Offseason College Football Thread

[Bored 0]

Well looks like there could be a need for a thread like this and I couldn't figure out where to post this news. Mitch Mustain is leaving Arkansas, possibly on his way to Tulsa.

 

Arkansas' Mustain to transfer, could follow HS coach to Tulsa

Jan. 16, 2007

CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

 

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain, undefeated as a Razorbacks' starter, is now allowed to transfer.

 

Mustain asked for permission to switch schools, and coach Houston Nutt appeared to be holding out hope Mustain might decide to stay with the team even after receiving his release.

 

"I don't know for sure where we are right now," Nutt said Tuesday. "Naturally, I don't want him to go. I want him to stay here."

 

The move came one day after offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, Mustain's high school coach, left to become assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator at Tulsa. Mustain and Malzahn joined the Razorbacks a year ago from Springdale High School.

 

Mustain was the Parade magazine prep player of the year in 2005.

 

Nutt said he met with Mustain to talk about the freshman's future, but he wouldn't go into detail about what was said. The coach acknowledged he doesn't remember many instances of players changing their minds after being released.

 

Mustain went 8-0 as a starter in 2006, helping Arkansas to a 10-4 season and a No. 15 ranking.

 

But Mustain was benched in a win over South Carolina in November, and he hardly played again until he split time with starter Casey Dick in the Razorbacks' Capital One Bowl loss to Wisconsin.

 

Last month, the parents of Mustain and two other freshmen met with athletic director Frank Broyles amid concerns that Malzahn didn't have enough control over the offense. One of the freshmen, receiver Damian Williams, has since transferred to USC, and now Mustain has asked for his release.

 

The third, tight end Ben Cleveland, was in Kansas for a friend's funeral. His status is unclear, Nutt said.

 

Arkansas hired Malzahn after the 2005 season, and Mustain eventually signed with the Razorbacks. But Arkansas relied on its running game -- tailback Darren McFadden was the Heisman Trophy runner-up -- and the spread, no-huddle offense Malzahn used in high school never became a fixture.

 

The Razorbacks won 10 straight games this season -- but the warm feelings from that stretch have been overshadowed lately. Arkansas lost three in a row to end the season, and now Malzahn's abrupt departure has caused more turmoil.

 

"I've told all the players, if they want their release, we'll grant their release," Nutt said.

 

AP NEWS

The Associated Press News Service

 

Copyright 2005-2006, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

[Urban Warfare 0]

I just heard about the Mustain thing myself. Tough news, considering one of those big three recruits from Springdale (Damian Williams) was a Gator commitment until about a week before national signing day.

[teke184 0]

Jesus Christ, WTF is in the water up there?

 

Something more than a disagreement about the offensive system has to be going on, as this makes 2 of the 3 huge stars from that HS, along with their coach, to be moving on after a single season.

 

 

 

The way things are going, the NCAA is sure going to be taking a look at the Arkansas program to see if there was something going on that shouldn't have.

 

 

If nothing else, this whole episode is going to cost Arkansas in recruiting for years to come, as it shows that they have had top-tier recruits but weren't able to keep them happy. If people start wondering why they jumped ship so quickly, they may be less likely to sign with the Hogs instead of another program in the SEC or Big 12.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Why? It sounds like a couple of spoiled kids being upset because Houston Nutt rode the McFadden train all the way to the SEC championship instead of on the arm of Mitch Mustain.

[MFer 0]

Mustain went 8-0 as a starter in 2006, helping Arkansas to a 10-4 season and a No. 15 ranking.

 

But Mustain was benched in a win over South Carolina in November, and he hardly played again until he split time with starter Casey Dick in the Razorbacks' Capital One Bowl loss to Wisconsin.

 

I'm sure this didn't help matters.

[teke184 0]

Why? It sounds like a couple of spoiled kids being upset because Houston Nutt rode the McFadden train all the way to the SEC championship instead of on the arm of Mitch Mustain.

Even though that may be exactly what happened, the fact that the school will be losing a bunch of highly recruited players after a year just looks REALLY bad.

 

 

If the transferring players bomb out at the other programs while Arkansas continues to be good, then the bad image will rest on Springhill HS for producing such a bunch of little-bitch football players.

 

If Arkansas returns to being mediocre while those players succeed at Tulsa, USC, and elsewhere, it makes Arkansas look bad for not being able to keep them.

[MFer 0]

Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet.

 

Saban makes another boo-boo

[Vern Gagne 0]

Brewster Fever is taking over Gopher Country.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet.

 

Saban makes another boo-boo

 

It's funny to see TSM's priorities. When Saban chose to leave Miami he was ripped in post after post for a good solid week. He calls people from Louisiana "coons" and no one makes a peep.

[Craig Th 0]

What word did Saban use?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Coons. Or actually he called them "coon ass."

[teke184 0]

Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet.

 

Saban makes another boo-boo

 

It's funny to see TSM's priorities. When Saban chose to leave Miami he was ripped in post after post for a good solid week. He calls people from Louisiana "coons" and no one makes a peep.

