Back in July, there was a very strange story involving former Georgia coach Jim Donnan and his supposed involvement in a Ponzi scheme that resulted in a lawsuit against certain members of Donnan’s family.

According to a combination of court documents and testimonies, Donnan was a financial investor in a West Virginia-based company by the name of GLC Ltd., which was reportedly pitched by Donnan as a retail liquidation company. However, the lawsuit filed against Donnan’s family by the current operators of GLC claim that Donnan was an officer in the company.

A report from ESPN claimed “investors sank nearly $82 million dollars into GLC Enterprises but less than $12 million was spent on inventory and at least $13 million in investor money remains unaccounted for. With dwindling revenues, GLC eventually used money from new investors to pay old investors, which, according to the court documents, constituted a Ponzi scheme.”

Investors in GLC included current college football coaches Frank Beamer and Tommy Tuberville.

In a follow up story on the situation, further court documents and sources close to Outside the Lines claim that the FBI and the IRS are now looking into the alleged Ponzi scheme. Federal authorities and Donnan’s representation have declined to comment.

What the two entities are looking for, and what would happen to Donnan if they find it, is still up in the air.

Donnan and his wife, as well as GLC, have already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an Ohio federal court. Donnan is currently being asked to pay $8.25 million to creditors.

I was browsing through my Twitter feed when I saw the news early this morning.

“Breaking News: gunman reportedly sighted on Virginia Tech campus. Lockdown in effect.”

Oh no. Not again.

It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since Cho Seung-hui took the lives of over 30 Virginia Tech students and faculty in 2007 — including his own, tortured soul. The senseless rampage ripped open the Blacksburg community, and the scar tissue is still visible today.

It was a tragedy that, for a time, went beyond words or comprehension. In many ways it still does. The loss of such young and promising life was an unfair nightmare of which there was, and is, no wake.

And for five terrifying hours today, the threat of that nightmare almost returned.

Almost. Thank God.

The campus lockdown, which went into effect at 9:37 a.m. this morning, was lifted at 2:42 p.m. Police never found the alleged lone gunman. Perhaps there was none; maybe it was nothing more than a double-take gone wrong. I hope that’s the case.

But in any case, the school was far more prepared this time around. There was protocol in a chaotic situation. Everyone knew to stay where they were and to seek shelter, including the school’s football team. Virginia Tech was set to start fall camp today. That was delayed by one hour.

“I thought everything went pretty smooth to be honest with you,” Frank Beamer said after practice. “We just moved things back an hour. The kids adapted to the deal. I thought everything went good.”

Everything did go well. No students were harmed, and while that all-t0-familiar fear is likely once again in the front of every student’s mind, they are safe for another day.

Safe to continue their education. Safe to pursue a life of happiness and fulfillment. All because the university did exactly what it set out to do four years ago after that unimaginable tragedy.

A tragedy no one should ever experience again.

When Derrick Lykes‘ name did not appear on Auburn’s 105-man roster that was released Wednesday, it was a hint that something might be amiss with the defensive lineman.

A day later, the amiss has been confirmed.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Lykes (pictured, No. 97) has been dismissed from the football program for violating unspecified team rules.  An Auburn spokesperson confirmed the news to both the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and the Opelika-Auburn News.

Head coach Gene Chizik subsequently confirmed the dismissal as well, adding that there was no chance for a return.

Lykes was projected as a backup defensive tackle for the Tigers, but was also projected to receive more playing time as part of that line’s rotation given the attrition the unit suffered since the end of last season.

In 2010, Lykes, a two-star member of AU’s 2008 recruiting class, played in just three games after playing in 13 as a redshirt freshman the year before.

So far this year, three Florida Gator football players have been cited/arrested for possession of marijuana… oops.  Check that.

Better make it an even four.

As first reported by Jason Lieser the Palm Beach Post, and later confirmed by the Orlando Sentinel, 2011 signee De’Ante Saunders was arrested back in late May and charged with misdemeanor possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.  There were no details given as to what actually led to the arrest, other than, ya know, possessin’ pot.

