By most accounts, Florida‘s 27-man signing class in February 2010 was the best in the nation, an obscene haul featuring the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, the top two defensive tackles, two of the top three safeties and eleven players in all ranked among Rivals’ top 100 for the 2010 class. In less than two full seasons, it hasn’t had time to fulfill the hype.

But it has had time to begin coming apart: With Tuesday’s announcement that former high school teammates Gerald Christian and Robert Clark plan to transfer, nearly a third of the 2010 crop has already left the program in one fashion or another — adding to the giant sucking sound first-year coach Will Muschamp inherited at the middle of what’s supposed to be one of the deepest, most talented rosters in the nation.

Altogether, nine players have left the team since Muschamp took over for Urban Meyer last December, a normal attrition rate in the wake of a coaching change. But the most recent exits have left the Gators with just 72 scholarship players, well below the NCAA maximum of 85. That’s even fewer than USC, the current gold standard for dwindling numbers after being slammed with NCAA sanctions last year. (Though the biggest bites out of the Trojans’ roster are still to come, thanks to appeal-driven delays.) But that number also includes walk-ons who have been awarded a few of the extra scholarships laying around, and there are a lot of them: Of the 85 recruits Florida has actually signed to letters of intent since 2008, only 60 remain on the current roster.

Do the math: That’s 25 scholarships below the allowable limit. Meaning that somehow, one of the richest, most consistent recruiting powers in the game has a hole on its roster right now the equivalent of one complete, full-sized recruiting class.

On one hand, you could view that as a recruiting class Florida has lost due to attrition: 25 players gone with eligibility remaining in four years leaves you 25 players short. Critics of “oversigning” would argue that the system is designed for that sort of simple math. By SEC standards, though, it’s not nearly that simple: Compared to the blue-chip peers that have wiped the floor with the Gators in their last three games — all of which have lost roughly the same number of players over the same span of time — it’s more accurate to say it’s a recruiting class Florida never signed in the first place. That is, where the Gators’ classes have been consistently long on quality, they’ve been just as short on quantity.

Between 2007 and 2010, three of Urban Meyer’s final four recruiting efforts finished ranked among Rivals’ top three incoming classes in the nation; the fourth, on the heels of Meyer’s second BCS championship in 2009, ranked 11th. Quality-wise, that’s an elite run by any standard. Quantity-wise… well, see above. Where Florida signed 85 players to letters of intent over four years, Alabama, Auburn and LSU all signed well over 100, easily among the highest rates in the nation.

Maybe it’s not so shocking, then, when a banged-up Gator outfit missing its starting quarterback and top playmakers on both sides of the ball is outscored against those three teams by a combined 96 to 27 in consecutive weeks. That’s not a criticism of oversigning: That’s a fact of life. Florida doesn’t have the depth to overcome injuries and early departures because it’s fallen short of filling available slots on its roster within both the letter and the spirit of the rules. Muschamp doesn’t have to cross any lines to get the operation back to full strength. He just has to get close to one.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Making the morning rounds.

• I honestly don’t know how this could have happened. Robert “Bobby” DiGeronimo, a Cleveland-area businessman and Ohio State booster, admitted to the Columbus Dispatch Tuesday that he was responsible for $200 cash payments to three Buckeye players who were subsequently suspended for the season’s first two games, though he stopped short of saying he personally provided the payments. According to DiGeronimo, former OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor (surprise!) handed cash envelopes to three teammates — running back Jordan Hall, cornerback Travis Howard (right) and cornerback Corey Brown — at a Feb. 19 fundraiser for a charity named for DiGeronimo’s grandson, for which DiGeronimo serves as a member of the board of directors.

“However Mr. Pryor got the money, I take responsibility,” he told the Dispatch, adding that the money was intended as reimbursement for travel. “I am responsible for those kids coming up here from Columbus. I handled it wrong. I should not have handled it the way I did.”

