Big, non-infractionary news today? Watch lists! Forty-one will keep the eye of the designated members of the Football Writers of America voting for the Nagurski Award, which threatens to become a Grammy-like irrelevance after last year's bandwagon selection of James Laurinitis as the nation's best defensive player over LaMarr Woodley, Reggie Nelson, Patrick Willis and Alan Branch, and for the much older Outland Trophy for interior linemen, also released Tuesday. My money is on a Matt Hines sweep.
• Quickly: Ah, the long lost All-American Football League forges ahead, set to be swallowed up in the Bermuda Triangle of offbrand football ... Urban Meyer in the NFL? Gator fans had to sweat out Billy Donovan's pro itch, but its other millionaire coach knows he's where he belongs ... Happy jay for the Tigers: after losing track star Xavier Carter to the unadorned running last year, blistering mite Trindon Holliday will return to LSU football, while still-suspended Ryan Perrilloux enrolls in summer school ... Virginia Tech quarterback Brandon Barden is transferring to play tight end at Vanderbilt ... Was Marshall playing the wrong quarterbacks the last two years? Derek Devine - and maybe the Seattle Seahawks - thinks so ... The Big Ten Network will kick off with Ohio State's demolition of instate patsies Youngstown State and Akron ... Catching up with Purdue's jack of all coaching trades, ex-Indiana linebacker Mark Hagen, who just landed a fresh face at linebacker ... Freshmen arrive at Nebraska as cornerback Corey Young plans to leave the Huskers ... BYU tight end Jordan Cameron is joining his basketball-playing
The Rap Sheet
Crimes, misdemeanors and eligibility-crippling issues legal, academic, institutional and otherwise.
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You, uh, can probably just ignore the side effects, too...
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Reported, to the NCAA, Oklahoma's accidental inclusion of two "impermissible" substances in the team diet before the athletic department's compliance office shut it down. OU elected to report the secondary violations itself, no doubt expecting a slap on the wrist at worst because, after all, it wasn't really their fault:
Both supplements were given to athletes before the mistakes were detected during a routine check by compliance staff. The remainder of the supplements were returned to the company that provided them.
The report did not identify the supplements, what amount was used or how much was sent back.
Eh, no biggie here - the ethics of performance enhancement are vague, anyway - but it's a good thing the OU athletic department is adding an eighth compliance officer, because a mere seven couldn't prevent this minor infraction, nor could they prevent, just going off the AP list here, two projected starters taking money for nothing, or two coaches calling the same prospect in the same week, or recruits seeing their own high school jerseys hanging in Sooner lockers during a visit, or ex-basketball coach Kelvin Sampson making 600 impermissible phone calls or a volleyball coach handing out media guides to a high school sophomore recruit or a track assistant from inviting a prospect to campus before he was enrolled in school. All basically minor infractions, only Sampson's drawing the charges of "severe lack of institutional control" and "failure in monitoring" that could have resulted in a postseason ban from the Association, but there must be some kind of seminar in order, at least.
Purchased, from devious Gainesville police narcs conducting a "reverse sting," 8 grams of weed that earned Florida jitterbug return man Brandon James a suspension and a third degree felony count. Arrested with James was Brandon Powell, a reserve guard on the championship basketball team who allegedly made the deal to meet the informant over the phone. Hoops fans might remember Powell from Florida's February loss to Vanderbilt:
Powell, encircled, is supposed to have punched the pudgy guy in the yellow shirt as he emerged from the hopping mass at midcourt, which frankly I have a hard time seeing, but its explicitly mentioned without even an "allegedly" in the newspaper report - "...a CBS camera caught him throwing a punch at the back of a Vanderbilt fan's head as Vandy fans rushed the court..." - so it must be true.
Also caught on video: his and James' marijuana transaction, which police hope is less ambiguous. I'm less than a novice in these matters, but even I can recognize the danger in buying from a stranger over the phone, thereby ensuring maximum incrimination. Both players were released from the Alachua County Jail early Tuesday.
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