Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Catching up: Aaron Corp has bad timing

* USC starting quarterback Aaron Corp (pictured) suffered a small fracture in his leg on Wednesday that will keep him out of practice for about two weeks. Sounds minor enough, right? The problem for Corp is that Matt Barkley, the top-rated QB recruit in the country last year, has been just a step behind Corp since spring and will now be taking snaps with the first-team offense until about 10 days before USC's season begins against San Jose State. And considering that one of Corp's biggest strengths is his mobility, a leg injury just evens the playing field a little more. With Pete Carroll not exactly going out of his way to stem any controversy -- "Matt's going to try and make the most of this opportunity" -- don't be surprised if Corp ends up getting the Wally Pipp treatment.

* The details are pretty fuzzy, but after suffering some sort of head injury during a scuffle at a family wedding in Florida, Ohio State linebacker Tyler Moeller will sit out the season. Moeller actually returned from the trip and then suffered a seizure, which caused him to be hospitalized until Tuesday. Jim Tressel said he expects Moeller to be able to return next year, but a brain injury isn't something to take lightly. Fortunately for OSU, linebacker is one position at which a season-ending injury isn't devastating. Brian Rolle appears to be next in line after a couple years of backup duty, but Jermale Hines is also likely to see playing time on passing downs and there are several former top recruits (Etienne Sabino, Andrew Sweat, Storm Klein, etc.) waiting for an opportunity.

* I didn't even bother posting about the dismissal of Michigan QB/WR Justin Feagin last week because he was so far down on the depth chart that he was the functional equivalent of a walk-on. But the Detroit Free Press got its hands on some of the details from a police report, and they're just too juicy to pass up:
Feagin’s downfall started with a cocaine deal, detailed in U-M Department of Public Safety police reports. The coke deal ended with a U-M dorm room on fire, a fellow student headed for jail and Feagin back home in Florida.
Well, that's one way to go out. I knew it was something bad when a guy with no previous trouble at UM was kicked off the team without so much as a "we'll wait and see how this plays out," but this one was certainly deserving. And as I mentioned above, Feagin's loss is all but irrelevant on the field. He was moved to slot receiver in spring practice but had no real chance of seeing the field behind Martavious Odoms, Jeremy Gallon, Terrence Robinson, JeRon Stokes and Roy Roundtree.

* Speaking of guys buried on the depth chart at Michigan, outside linebacker Marell Evans announced Wednesday that he's leaving the program, albeit on far better terms than Feagin. Evans actually praised Rich Rodriguez on his way out the door (hey, that's different!), adding that he simply didn't fit into Greg Robinson's defensive scheme and that he wants to finish his career "a different way" (not sitting on the bench, basically).

* While the Free Press was busy criticizing RichRod's character judgment because of the Feagin incident, this was happening just an hour away in East Lansing:
Michigan State has reinstated sophomore running back Glenn Winston, who was released from jail after serving four months for his role in an off-campus fight that seriously injured a Spartans hockey player.
"You're out of jail? Great! Get your helmet on." I'm all in favor of second chances, but the guy seriously injured another student-athlete at his own school. As usual, winning solves everything: Mark Dantonio can get away with this because he's riding a wave of fan support after an impressive start at MSU, but I guarantee you that Rodriguez would be tarred and feathered while the college football world lost its collective sanity if he let a convicted criminal walk out of jail and onto the practice field.



* If you have 2010 in the "When will Bobby Bowden retire" office pool, things are looking good: Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, who has been in his current position for a ridiculous 26 years, told TampaBay.com on Monday that this season will probably be his last. It seems extremely likely that Bowden and Andrews will be stepping aside together, and with offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher contractually guaranteed to take over by the end of the 2010 season, the only question has been whether it'll happen this year or next. It would appear that Andrews has answered that question for us.

* The Alamo Bowl decided to move itself up a few pegs in the bowl pecking order, offering $3 million a year to the Pac-10 to slide ahead of the Holiday Bowl and match the conference's second-best team against the No. 3 team from the Big 12. Unsurprisingly, "Pac-10 officials were receptive," according to the Seattle Times. The overall effect is that the Holiday Bowl, Sun Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, Emerald Bowl and Poinsettia Bowl will each be knocked down a slot in the Pac-10 selection order, but I can't blame the conference for jumping at the opportunity. The Pac-10's bowl tie-ins are probably the weakest of any BCS conference except the Big East, and with the Alamo Bowl moving to January 2 next year, the conference now has one more post-New Year's bowl game in which to showcase one of its top teams (other than perennial Rose Bowl contestant USC, of course).

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