Hall, Howard and Brown were all officially cleared by the NCAA Tuesday to play this weekend at Miami, a little less than a week after Ohio State reported (incorrectly) that they’d be available to play last Saturday against Toledo. [Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain-Dealer]

• Always be prepared. The board of trustees for Florida State University is forming a committee to explore possibilities for conference realignment, according to board chairman Andy Haggard, who said Tuesday that FSU is prepared consider a defection from the ACC to the SEC or the addition of Texas to the ACC. “If you are going to four conferences of 16 teams we certainly want to be ready,” Haggard told the Palm Beach Post. “If the ACC is included in that we want to be sure we are included and have a say so in regard to the teams that are coming into our conference.” [Palm Beach Post]

• Let the backtracking begin. A felony charge against Florida linebacker Dee Finley for allegedly resisting an officer with violence has been reduced to resisting an officer without violence, a misdemeanor. Finley was arrested Monday after being pulled over on his scooter for driving around a barricade outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, jerking his hand away from the officer and “squaring” to the officer while still straddling his scooter, at which point the officer brought out a taser and Finley complied with the arrest. The same officer was part of a group of university police officers involved in a controversial shooting of a foreign doctoral student in his campus apartment last year, and had also been disciplined for handcuffing a jaywalker to a stop sign. [Gainesville Sun]

• You’re the Mannion now, dog. Oregon State has officially named redshirt freshman Sean Mannion its starting quarterback, at least temporarily exiling incumbent Ryan Katz to the bench on the heels of an 0-2 start. Katz has started the Beavers’ last 14 games, but was didn’t last long in Saturday’s 35-0 loss at Wisconsin before ceding the reins to the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Mannion, who was 25 of 28 passing for 244 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in his first significant action. [The Oregonian]

• Broken Badger. As feared, senior Wisconsin cornerback Devin Smith is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his left foot. Smith, a part-time starter from 2008-10 who had moved into a full-time role this fall, will apply for a medical redshirt with hopes of returning to Madison next year. [Associated Press]

• Cracking down on cracking skulls. The WAC has suspended Fresno State safety Terrance Dennis for one game for a helmet-to-helmet hit he delivered Saturday on Nebraska tight end Kyler Reed with four seconds remaining in the first half of the Cornhuskers’ eventual 42-29 win in Lincoln. Dennis should have been ejected, according to commissioner Karl Benson, and will sit out this weekend’s visit from might North Dakota. [Associated Press]

Quickly… Missouri gives a backup cornerback the boot following his arrest for leaving the scene of an accident. … Figuring out how to split an expanded Pac-14. … Bronco Mendenhall feels kinda weird playing Utah in mid-September. … Injuries could force USC to start a true freshman on the offensive line. … Doug Marrone is really excited about the idea of playing a Syracuse game in London. … A really dumb argument against Urban Meyer calling the Auburn-Clemson game. … Brock Osweiler needs to pay more attention in English class. … And that one shirt favored by certain West Virginia students? You know, that one? Yeah, West Virginia’s going to have to go ahead and ask them not to wear that anymore.

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Making the morning rounds.

• Throw us a bone here. For all the fans who have ever complained about favorable coverage following the SEC’s lucrative partnership with ESPN, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is right there with you — with one minor clarification: What’s with the obsession over Alabama? Specifically, Spurrier said Tuesday he’s complained to SEC commissioner Mike Slive about the “All-Access” program ESPN shot during the Crimson Tide’s preseason practices last summer, and the omnipresent “Roll Tide” commercial that was all over the network throughout last season.

“I said [to Slive], ‘How much did Alabama pay those guys to do that?’” Spurrier said. “He said, ‘Oh, they didn’t have to pay them anything.’ I said, ‘Well, what happened to Go Gators or Rocky Top or Go Gamecocks?’ I didn’t think that was all that fair.” [Charleston Post & Courier]

• Can’t stop won’t stop. Joe Paterno has been released from the hospital and cleared to return to Penn State practice as early as today, three days after the 84-year-old was taken out by a blindside hit from a wide receiver running a route on Sunday. JoePa was reportedly back to working on practice plans Tuesday and expects to be on the field this afternoon. “It’s time for everyone to turn the attention to the team,” he said in a statement. “We have a lot of hard work ahead in order to be as good as we think we can be.” [GoPSUSports.com]

• Nothing to see here. Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones has been officially cleared of violating any NCAA rules, just one week after UGA submitted the results of its internal investigation into Jones’ status to the SEC. Jones came under scrutiny when a corruption probe in his hometown, Columbus, Ga., uncovered an unauthorized bank account controlled by a city employee with ties to Jones’ former AAU basketball team, from which the employee allegedly paid for Jones’ recruiting trips to Los Angeles.

