Video Of Gurley Signing Now Public

((HT: ESPN/McMurphy))

Brett McMurphy and Andy Staples caught up with the sports memorabilia collector that caused all the grief in and around Todd Gurley's ineligibility with the University of Georgia.

Bryan Allen says he didn't mean it and hates all the grief the incident caused:

"I can't change any of that stuff -- any of those emails, me talking to the school, how it was handled -- I can't change any of that," Bryan Allen said in his first interview since Gurley was suspended for four games after admitting he accepted money for autographs. "If I could, I would.

"Because I never wanted to screw over Gurley. I never wanted to screw over their fans or anything like that. That was never my intention. I wish I had never even gone down there. It's not worth it."

Here's the video of the signing


It's a whole bunch of inches where Allen apologizes for everything short of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby...

Good read and a lot mf mea culpas...

Great Story: UF Field Goal Holder and His Other Job

((ht: yahoo.com/espn.com))

Nice!

Imagine living in Gainesville, Florida and walking into your neighborhood Publix store night seeing a grocery bagger signing autographs, taking pictures with customers and giving out High Five's.

Mike McNeely worked his shift @Publix just hours after his fake-kick TD sparked Gators. Story: http://t.co/v6zvv8waq4 pic.twitter.com/mv6UHBaRLf
— Jeff Barlis (@JeffBarlisESPN) November 3, 2014

If that happened to you, it probably means you met University of Florida field goal fake kick star Mike McNeely.

McNeely is a walk-on who just earned a scholarship as a 5th year senior for the Gators. And he happened to be the placeholder on a fake field goal that spurred Florida to a somewhat surprising dominating victory over the confused Georgia Bulldogs.

So yeah, the kid is a pretty good story. And according to Yahoo.com, McNeely is working at Publix until he starts medical school in August of 2015.

Yes, Mike McNeely, instant Gainesville hero, is the type of guy College Football should be about.

Here's the play mentioned earlier via CBS Sports:

Op-Ed: Brother J-Hart Discusses Todd Gurley

((HT: WJBF-TV))

FOSG John Hart is a sports guy-turned news anchor in Augusta, Georgia...

And, as part of La Familia, the HQ runs a public service for those of you who miss it when he revs up the opinion section of his newscast...

He did... and discussed his alma mater and their troubled running back...

Post by John Hart.

Frankly, we feel the same way about Jameis Winston- except that he is far more out of control than Gurley, Newton, or Manziel...

And the HQ wishes that he was nowhere within 500 miles of our school- personally or professionally...
But we doubt that will ever happen...

Autograph Dealer In Gurley Investigation Claiming Harassment

((HT: MyFoxAtlanta))

A Gator fan complaining about how Georgia Bulldogs fans are responding with him at the center of an investigation implicating (allegedly) one of their own...

The prized running back Todd Gurley who has, apparently, signed his collegiate life away by being very sloppy is now and forever a victim in his fans' eyes. Now northwest Georgia memorabilia dealer Bryan Allen is holed up in his suburban Atlanta home...

Probably locked in there forever...
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

So, now we have police involved and Allen not necessarily on the run... just locked in place with a high-profile attorney...

And the harassment will continue for quite a while...

So, Now We Know A Guy Who Had Gurley Sign Stuff And Then Narc'ed (UPDATED: Gone For The Season?)

((HT: SBNation/Hall, Godfrey))

In the land of college football here in the south, the HQ knows a few things from all of our years of covering it.

1) People are insane when it comes to their teams
2) People are insane when it comes to narcing out other teams to the NCAA
3) People are just flat out insane when it comes to their support of their teams and equally vitriolic in their hatred of others

Because, as we have always known and said: What is the word "fan" short for...???

Fanatic...

And another thing that people are fanatic about is the memorabilia industry and the almighty Yankee dollar- catch the flash-in-the-pan, buy low, sell high, grab material in bulk and try to corner the market.

Which, apparently, one gentleman tried to do with Georgia running back Todd Gurley and then turned heel on him in the middle of the ring in front of God and country.