The school is aware of the incident, and any punishment was handled internally.

The cornerback was an early enrollee this year and participated in spring practice.

Star cornerback Janoris Jenkins was arrested twice in a three-month span earlier this year for possession and was dismissed following the second incident, which was actually his third brush with the law during his time in Gainesville.  Additionally, linebacker Chris Martin and defensive end Kendric Johnson were arrested during separate incidents in January for having weed on their person.  The former left UF in June, while the latter is still a member of the program.

And considering the UNC Chancellor did it with fall camp right around the corner, he probably does have some explaining to do.

In a letter sent to UNC students and faculty, Thorp explained his reasoning behind letting Davis go after giving what seemed like a year-long vote of confidence. You can read the letter below, but it really doesn’t deviate too much from Thorp’s explanation a week ago during a press conference.

Thorp continues to push that this was not a “one incident” decision, but rather a “cumulative effect”. But it seems pretty clear that Thorp was waiting for the results of the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations before making a decision.

Here’s the letter:

Dear Carolina Colleagues and Students:

My decision last week to ask head football coach Butch Davis to step
down was difficult. I think it was the right decision, and I wanted to
let you know why I made that call.

Throughout the NCAA investigation of our football program, I said that
we would take all accusations seriously and that we would face issues
head on. We apologized, and we pledged that the athletic department and
the University would be stronger as a result of the investigation. We
have cooperated fully with the NCAA and we have moved deliberately,
resisting the urge and pressure to make snap judgments.

Early on, I thought that it was important to support Coach Davis and to
allow time for improvements in the football program. But in the past few
months, I became increasingly concerned about the damage being done to
our University’s integrity. When we received the NCAA letter of
allegations a month ago, I began to think about the need to make a
change. After 50 years without any major violations, we are now facing
nine allegations. And there are persistent questions about our
commitment to academic integrity. In the final analysis, there wasn’t
any one thing that tipped my decision. It was the cumulative effect of
the football-related events of the past year on the University’s
reputation. The only way to move forward and put this behind us was to
make a coaching change to restore confidence in the University as well
as our football program.

The difficulty of my decision was compounded by cost (up to $2.7 million
under the terms of Coach Davis’ contract – all of which will come from
the athletic department) and timing (just before the start of training
camp for the team). But the reputation of this University and the
integrity of our football program have a value beyond any dollar figure
or any timeline disruption. I am committed to maintaining our standing
as one of the top public universities in the nation – both in academics
and in athletics.

Athletic Director Dick Baddour and I named Everett Withers, a member of
the current staff, as the interim head football coach. His top priority
is to help our student-athletes succeed on and off the field and in the
classroom. Dick also announced his decision to step down as athletic
director before his planned retirement later this year. He offered to
leave his job sooner because he feels strongly that our ability to
recruit a new head coach depends on having a new athletic director in
place to make that hire. I agree with that and reluctantly accepted
Dick’s offer. He will serve out his contract through next June, but will
step aside and assume other duties when a new athletic director arrives.
Right now, we’re putting together our response to the NCAA that’s due on
September 19. Then we’ll go before the NCAA infractions committee on
October 28. We need Dick Baddour with us when we go to Indianapolis to
meet with the NCAA. There is no other person I would rather have by my
side than Dick.

One additional issue requires attention this year. I’ve talked to
several faculty members recently, including new Faculty Chair Jan
Boxill, about the role of the Honor Court. Jan has agreed to pull
together a group of respected faculty members who will help us consider
changes or improvements to the honor system. We have a long tradition of
a strong student-run Honor Court, and of course, we’ll involve students
and Student Government representatives in our analysis. Regardless of
the situation with football, it just makes good sense to seek ways to
improve our commitment to honor and integrity.

I hope you’ll continue to support our student-athletes and the Tar Heel
football team. They will play their hearts out, just like last year.

Thanks to those of you I’ve heard from on this issue since it began.
I’ll share more updates as developments warrant. In the meantime, best
wishes for a great fall semester.