“I think the NCAA is making a concerted effort to turn things around as quickly as possible,” said athletic director Greg McGarity said. “We’ve been hearing in these various meetings they were going to try to do a better job of that. So we’re just thankful the NCAA was able to do that in this case.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

• The kids are alright. Miami coach Al Golden said Tuesday that offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson’s back surgery on Tuesday was a “very positive” procedure, but offered no timetable on the once-touted behemoth’s return to the field. “What that means long term is still tenuous,” Golden said. “We’re going to start to learn more about what the rehab is going to consist of and the duration…everything we heard was as positive as it could be.” [South Florida Sun Sentinel]

Elsewhere, Alabama coach Nick Saban was decidedly less optimistic about the return of freshman tailback Dee Hart, whose torn ACL will keep him out of commission until October, at the earliest. “Hopefully at some point in the season Dee Hart will be able to do some practicing,” Saban said. “Will it be worth playing the guy this year? Until he’s 100 percent and really ready to go at no risk of injury we will not make that decision.” [al.com]

• RIP. Former Oklahoma quarterback Jimmy Harris, leader of 25 of the Sooners’ record 47 consecutive wins from 1953 to 1957, died Monday night of lung cancer. He was 76. Harris never lost in two years as a starter and starred on the first of two consecutive OU national championship teams in 1955. [The Oklahoman]

Quickly… The first day of Mark Emmert’s presidential retreat is in the books, with good news for advocates of full cost-of-attendance scholarships. … Jim Tressel brought home more than $21 million in ten years at Ohio State. … Jim Donnan reaches a multimillion-dollar settlement that will save him from a lawsuit accusing him of running a Ponzi scheme. … Jerry Kill’s offseason discipline plan included making wayward Minnesota players clean horse stalls. … Oregon‘s starting center job may go to a true freshman. … A virtual angle on Alabama’s quarterback derby. … B.J. Daniels’ hamstring is going to be alright. … And as hard as Bianchi tries, there’s nothing in this column more damaging to Urban Meyer’s reputation than “…Urban Meyer’s favorite singer, Jimmy Buffett…”

Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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The least you should know about the 2011 Gators. Part of SEC Week.

• Coach-in-waiting no more. Will Muschamp has been waiting a long time to get his shot to be a head coach. And while many thought that chance would come with Texas, Muschamp couldn’t pass up the opportunity to return Florida to SEC prominence.

Florida’s 8-5 campaign a year ago was the worst since 2004 and the worst in coach Urban Meyer’s tenure. When Meyer decided to step away for health and family reasons last December, athletic director Jeremy Foley sought out a coach that could bring the same intensity and enthusiasm that made Meyer so successful. While Muschamp will have a little leeway during his first year, fans will expect to see some sort of progress against the usual SEC gauntlet, which includes three top 10 schools in Alabama, LSU and South Carolina and Florida State to end the season.

Muschamp has surrounded himself with some stellar assistants, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. While Weis did take a lot of heat for Notre Dame‘s nosedive a couple years ago, the offense wasn’t the reason. If he can employ his offensive style to the talent on hand, the Gators might surprise the skeptics who see South Carolina and Georgia as the division frontrunners.

• On the bright side, it can’t be any worse. Quarterback John Brantley really bore the brunt of Florida’s disappointing 2010. He completed 60 percent of his passes for 2,061 yards, but threw just nine touchdowns to 10 interceptions. For a program that was used to ridiculous numbers from Tim Tebow, Brantley never stood a chance.

But he might now in Weis’ offensive system. However, he’ll need some help from running backs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, and he’ll need a go-to receiver to finally emerge. Deonte Thompson, who returns for his senior season, led the team with 38 catches for 570 yards, but had just one touchdown. In fact, only two players had more than one touchdown to their credit — Rainey had three and Frankie Hammond Jr., had two. Had Rainey not missed five games because of suspension, his numbers could have been better, but then again, who wants a running back for a leading receiver? Finding some sort of stability at receiver will be he key to Brantley’s success and ultimately the success of the Gators as a whole.

• We have arrived. While the offense was subpar, the defense had a stellar season and might once again be counted on to carry the team. While only three starters return from last year’s unit that ranked ninth in total defense and 29th in scoring defense, several of this year’s new starters earned their fair share of playing time a year ago and are ready to lead.