Kinda like this


So, apparently, a memorabilia dealer sent an e-mail to Hall in late September

I have video of Todd Gurley doing a private autograph signing ***. He has been paid thousands of dollars for his stuff over the last 18 months. I personally paid him for this signing on the video. I have bought and sold game used equipment from him.

I want no compensation. Just want someone to leak this story that's deserving. If you have any interest, give me a call or email. I attached a photo of him in my car signing a mini helmet that I just sold last week on my eBay store.

All I ask is some privacy until we can touch base.

I live on Georgia and would crucified if my name was released.

The video is about 5 minutes long but doesn't show the money exchange.

My cell is **********

I believe this would be the lead story on sports center if ESPN got their hands on this. Hope to hear from you soon.

Hall wanted nothing to do with this since, like most folks think these days, the rule for athletes not being in control of their own person is out-of-date, arcane, and completely unrealistic.

Over $400 and 80 items, this dealer decided to narc on Gurley and is now in hiding.

Andy Staples over at SI has more details:

A check of the James Spence Authentication database revealed 90 consecutively numbered pieces of Gurley-signed memorabilia (J19709-J19799), as well as another lot of 20 consecutively numbered pieces (H85318-H85338) of Gurley-signed memorabilia. JSA is one of the leading autograph authentication services. Consecutive authentication numbers suggest all the items were submitted at once following a large-scale signing.

Athens is up in arms over it- and the HQ isn't just talking about the school.

Yes, the Manziel comparisons will return.
Yes, the Northwestern union discussion will return.
Yes, the O'Bannon case discussion will return.

But, until, and not a moment before the rule makers change their own rules- and only forced to by someone else's hand- because you know the power brokers were only brought into the light kicking and screaming will this change...

And that won't be soon...

PM UPDATE: Looks like the violation may keep Gurley out for the season...

From the AJC and Chip Towers, the news isn't good if you're a Bulldogs fan:

It’s a “significant” case of the sale of memorabilia and there is a possibility that Gurley may not be cleared to return to the field this season.

Other sources familiar with the investigation say a determination of punishment should be made by early next week.

Towers also quotes from the NCAA rule book about how the suspension could play out

NCAA Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6 sets specific guidelines for such penalties:
1. Value of the benefit ranges from greater than $100 to $400 = withholding of 10 percent (of games) and repayment;
2. Value of the benefit ranges from greater than $400 to $700 = withholding of 20 percent (of games) and repayment;
3. Value of benefit ranges greater than $700 = withholding of 30 percent (of games) and repayment.

Now, we all get to figure out what the definition of "significant" is as we all move forward...

Taiwanese Animation and the SEC Bag Man: A Love Story

((ht: awfulannouncing.com))

This would be the funniest video we've seen all week if there weren't a fairly serious story attached to it.

Until this afternoon (Saturday) we hadn't read a fascinating tale of the "SEC Bag Man" or the alleged guy with the money to sign recruits and keep players flush with money.

We don't know how much of it is completely true, but is certainly explains some things. And considering how much we know about how things operate in the Dirty South, it did not surprise us to read any of it.

Read if for yourself from Steven Godfrey of SBNation.com RIGHT HERE

Now the story itself did not get a ton of national play, but somehow it found it's way to the "Taiwanese Animators" who gave the treatment only they could give it.

The video spares few, though there is a preponderance of Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee involved in it.

Enough of the set-up, check it out:

DEVELOPING: This Can't Be Good... 4 UGA Players Arrested On Theft Charges (UPDATED With Richt Reax)

((HT: OnlineAthens.com/Weiszer))

On the heels of releasing Josh Harvey-Clemons for violations of team rules earlier this winter, Weiszer reports that four more have been arrested on "theft by deception" charges.

Defensive back Tray Matthews, defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor and James DeLoach and wide receiver Uriah LeMay are the four. Matthews, according to the article, is facing at least three misdemeanor counts. Taylor and DeLoach are facing two misdemeanor and LeMay four.

Georgia opens spring football practices Tuesday... so, how's that for timing...???

