Boone         Lakewood, Ohio
OL        Dan Doering        Barrington, III.
OL        Matt Hardrick      Orlando
OL        Eugene Monroe      Plainfield, N.J.
OL        Chris Scott        Lovejoy, Ga.

Defense

DT        DeMarcus Granger   Dallas
DT        Jerell Powe        Waynesboro, Miss.
DE        Geneath Moffett    Palm Bay, Fla.
DE        Ekom Udofia        Scottsdale, Ariz.
LB        Travis Beckum      Oak Creek, Wis.
LB        Luther Brown       Lakewood, Calif.
LB        Ryan Reynolds      Las Vegas
DB        Victor Harris      Highland Springs, Va.
DB        Justin King        Monroeville, Pa
DB        Jamario O'Neal     Cleveland
DB        Kenneth Phillips   Miami

(3) LAST WORD ON THE SUPER BOWL

NFL had it coming

All the hypocrisy and ridiculousness resulting from the fallout over the wardrobe malfunction at Super Bowl 38 begs us to wonder: Does anyone remember the day is supposed to be about football?

That's the problem. The NFL has lost its Super Bowl way. In an attempt to be all things to all demographic audiences, the league has forgotten fans are attracted to this event not because of the halftime show, not because of the pregame show but--are you ready for this?--because it is the championship game of the most popular sport in all of America.

If the focus didn't wander from football, we wouldn't have Janet Jackson or Justin Timberlake or Kid Rock or Nelly or bare breasts or the laughable, disingenuous reaction from the league over the halftime fiasco. If the NFL is partnering with MTV, what did it expect to get, Snow White? You play with fire long enough, you get Justin and Janet conniving to tweak Big Brother.

It makes you wonder this, too--if the big ripoff hadn't happened, would we have heard the same yelps of outrage from the NFL or CBS over the halftime show, which featured songs with incredibly suggestive, inappropriate lyrics and performers grabbing at their crotch and groping each other, screaming at a sound volume threatening everyone's hearing? My guess is no because all the suits admit they monitored rehearsals, meaning they signed off on Timberlake singing "Rock Your Body" (a real family-oriented tune) and on the withering, slithering choreography that preceded those final memorable seconds.