Given the up-and-coming talent in the front seven, actually, “lead” may be putting it mildly: With three rising sophomores on the front line — Ronald Powell, Sharriff Floyd and Domonique Easley — who came in ranked among Rivals’ top ten incoming prospects at any position last year, and another sophomore (linebacker Jelani Jenkins) who was ranked in the top ten in 2009, their vision is probably closer to “dominate.”

• Back us up here. The secondary took a big hit after Janoris Jenkins was kicked off the team for multiple marijuana arrests, and also lost All-SEC strong safety Ahmad Black and counterpart Will Hill. Still, there’s some talent in secondary, even though it’s young and inexperienced. Filling Jenkins’ role could be sophomore Cody Riggs or one of a handful of true freshmen competing for playing time. Jeremy Brown, the lone returning starter, will anchor the other cornerback position. Matt Elam and Josh Evans, who both saw playing time last year, are the frontrunners for the safety positions.

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The least you should know about the 2011 Utes. Part of Pac-12 Week.

• Double the uncertainty, double the fun. “Transition year” is the kind of cliché that litters the pages of preseason previews everywhere, but it’s also the kind of cliché that was coined to describe Utah in 2011, on two fronts. One is internal: The offense loses virtually all of last year’s most productive starters at the skill positions and on the front line, at the same time it’s transitioning to a more pro-style philosophy under a new coordinator, venerable pocket-passing guru Norm Chow. The bigger transition by far, though, is the move from the friendly, predictable confines of the Mountain West to the much greener — and much less friendly — pastures of the Pac-12.

If you’re thinking that looks like an awful lot of red in the schedule box to the right, that’s because it is: At once, the Utes’ culture of success, the heavy attrition in the starting lineup, the step up in week-to-week degree of difficulty, their solid track record against the Pac-10 over the last decade and the lucky absence of North Division overlords Oregon and Stanford from the conference slate combine to make them one of the most unpredictable outfits in the country. From this vantage point, at least six Pac-12 games and non-conference trips to BYU and Pittsburgh all look like they could go either way, putting the Utes in position to take their new conference by storm, or run head-first into a sobering dose of reality, or land just about anywhere in between.

• Chow time. It’s been six years now since Urban Meyer left Salt Lake City for fame and fortune at Florida, but the basic structure of the balanced, shotgun-based spread scheme he introduced in 2003 have continued to more or less guide the offense in the meantime. The most obvious departure from that blueprint has been the gradual abandonment of the quarterback as a running threat with the offense in the hands of Jordan Wynn, who (including sacks) has carried the ball 41 times for a net gain of one yard since taking over as the starter midway through his freshman season in 2009. With Chow en route from UCLA to take over the offense, they can drop the pretense and go West Coast full-time.

Either way, it will be Wynn’s offense all the way: Leading rushers Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata are both gone, along with starting receivers Jereme Brooks and Shaky Smithson, taking over 60 percent of last year’s total offense with them on the way out. A pair of All-MWC linemen, Caleb Schlauderaff and Zane Taylor, are on their way out, too; so is Wynn’s top backup, Terrance Cain, for good measure. The leading candidates at tailback in the spring were a true freshman in his first semester on campus (Harvey Langi), a newly arrived juco transfer (John White) and a former pro rugby player (Thretton Palamo).

• Wynning. On the other hand, Wynn remains an enigma himself. In keeping with the team’s late-season fade on the heels of an 8-0 start, he followed a blistering October run last year with brutal efforts in the three biggest games of the season, back-to-back losses to TCU and Notre Dame and a last-second escape against BYU two weeks later. In those three games, he hit barely 50 percent of his passes with four interceptions to just two touchdowns, and the Utes managed a grand total of 27 points.

Wynn subsequently sat out the bowl game with a shoulder injury that also sidelined him for the spring, postponing his on-field initiation in Chow’s system and some of the progress of the offense as a whole. As long as he’s healthy, though, there’s no question the offense is his show.

• Second-level story. Faced with replacing veteran tackle machines Stevenson Sylvester and Mike Wright at linebacker, the Utes crossed their fingers last September and trotted out two former walk-ons, Chaz Walker and Matt Martinez, neither of whom had ever started a game at linebacker or anywhere else. Opposing offenses noticed no difference: Walker and Martinez finished first and second on the team with more than 200 total tackles between them, leading a unit that finished second in the Mountain West — behind only national leader TCU — in both rushing and scoring defense, and led the league in sacks.