Matthews is from Newnan (GA) High. Taylor and DeLoach are from Jenkins County (GA) High and LeMay is the brother of QB Christian LeMay.

Taylor and DeLoach were being held on bonds totaling $3,000, LeMay on bonds totaling $6,000 and Matthews bonds totaling at least $4,500.

More when we know more...

But just to hold you over, here's some Matthews video during practice from the Athens Banner-Herald


TUESDAY UPDATE: All four practiced with their teammates on Day One of the Spring season...

The four were arrested for, in essence, cashing the same check twice- once through an online picture system and again at a convenience store- the total value of the transactions is a little under $800.

Marc Weiszer explains for the second day in a row...

Matthews, Taylor and DeLoach are alleged to have electronically deposited the checks through a mobile banking app into three different Wells Fargo accounts and then cashed the same paper check at an unknown local convenience store with an account at SunTrust bank, the report said.

LeMay’s roommate, also a UGA athlete, initially cashed four checks electronically and then discarded them. LeMay is alleged to have taken the cash that was trashed and presented it for cash or deposit through a Wells Fargo account.

The investigation on the four players started March 3rd and amounts to both fraud and compliance issues.

Coach Mark Richt addressed the situation as he could after practice...
((HT: WSB-TV))

Chip Towers Takes A Charge

((HT: Baron Miller))

We show this because no sportswriters were harmed in the making of this highlight...

Last night... SEC Championship quarters... Ole Miss and Georgia...
3.9 left in regulation and Ole Miss guard Martavious Newby chases a loose ball...


Sadly, though, Towers drew no free throws off that...

Oh, Georgia won 75-73

UGA Basketball Upsets Mizzou For Fox

((HT: SECDN/Georgia Dogs))

UGA head men's basketball coach Mark Fox lost his dad five days ago and his Bulldogs team went to Columbia to play the 21st-ranked team in the country... and the team that was ranked 242nd in the RPI came out with an emotional win.

Fox tried to get home to Kansas in time after the Bulldogs game in Washington, D.C. on Friday, but didn’t make it before his dad passed. He went home to Kansas on Saturday, returned to Athens to prep the team before the Missouri game on Sunday and Monday. He went back to Kansas Tuesday before meeting the team in Columbia.

“To win at an old Big Eight school the day after my father passed was very special for me,” Fox told reporters postgame.

Here's the quick version of the highlights as they won 70-64 in overtime...


But leave it to the Mizzou fan base to mock Fox when he broke down on the bench late in overtime...
((HT: ESPN))


Stay classy, Tigers...

S.Carolina, LSU and Nebraska With Early Bowl Wins

This is the part of the College Football Bowl season where you can start paying attention.

Though to look at a couple of these games, paying attention and attending appear to be two different teams.

We start in Jacksonville in front of a crowd of tens, where Nebraska wins the Gator Bowl title over the University of Georgia 24-19 in a truly uninspiring game that featured the Huskers scoring on a 99-yard passing TD from Tommy Armstrong Jr to a streaking Quincy Enunwa.

The Bulldogs continually sputtered in the Red Zone, dropping a couple of late 4th down passes that could have given them the opportunity to salvage a disappointing season.

Your highlights from ESPN:


We move down state to the dreary confines of Citrus Bowl stadium in Orlando, where South Carolina gets the win over Wisconsin 34-24.

The game was a back and forth affair featuring 4 turnovers by the Badgers and two by the Gamecocks. QB Jaybo Shaw of South Carolina was the hero, throwing for 3 TD's, 300+ yards and running for another score.

Perhaps the biggest highlights of the day came afterwards. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier took the opportunity to praise his team congratulate them for winning their 3rd straight bowl game and the championship of South Carolina. (Dabo Swinny pun).

And then star Defensive End Jadaveon Clowney made it official, announcing he'd be taking his services to the NFL this upcoming season.

Here's one of Jaybo's TD runs, we are still searching for the Spurrier post-game comments: (thanks ESPN)



And then our minor bowl game tour of Florida ends in Tampa where LSU held off Iowa in the Outback Steakhouse Bowl in front of a crowd that got better access than the people covering the game.

