With a little more than a month to go before toe meets leather for the 2010 college football season, Three & Out returns to give you a periodic look at what's going on this summer in the SEC. In today's edition, we take a look at agent-gate, the Vandy coaching situation and the coaches preseason All-SEC team. THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG Agent-gate seems to be passing through BCS programs like a bad cold these days. It started over the weekend at North Carolina, moved southward to South Carolina and Florida, and now, it has infected Alabama. The Alabama compliance department is currently investigating if defensive end Marcell Dareus broke NCAA rules by attending an agent-related party in Miami, Fla., earlier this summer. Since the party in question took place after the 2009 season, it's unlikely that Alabama will have to vacate any wins from their 2009 national championship season. However, Dareus' eligibility in 2010 is very much in question. Dareus is expected to be one of the key players on the rebuilt Alabama defensive line. As a sophomore last season, he led the Crimson Tide with 6.5 sacks. His season was punctuated by being named the defensive MVP of the Tide's BCS National Championship Game win over Texas, after returning a Garrett Gilbert interception 28 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter. The Dareus investigation comes on the heels of the related investigations involving North Carolina defensive lineman Marvin Austin and South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders. Former Florida center Maurkice Pouncey is being investigated in an unrelated agent matter. Look folks, get used to this. Agents are everywhere in college football, and it's unlikely that agent-gate ends with Alabama. It's a sad reality of college football...but it is the reality. States have sought to crack down on unlicensed agents by passing stricter athlete-agent laws aimed at punishing agents. Other than that, there's not much that can be done to prevent this from happening. Players and agents already know that it's wrong. If the player is near the end of his college career, the only way to punish him is to get the NFL Players Association involved, and there's no way that will happen. IN SEARCH OF AN EDGE Bobby Johnson shocked the college football world last week by retiring as the head coach of Vanderbilt, leaving the Commodores no choice but to name an interim head coach – which they did by announcing that Robbie Caldwell will take over for the time being. Caldwell has the opportunity to get in the good graces of the Vandy brass by posting a good season in 2010. But hey, it's Vandy, so that's not likely. So the question remains, who is going to coach Vandy? I've heard several suggestions, ranging from the old school guys like former Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer, to new school guys like Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach. I don't know if any of them would be right for the Vandy job. Vanderbilt simply doesn't offer the opportunity to progress. In the case of those coaches, should they take head coaching gigs, they will be looking for places where they can win big, and Vandy simply doesn't offer that. One thing is obvious, Vandy needs to find an edge. They can't compete on a week-in, week-out basis in the SEC, so they need to find something that makes them unique. Look no further than the triple-option. Last season, Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson proved that the triple-option can be successful in the BCS era by winning the ACC Championship in just his second season with the Yellow Jackets. It's time for Vanderbilt to give it a shot too. Any coach in the ACC will tell you, it's difficult to prepare for the triple-option in just one week. Johnson's successor at Navy, Ken Niumatalolo, would be a nice candidate for the position. After all, it's Vandy. If you're only throwing a 86 mph fastball, you need to develop a changeup. The triple-option is that changeup. COACHES ALL-SEC TEAM ANNOUNCED The SEC released the coaches preseason All-SEC team Tuesday morning. There weren't many surprises, although the wide receiver position did catch my attention. It seems to be a natural reaction to list Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones as a first-teamer ahead of Auburn wide receiver Darvin Adams. On the field, I'd give the edge to Adams. He flourished last season in first-year offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's run-based spread attack. Adams had a much better season in 2009, hauling in 60 passes for 997 yards and 10 touchdowns, compared to Jones' 2009 campaign where he caught 43 passes for 596 yards and four touchdowns. You could argue that Jones took over the LSU game, and without him, Alabama's perfect season may not have happened. There's probably some merit to that. But Adams took over some games too, including a 12-catch, 142-yard performance in Auburn's Outback Bowl win over Northwestern. 2010 Preseason All-SEC Coaches Team First-team Offense QB -- Ryan Mallett, Arkansas RB -- Mark Ingram, Alabama RB -- Derrick Locke, Kentucky WR -- A.J. Green, Georgia WR -- Julio Jones, Alabama TE -- D.J. Williams, Arkansas OL -- Clint Boling, Georgia OL -- Carl Johnson, Florida OL -- Barrett Jones, Alabama OL -- Lee Ziemba, Auburn C -- Mike Pouncey, Florida First-team Defense DL -- Marcell Dareus, Alabama DL -- Jerrell Powe, Ole Miss DL -- Cliff Matthews, South Carolina LB -- Josh Bynes, Auburn LB -- Dont’a Hightower, Alabama LB -- Chris Marve, Vanderbilt LB -- Kelvin Sheppard, LSU DB -- Mark Barron, Alabama DB -- Patrick Peterson, LSU DB -- Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina DB -- Janoris Jenkins, Florida First-team Special Teams PK -- Blair Walsh, Georgia P -- Drew Butler, Georgia RS -- Warren Norman, Vanderbilt All-purpose -- Randall Cobb, Kentucky Second-team Offense QB -- Greg McElroy, Alabama RB -- Jeff Demps, Florida RB -- Trent Richardson, Alabama WR -- Darvin Adams, Auburn WR -- Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina TE -- Luke Stocker, Tennessee OL -- James Carpenter, Alabama OL -- DeMarcus Love, Arkansas OL -- Derek Sherrod, Mississippi State OL -- Cordy Glenn, Georgia* OL -- Joseph Barksdale, LSU* C -- Ryan Pugh, Auburn Second-team Defense DL -- Pernell McPhee, Mississippi State DL -- Drake Nevis, LSU DL -- DeQuin Evans, Kentucky* DL -- Chris Walker, Tennessee* DL -- Ladi Ajiboye, South Carolina* LB -- Jerry Franklin, Arkansas LB -- A.J. Jones, Florida LB -- Craig Stevens, Auburn LB -- K.J. Wright, Mississippi State DB -- Ahmad Black, Florida DB -- Chris Culliver, South Carolina DB -- Will Hill, Florida DB -- Neiko Thorpe, Auburn Second-team Special Teams PK -- Caleb Sturgis, Florida P -- Chas Henry, Florida RS -- Brandon Boykin, Georgia All-purpose -- Chris Rainey, Florida (* - denotes ties) Barrett Sallee covers the SEC for www.CollegeFootballNews.com. He can be reached at barrettsallee@gmail.com, or on Twitter at @BarrettSallee
2010 Offseason Three & Out Archive Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – July 21, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – July 14, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – July 7, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – June 30, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 21, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 14, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 11, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 8, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 5, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 31, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 28, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 24, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 21, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 18, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 15, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 11, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 5, 2010 Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 2, 2010 Click Here for the off-season blog archive Click here for the 2009 regular season Three & Out archive