The overachievers will be joined by a far less subtle talent, sophomore Brian Blechen, who won multiple Freshman All-America nods last year as a safety and moved down in the spring to add more speed to a corps that was already in on pretty much every play as it was. The only downside: Blechen’s position switch and cornerback Brandon Burton’s premature exit for the draft leaves the secondary to a gaggle of candidates with zero career starts between them.

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Making the morning rounds.

• I thought we were all friends here. The University of Texas-backed Longhorn Network has agreed to table plans to air high school games on the network this fall, amid rising concerns that broadcasting potential Texas recruits may violate NCAA rules and provide an unfair recruiting advantage over the rest of the Big 12. Yes, that would be the same Big 12 that only narrowly avoided oblivion last year by agreeing to allow Texas to pursue the network, but the reality of the distance it could put between the Longhorns and the rest of the conference has the league’s other power brokers, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, playing hardball again. For now, commissioner Dan Beebe is with them, promising to withhold a planned Big 12 game on the network until every is on the same page: “It’s not going to happen until and unless the conference can make it happen with benefit to all and detriment to none.”

For his part, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said Texas is “for the conference,” wants to “play by the rules” and has already talked with other Big 12 athletic directors and presidents this week. “I think the conference is in great shape,” Dodds told the Associated Press, which is pretty hard to disagree with if you’re DeLoss Dodds. [Dallas Morning News, Associated Press]

• WELCOME TO DIVISION I FOOTBAW ON ESPNU!!! ESPN unveiled its regular announcing teams for this fall’s broadcasts, with few changes from last year and only two new faces: Former Florida coach Urban Meyer, who’ll replace Bob Griese on noontime Big Ten games with partners Dave Pasch and Chris Spielman, and former Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, who’ll bring his singular enthusiasm for Division I football to Saturday afternoon games on ESPNU. (Hawkins will be teaming up with Pam Ward, a booth that may as well be outfitted for its forthcoming Pammy Award right now.)

One notable absence from the lineup: Veteran favorite Ron Franklin, whose dulcet tones fell victim earlier this year to allegedly sexist comments he made to sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards during the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. [ESPN, Idaho Statesman]

• The Rap Sheet. Central Florida quarterback Jeff Godfrey, one of the most efficient passers in the nation last year as a true freshman, was arrested last weekend for driving on a suspended license — apparently by the same officer who ticketed Godfrey on the same charge earlier this year. Godfrey was booked early Sunday morning and released on $250 bond. [Orlando Sentinel]

• Oh, he’ll be here. It will just be too fast for the human eye to detect. Florida coach Will Muschamp assured reporters at Wednesday’s SEC media extravaganza that lightning-fueled tailback Jeff Demps will be back for his senior season this fall, even though Demps is currently in Italy with the U.S. national track team and may be considering giving up football for a pro track career. “He wanted to run with the U.S. team, he wanted to go to Italy,” Muschamp said. “When he comes back we’re going to re-evaluate where he is. But I fully expect him to be a part of our football team.” Quarterback John Brantley, receiver Deonte Thompson and Demps’ high school coach all echoed the same sentiment. [Gainesville Sun, ESPN]

• Brakes on Blakely. The NCAA has denied incoming running back Mike Blakely’s request to play this fall at Auburn, forcing him to sit out his freshman season after transferring from Florida. Blakely, the No. 40 overall player in the 2011 class according to Rivals, originally enrolled in Florida in January, but sat out spring practice with an injury and decided to leave Gainesville when new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis arrived with his pro-style offense. [al.com]

Quickly… Dan Wenger is in the fold at Florida. … Upper level trollin’ with the master. … Arkansas puts the entire team on the cover of its 2011 media guide. … Steve Sarkisian donates to the academic side at Washington. … And the Bylaw Blog breaks down Mike Slive’s reform agenda, line by line.

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Making the morning rounds.