The game featured LSU tailback Jeremy Hill running for 216 yards and 2 TD's and ended only after a bizarre sequence of laterals that the Hawkeye's eventually ended up fumbling. The Tigers could only manage 82 yards passing, while the Hawkeye's were only able to run for 76 total.

We are still awaiting the arrival of full game highlights....

UGA Season Wrap-Up Video: Nicely Done

((ht: coachingsearch.com))

Okay, as a long time Videographer, Editor, Writer and Producer, I can appreciate great work. And quite honestly, this is damn impressive.

The guys on the University of Georgia Video Team put together a season ending video called "One Dream", and it's about as pitch perfect as one of these things could be.

There are several messages in here, and quite honestly, for even the most cynical of college football fans, they are the good messages, the one's the game is supposed to be about.

So for our friends in Athens, we post this for you. Your football team may not have achieved all the goals it set out for, but the video guys, well, it would be hard pressed to find better.

Well done. Very well done.

So, Does Mack Brown Keep His Job Now...??? And What About Mark Richt...???

((HT: Longhorn Network))

The HQ officially gives up...

We guess THIS was the team that everyone was looking forward to seeing this season, and didn't get to until now...

Texas bottled up Blake Bell and the Oklahoma offense, was up 23-10 at the half and won 36-20... it wasn't that close...
Here's your highlights...


Texas improves to 4-2 and 3-0 in the Big 12. They take a week off before returning to play at TCU on the 26th...

And, then, it looks like Aaron Murray put the Georgia Bulldog team on his back one too many weeks in a row as they lost at home to Missouri... even with an injured James Franklin not finishing the game at quarterback for the Tigers...
((HT: ESPN))


Now, let's just see how realistic people are in Austin and Athens...???
What say you...???

A Letter For Larry... By Loran Smith...

((HT: John Hart and Georgia Football/Vimeo))

FOSG John Hart alerted us to this... and if you don't open up after this one...

You're simply not human...

Loran Smith has helped the HQ out on a few books forwards and such...
And now, we're reminded why he and his friend, Larry Munson are missed on days like the one two weeks ago in Athens...


Told you you'd need tissues...

Ess-E-Cee The Early: Sakerlina Survives, Tennessee Survives, UGA Survives

((HT: SECDN/ESPN))

It was the theme of the day (early on, anyway) in the Ess-E-Cee where teams got skeered and still won...

Example Number One: Sakerlina was on the road and had to deal with this injury while playing in one of the more obnoxious environments around- the on-campus stadium at UCF...


The HQ covered Davis in high school at Stephenson High in suburban Atlanta... the kid can flat out run...
And UCF made a lot of people happy with their back door cover...

Example Number Two: The HQ never thought we would ever hear the voice of the Volunteers, Bob Kessling, ever talk about the Volunteers "surviving" a game against South Alabama (of all teams), but that did happen...

Vols only win by 7...
At home...
Against South Alabama...

The HQ would write that line again, but we don't know if we would believe it if we wrote it ourselves...

What is the world coming to...???


And, then, the 3:30 game...

Aaron Murray throws for four scores and may be the best one-loss team in 'Murica right now having gone 2-1 in the top ten with the early part of their schedule in a 44-41 win...

Evidence below that tied the game at 14...
((HT: SECDN/SEC on CBS))

CMR's Job Is Safe Another Week: UGa Beats Sakerlina

((HT: SEC on ESPN))

Aaron Murray threw for 309 yards and four touchdowns, and the 11th-ranked Bulldogs defeated No. 6 South Carolina 41-30 in Athens for the early edge in the Ess-E-Cee East.

The defense made sure it stood up, stuffing Mike Davis on fourth & goal from inside the 1 mid way through the fourth. The Bulldog offense ran out the clock from there...

Here's the highlights...
((HT: SEC Digital Network))


In addition, two South Carolina coaches got into it on the sidelines in the third quarter for an unknown reason...
Kirk Botkin and Deke Adams got into it...
Frustated after and three and out, obviously...

