Hold your horses, folks: Mack Brown denying tabbing Gilbert as starter

By Ben KerchevalMay 10, 2011, 12:31 PM EDT

Hello, denial, my old friend.

As you probably recall, Kirk Bohls of the Austin-American Statesman stated Sunday night that an anonymous source told him that Mack Brown had tabbed junior-to-be Garrett Gilbert as the starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

Turns out, that’s not true at all — at least not according to Brown.

“As we’ve said throughout the spring and many times since, we have not talked with the kids about a depth chart and that includes our quarterback position,” Brown told ESPN (the statement was seen on “College Football Live” yesterday evening). “All of our guys are well aware of that and are working hard to get better. We’re really excited about the potential we have at quarterback and are impressed with how the guys have embraced the competition. We’re looking forward to seeing the progress all four of our quarterbacks make when we report for camp in August.”

I don’t know what Brown has told — or, hasn’t told — Gilbert, but I hope for his sake, Brown was honest with him.

Some situations merit naming a starting quarterback before summer break (i.e. Washington and Keith Price) because there is some separation in the group and it gives the starter some confidence before fall camp.

But judging by Gilbert’s performance during the Horns’ spring game, tabbing him the starter would have been premature; there just wasn’t any significant visible separation by Gilbert over Case McCoy or Conner Wood.

And after a 5-7 season that saw so much coaching turnover and promises of positive change for next year, it would be wrong for the Longhorns to settle on Gilbert simply because he’s the incumbent.

Not if he doesn’t give them the best chance to win.

Iowa TE Noah Fant threatened with a gun while at Omaha park

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By Bryan FischerMay 26, 2017, 7:31 PM EDT

Iowa tight end Noah Fant’s return home to Omaha, Nebraska for the summer became a lot more newsworthy than he would have liked this week.

According to a local police report, Des Moines TV station 13WHO reports that Fant was approached by a area man on Tuesday night who pointed a handgun at the sophomore football player and told him to leave the area:

Fant left the park and called police. He initially told them he didn’t want to press charges but said if police were able to find him he would. He told officers he believed the suspect lived in a house near the park because he’d seen the man before in the area.

As officers were searching the area near the park they spotted a man matching the description provided by Fant run into a home. Police were able to talk to the man’s mother who convinced him to come to the door. Officers reported the man, 23-year-old Matthew Trimble, was heavily intoxicated and placed him in the back of their cruiser for their own safety. Trimble’s mother says her son told her that he had confronted a group he believed to be smoking marijuana in the park. She agreed to turn over his handgun to officers. Police say the gun was loaded with one round in the chamber and 11 in the magazine.

Trimble was later charged with one count of Making a Terroristic Threat with a Firearm after Fant identified that he was in fact the one who pulled the gun on him.

Luckily Fant (or anyone else) was not injured in the incident and everything eventually played out somewhat peacefully. The Omaha native caught nine passes for 70 yards and one touchdown last season for the Hawkeyes and is expected to return to the team later on.

School officials did not release a statement on the incident involving Fant but did tell Landof10 that they were looking into the matter as of Thursday evening.

Northwestern WR Solomon Vault reportedly set to miss 2017 season after surgery

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LSU coaches set to learn DL Arden Key’s status for 2017 next week

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By Bryan FischerMay 26, 2017, 5:41 PM EDT

LSU is all set to learn whether or not they’ll have the services of one of the nation’s best pass rushers for the 2017 season.

That’s according to Tigers defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who told reporters on Thursday that the coaching staff should learn defensive lineman Arden Key‘s status for the season next week.

“Arden’s been around, so I’ve seen Arden,” Aranda said, according to AL.com. “Arden’s looking good. We get back together next week with a full staff. … I anticipate at that time that we’ll hear about Arden’s direction and where he’s going and whether he’ll be with us or not.

“I’m very hopeful that he will be.”

Key announced back in February that he would be stepping away from the program this spring “for personal reasons.” It’s been vague as to what those reasons really are or if the edge rusher would even return to the field for LSU in 2017, but it appears we’ll know either way fairly soon. Key himself tweeted last month that he would not be sitting out his upcoming junior year — leading to speculation that he would indeed be back in the lineup for the Tigers.

Aranda’s comments also seem to indicate things moving in that direction but LSU fans and the rest of the opponents on the schedule will apparently have to wait another week in order to get confirmation on Key’s status for the upcoming season.

Lane Kiffin reportedly bringing Jim Harbaugh and Tennessee coaches to work FAU summer camp

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By Bryan FischerMay 26, 2017, 4:41 PM EDT

The calendar is just about ready to flip over to June and with that date change comes time to kick off plenty of summer camps for high school recruits around the country.

While all eyes will be on major outings such as USC’s annual Rising Stars Camp or Florida’s Friday Night Lights, there may be a smaller school’s camp that will draw just as much attention. The one in question? Well of course it would be Lane Kiffin’s first summer camp at Florida Atlantic.

While the draw of Kiffin alone is enough to elicit some higher than normal interest, the list of coaches tagging along for the Owls’ June 5th camp is even more eyebrow-raising than that of the hosts. Namely that includes Jim Harbaugh (and the rest of the Michigan staff per the Sun-Sentinel) along with a few familiar faces from the Tennessee staff, among others.

Yes, that’s right, Kiffin’s old employer is all set to buddy up with the ex-Vols coach down in Boca according to a report from FAUOwlAccess.com.

Given recent limits put on satellite camps by the NCAA, it certainly makes plenty of sense for schools like Michigan and Tennessee to send their staffs to work camps at places like FAU given the latter’s close proximity to so many top recruits. Likewise, it’s pretty understandable to see Kiffin bring in some even bigger names to his first summer camp in order to draw attention to the program he took over in the offseason.

Still, it should be more than a little interesting for many fans in the Volunteer State to see a few Tennessee coaches working alongside the man many blame for their program’s slide in recent years. It’s been several years (and coaching stops) since Kiffin left Knoxville so perhaps next month we’ll find out if time really does heal all wounds.

To the surprise of nobody though, FAU hasn’t even played a game under their new head coach and the Owls are already making waves and finding plenty of time in the national spotlight.