• We’re mass communicatin’. First-year Miami coach Al Golden is drawing rave reviews from local high school coaches for the “night-and-day difference” between his approach to South Florida recruiting and predecessor Randy Shannon’s, by which they mean Golden actually appears interested. According to one area coach: “There’s a lot more communication and texts now. Miami didn’t recruit any of our kids under Shannon.” And another: “We see them more. This staff shows [its] face at your school even if you don’t have a great prospect.” And another: “[M]ore UM coaches are involved in recruiting now. Different coaches call the players. That keeps it fresh.”

According to Golden, he’s doubled the South Florida recruiting staff from four coaches to nine, and is gunning for a roster that’s “80 percent Florida.” So far, his first full class is well on its way: Of the ‘Canes’ 22 verbal commitments for 2012, 18 of them are from Florida, and 12 are from the greater Miami area. [Miami Herald]

• Meet the new boss, swears more than the last boss. Ohio State players are already feeling the energy of a new, younger coaching staff, too, most notably in the language (“They might cuss a little bit more,” according to tight end Jake Stoneburner) and the intensity level in general. “I don’t think we’ll change our offense one bit; I don’t think we’ll change our defense one bit,” fullback Zach Boren told the Columbus Dispatch. “I just think what’s going to change is our attitude. It’s going to be a more exciting attitude. … We’re going to come out and wear our emotions on our sleeve and let it go.”

With the departures of Jim Tressel (58) and Darrell Hazell (47) and the arrival of position coaches Stan Drayton (40) and Mike Vrabel (35), the Buckeyes shed 30 years from the combined age of the entire staff.[Columbus Dispatch]

• How do you solve a problem like Tereshinski? Virginia Tech-bound offensive lineman Brent Benedict conceded to the Atlanta Journal Constitution Tuesday that his exit from Georgia stemmed from a clash with the Bulldogs’ new strength coach, Joe Tereshinski. “Coach Tereshinski came in and he has his own philosophy and he and the coaching staff believe that it’s going to work and there’s no reason not to believe that. So,  there were a few things going on and I wasn’t able to resolve that,” said Benedict, who spent his first season in Athens rehabbing a knee he injured as a high school senior. “I wanted to talk to Coach [Mark] Richt to see if things could be resolved before I decided to leave. I really felt that was the last-case scenario. That was the last thing I wanted to do was to leave the program. … But Coach Richt was very gracious and granted me an unconditional release and I’m very grateful for that.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

• Happy trails. Predictably, West Virginia linebacker Branko Busick has been dismissed from the team on the heels of an armed robbery arrest on Monday night. Busick was free on $25,000 bond as of Tuesday morning and faces a preliminary hearing on Aug. 1. [Charleston Gazette]

• Scott denied. A federal judge has dismissed a civil suit brought by former Penn State running back Austin Scott against the university, police and a female acquaintance, all of whom Scott accused of conspiring to charge him with rape in 2007. The case against Scott was dropped in 2008, but U.S. District Judge William Caldwell ruled Monday that there was probable cause to arrest Scott at the outset of the case and rejected his claim of malicious prosecution. [Associated Press]

• Aw, we can’t stay mad at you, Mad Man. To all the Missouri fans who expected alum Jon Hamm to make an appearance during ESPN GameDay’s on-campus visit last Oct. 23, he’s totally sorry about that. “I was trying to come in for it and I had to bail out at the last second,” Hamm told the Columbia Tribune, having successfully made it to town for a charity golf event. “Somehow it wouldn’t work out. I had something to do — I don’t know what it was — but it was something I couldn’t miss. It bummed me out. I knew it was a real special moment. I ended up watching it on TV and it looked like everyone was having a pretty good time.” From what we’ve seen so far, Don Draper probably would have ruined it, anyway. [Columbia Tribune]

Quickly… Another illuminating excerpt from Mike Leach’s new book. … The NCAA is mulling a proposal to deregulate text messages and e-mails to recruits. … BYU’s athletic director doesn’t think BYU deserves automatic BCS access, yet. … As promised, Oklahoma State will unveil some wild new uniforms later this month. … Iowa State loses a signee to homesickness. … South Carolina loses a backup receiver via Twitter. … Rivals ranks the top 10 recruiters of the last ten years. … Bubba Starling is on media lockdown. … Bo Pelini is in the Urban Dictionary. … Mike Martin thinks his humility is really awesome. … And looks like EA Sports has its next “Deeper Devotion” commercial for NCAA Football 12 in the bag.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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