Here's the tussle...


And Mark Richt's job is safe for another week...
Huzzah...

Clemson Win Should Be Vacated NOW...

((HT: Steve DaVisor))

That's the title of the Youtube entry...not a personal opinion

And, once again, the HQ will preface this by saying that the Sakerlina hat that Steve is wearing might be the dead giveaway in all of this...

But Steve has a theory as to why Georgia REALLY lost the game to Clemson
And it's a mighty theory... and it's mighty NSFW


See...???

We told you it was a mighty theory...

UGA Fan Cries Over Clemson Loss On Radio... Really...

((HT: Viral Chhadua))

First and foremost, the HQ thinks this HAS GOT TO BE A WORK...

After most college football games, local sports talk stations have their own call-in shows so fans can vent about the wins and losses of their favorite schools and their enemies...

On 92.9 "The Game" after the Georgia loss to Clemson...
This happened...


FOSG Robb Tribble was one of the voices that was chasing after the caller and his on-air tears...

And the HQ knows that college football fans are like this... on some fringes...
Now, we have the new example that has set other examples into the stratosphere...

Atlanta Radio Station Becomes Alabama Flagship Station

((ht: ajc.com))

Hmmm....talk about think a bit outside the box. Either that or it's a desperate attempt to draw some sort of college football (SEC) audience.

Atlanta sports talk radio station 92.9 the game has taken the unusual step of being the local affiliate for the University of Alabama's football team.

Mind you Georgia Tech is based in Atlanta and the Georgia Bulldogs are a mere 70 miles away and are the assumed kings of Atlanta areas sports.

But The Game has no college teams. Both Tech and UGA are spoken for in the Atlanta market and they aren't leaving their homes. So that left 92.9 with few, if any options. They are a fledgling Sports talk station in the market (a market with 2 other sports stations--none of the 3 are very good), and want to in some way, draw a fall audience.

To their credit the station did acquire the rights to Atlanta Hawks games, not a huge get, but a franchise never the less.

More on this from the AJC.com Radio blog RIGHT HERE

No, this really doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone outside Atlanta, but then again, that is where we are based.

But it speaks volume's to the reach of College Football in general and SEC football in particular. Yes, there's a significant Alabama fan base in Metro Atlanta, but no more so than the University of Florida's.

And more importantly, it gives the Crimson Tide a bigger voice in a city brimming with high school football talent. Talent that coach Nick Saban has said publicly he covets and talent that if they know where to look, will get full-on exposure to his teams games.

For you 'Bama fans out there, enjoy a fan made "Hype Video":

Ess-E-Cee's Dumbest Criminal: Ty Flournoy-Smith

((HT: AJC/Towers))

The third-string tight end for the University of Georgia decided that, when he was done with his text books, that he would turn them in for cash and then call the cops telling then that the same books had been stolen...

Not smart... as Ty Smith got busted in very short order...

He had to check into the local hoosegow and was released on $1,000 bond.

It all happened pretty quick," UGA Police chief Jimmy Williamson said. "Unfortunately books and back-packs are stolen all the time and we know all the places they take them. It became apparent that Ty had returned the books himself."

According to Towers, Flournoy-Smith sent out a tweet at 2 a.m. from his Twitter account, @SeeMyAmbition80__ that said, "You live, and you learn."

Flournoy-Smith was an all-state selection from Colquitt County High School in Moultrie, Georgia...

Insert your dig at Colquitt head coach Rush Propst hyah...

Here's Colquitt highlights of their title game appearance in 2010
((HT: Gwinnett Daily Post))

What Not To Have In A Photo... Right, Davin Bellamy...???

((HT: Big Lead))

Davin Bellamy is looking at Florida and Georgia as his top two schools before National Signing Day... where it's easy as A,B,C.


A-Always
B-Be
C-Closing

And, probably, after this photo came out Oregon wants nothing to do with Davin Bellamy

Not the way any school wants to see you... with a smoking aid in the bottom of the screen...
Oregon...??? Next move is yours...