Football

Joe Person on Spring Practice. The big news is that the injury bug has hit our secondary to a certain degree. We're young and thin at the position due to graduation and early departures, so staying healthy once fall rolls around will be really critical to not suffering a 2007-like defensive collapse down the stretch.

Basketball

Devan Downey All-America Honorable Mention. Downey is the first Gamecock to be so honored since BJ McKie.

Other NCAA News

Georgia Hires Mark Fox of Nevada. Fox, a former assistant of LSU coach Trent Johnson while Johnson was getting his start at Nevada, has been a successful mid-major assistant and head coach. Fox is known as a strong recruiter for helping to bring Nick Fazekas and Kirk Snyder to Nevada, and the style of play Fox picked up from Johnson can succeed in the SEC as indicated by the way LSU played this past year.

Like Westerdawg, I think this is a good hire for UGA. UGA was hoping to hit a home run and hire Mike Anderson, Jeff Capel, or Oliver Purnell, but as cocknfire seems to imply, programs like UGA can't always make that kind of hire. A coach like Anderson that has built another power-conference program to a high level has little incentive to take on a tough job at a school with little tradition. That's why schools like UGA and South Carolina end up going for the successful mid-major candidates like Dennis Felton, Darrin Horn, and Mark Fox. And oftentimes, those hires are successful, as Carolina's choice of Horn appears to be thus far. Fox isn't a sure-fire hire; Dennis Felton had good credentials when he got to Athens, and he failed. Indeed, Fox has a tough road ahead of him, as UGA moves into next year with lots of holes and question marks. However, if Fox can successfully instill his system and can lure some of the substantial in-state talent in Georgia to Athens (the Atlanta area is a recruiting hot bed and lots of the talent goes to the ACC schools and SEC powers), he could have some success two or three years down the road.

Vols and Bruce Pearl Renegotiate Contract. Would have loved to see him go to Memphis to replace John Calipari. Oh well.