I didn't bother because few, if any, people outside Louisiana or South Florida gave a shit until the last two days.

 

 

Besides that, i've seen enough threads about this at the LSU boards to bother with it here.

[MFer 0]

Well when I got out of my morning class, I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio and was making such a big stink about it, especially when some callers dialed in defending Saban, that I felt that it was big news.

[Broward83 0]

Can't believe no one's mentioned this yet.

 

Saban makes another boo-boo

 

It's funny to see TSM's priorities. When Saban chose to leave Miami he was ripped in post after post for a good solid week. He calls people from Louisiana "coons" and no one makes a peep.

 

Could it be because most people in Louisiana actually do call themselves coons and coon-ass? Friends of mine from the area refer to themselves and other family matters as coon-ass.. just like to some, calling Southerner's "redneck" might be degrading but yeah... it's not to most.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Well when I got out of my morning class, I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio and was making such a big stink about it, especially when some callers dialed in defending Saban, that I felt that it was big news.

 

The the same Colin Cowherd who took shots at Kirby Puckett and Eddie Guerrerero after they died.

[MrRant 0]

I forgot Kirby Puckett was dead.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Racist

[Urban Warfare 0]

With signing day upon us, here are some recruiting rankings.

 

Rivals

 

Scout

[MFer 0]

I know that Michigan lost out on Ronald Johnson, a WR/DB, to USC. That hurts because if you watched the Rose Bowl, it's clear that Morgan Trent was getting dogged all night and their best corner, Leon Hall, has graduated. They did steal one from Cali though, can't remember his name.

[Broward83 0]

So will any of the Signing Day coverage roll over to ESPN or ESPN2 or even ESPN News? From what I've looked over it seems that we've (Texas) got a good class coming in.. just wish we were bringing in a 2nd QB. Things are looking good on the d-side of the ball with a few good backers and linemen.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Tennessee has put together a fabulous recruiting class ranked #2 nationally and including five 5-star recruits. The #3 prospect in the country, Eric Berry, looks to be a two-way player but will start at corner. Two 5-star receivers, Kenny O'Neal(formerly of Florida State) and Brent Vinson, and one 4-star one, Ahmad Paige, look to add to a receiver corps that lost its superstar, Robert Meacham, to early departure. To add to the talent on the perimeter, 5-star recruits Ben Martin and Chris Donald look to strengthen the front seven of the Defense.

 

Trooper Taylor does it again, thank God he didn't accept the head coaching job at Baylor.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

No. 2 ranked class? I didn't see them on anyone's top 5.

[MFer 0]

ESPN.com has them at #5 and some guy on ESPNU has them at #2.

[lomasmoney 0]

Ronald Johnson or RoJo as everyone around here calls him.... apparently didn't come here because even though he verballed here twice, his parents didn't want him to come here for some unknown fucking reason

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Rivals.com and Scout.com, the established recruiting trackers, have them #2

 

ESPN's USC blowjob "rankings" aren't legitimate

 

EDIT: To add, i'm not sure that ESPN takes JUCO or prep school into account, or else there is no reason South Carolina and Texas are ahead of UT. Especially considering I just watched ESPN's analysis and when mentioning wide receivers, they surprisingly listed UT's 3rd and 4th graded wideouts, and since the 1st and 2nd are from JUCO and Prep school, respectively, it makes me wonder wheter they grade such recruits.

 

Doesn't really make sense for them not to, but it might explain why their rankings seem so different from the other recruit ranking services.

[Guest]

ESPN's USC blowjob "rankings" aren't legitimate

Depends on what you mean by legitimate. If you mean, they aren't legit because SC has the most 5 star recruits, but not a real deep class with only 18 incoming freshmen, then I follow you.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Boy, Illinois had a helluva signing class. Must have been that sparkling 2 win season last year.

 

Why did I see the words "Blue Chips 2 starring Nick Nolte as Ron Zook" flashing in my head when I saw their class ranking?

[MFer 0]

I'm not gonna speculate about any possible wrongdoing by Zook but instead point out two things I've heard today about how Illinois may have gotten this great recruiting class.

 

1. 22 out of the 24 starters (including the kicker and punter) for Florida this year were Zook recruits

 

2. The fact that Illinois was so poor last year that these incoming freshman can come in and play right away.

[Mecca 0]

Rivals.com and Scout.com, the established recruiting trackers, have them #2

 

ESPN's USC blowjob "rankings" aren't legitimate

 

EDIT: To add, i'm not sure that ESPN takes JUCO or prep school into account, or else there is no reason South Carolina and Texas are ahead of UT. Especially considering I just watched ESPN's analysis and when mentioning wide receivers, they surprisingly listed UT's 3rd and 4th graded wideouts, and since the 1st and 2nd are from JUCO and Prep school, respectively, it makes me wonder wheter they grade such recruits.

 

Doesn't really make sense for them not to, but it might explain why their rankings seem so different from the other recruit ranking services.

 

USC has the best quality class......they just don't have 30 scholarships to hand out Florida, Tennesee and LSU style.

[Urban Warfare 0]

Trouble for USC?