Sully Talking Stuff

USC:  Oh No! Another USC starter, defensive back, Isiah Wiley has been lost for the season. Well…. actually he never participated in fall camp because of academic eligibility  questions. Wiley, a junior college transfer, started 6 games a year ago and played a big role in the Oregon ( a fumble recovery) and Stanford (11 tackles) games in 2011. Lane Kiffin is saying the fact that they kept Wiley out of fall camp has minimized his loss and that red-shirt sophomore, Anthony Brown is ready to go for the Trojans opener on Saturday against Hawaii. While Kiffin is right about the fact that holding him out and preparing Brown reduces the shock of losing Wiley … say this week… it does not minimize the fact that the Trojans are down 10 scholarship players to other elite programs. As for Wiley, he is most likely to transfer to another junior college and then try to find a FBS program that would be interested in his services for his remaining year of eligibility.

ND: The Irish announced that RB Cierre Wood and D-End Justin Utupo have been suspended for two games (Navy & Purdue) and that neither player will travel to Ireland for the Navy Game. This means Notre Dame will be down 5 players for their opener as QB Tommy Reese and LB Carlo Calabrese were suspended for an off season incident in May and DB Lo Wood was lost to an injury in fall camp. It was likely that four (not Utupo) of the above would have started this game if not for their choices or injures. The speculation has been that Wood & Utupo failed a mandatory drug test (tested positive for Marijuana) while the party line for the suspensions is….. failure to meet coaches expectations.

Mississippi State the Apple of the NCAA’s Eye… Not: Danny Mullen, who likes to put information up on billboards around the state of Mississippi bragging about how they own in-state recruits… may not want to publicize the latest recruiting news! Mississippi State has announced and HC Mullen has confirmed that they are being investigated for irregularities in recruiting and of course…. we are getting the standard verbiage … “I’m not allowed to comment” … true but tiring. While I, and many others, think Mullen had done a good job as a coach @ MSU…. I, for @ least one, never cared for Mullen’s approach to recruiting! He seemed more like politician…. finding fault with others  (especially aimed at running down Ole Miss… wonder where thee NCAA is getting their info???) …… rather than selling the merits of MSU’s program! Wide receivers Coach, Angelo Mirando, has resigned this week as a result of the investigation or as the school & Mirando stated ….. “unforeseen personal issues”… C’mon!  The one player whose name has surfaced in the investigation is defensive back, Will Redmond, for which Mullen criticized ESPN and stated that Redmond is still practicing with the team! To replace Mirando, the Bulldogs have hired former Minnesota Coach and high powered Texas recruiter,  Tim Brewster… More to follow on this.

Oregon & Florida QB Status: The Oregon Ducks announced that red-shirt freshman Marcus Mariota has won the starting QB position over sophomore Bryan Bennett. LaMichael James (former Duck & currently playing for the NFL’s 49ers) is happy about the choice as he posted on twitter… “he will possibly be the best QB to ever play at Oregon… He’s the real deal” Meanwhile…. at Florida…. HC Will Muschamp is still wandering the abyss trying to decide between Jeff Driskel & Jacoby Brissett. Muschamp stated that while neither QB has distanced themselves from the other… they both have earned the right to play in September 1st opener against Bowling Green. Driskel is still recovering from a bruised shoulder and will be cleared to play or not…. this week. Muschamp said the determination as to who gets the first snap (if Driskel is ready) will be made later this week!