Sincerely,

Holden

Have we mentioned how much we love Eric LeGrand on this here blog?

In case you missed it earlier today — and if you did, you missed a hell of an interview — LeGrand was on College Football Live to talk about his recovery efforts from a kickoff tackle back in October that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

LeGrand spoke about the incident, the recovery, and his possible future as a broadcaster (he worked as a color commentator for Rutgers’ spring game).

But one issue that has gained some interest in the past couple of months is Rutgers coach Greg Schiano‘s proposal to eliminate kickoffs from college football. Clearly, Schiano has a vested interest in the matter after watching LeGrand be carted off the field, but in all, it hasn’t been met with a ton of support.

His life has been forever changed by the kickoff, but the LeGrand said in his interview that he supports keeping kickoffs as part of the game. It’s not a terribly surprising answer when you hear the kid talk; he’s all optimism and zero blame.

“I believe a lot of people make their money, in the NFL, off special teams,” said LeGrand. “Kickoffs and kickoff returns are a huge thing. But I can understand why he wants to change that, after seeing one of his players, like seeing one of his sons, go down.

“That was my thing. I used to run down there and make a lot of plays, stop ‘em behind the 20-yard line. So, that was my thing to do out there.”

It’s an interesting aspect that perhaps not everybody thinks about. Player safety has become a top priority on every level of the sport, but we can’t forget what the sport’s identity is: a violent game. Part of that game is special teams, where plenty of kids who aren’t on the two-deep get a chance to make an impact on their team.

Earlier Thursday, reports surfaced that Kevin Newsome was likely leaving the Penn State football program and would probably seek a transfer.

This evening, Newsome has erased the “likely” and the “probably” from the equation.

In a conversation with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the quarterback confirmed that he will be transferring from PSU sooner rather than later.  Newsome will be seeking a landing spot where he could immediately, which would suggest he may be looking at dropping down a level to Div. 1-AA.

“I will be transferring as soon as possible. But that’s all I can say,” Newsome told the paper.

Newsome came to Penn State as a highly-touted recruit in 2009, but has been buried at No. 3 on the Nittany Lions’ depth chart for the better part of a year.

With Newsome’s departure, and the academic issues that will likely sideline Paul Jones for all of 2011, Penn State will likely have only walk-on redshirt junior Shane McGregor behind Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin, who resumed the battle for the starting job as summer camp opened today.

Last week, it was reported that Georgia was both close to completing its investigation into potential eligibility issues for Jarvis Jones and hopeful that the linebacker would be cleared before the start of summer camp.

While the former has come to fruition, the latter is still very much up in the air.

Speaking as his Bulldogs hit the practice field for the first time this summer, head coach Mark Richt confirmed that the investigation into Jones from the school’s end is complete and the report has been sent to the SEC.  If the conference finds anything untoward in the report, it will forward that information on to the NCAA.

It’s unclear when a final decision on Jones’ status will be made, or when the report was submitted to the SEC.

“The only thing I know is that we have submitted whatever we have found to the SEC offices, and we’re just kind of waiting,” Richt said according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. “That’s all I’m really allowed to say.”

As Ben had previously written, Jones was the subject of an investigation that is looking into the validity of a police report that alleges a Georgia Parks and Recreations Director opened up and used an impermissible bank account to illegally pay for airfare for Jones between Atlanta and Los Angeles in summer, 2009.  Other items could also be included in what may be construed as impermissible benefits, including a laptop.

Jones announced in June of 2010 that he was transferring from USC after he was not given medical clearance by the school’s medical team following what was described by Lane Kiffin as a career-threatening neck injury.  Two weeks later, however, he was cleared by UGA’s medical staff and transferred back to his home state.

Jones was a four-star recruit out of Columbus, Ga., in 2009 and was the No. 4 defensive end in the country according to Rivals.com.

Rumored to be considering a transfer for the past month or so after being placed on indefinite suspension, Darrington Sentimore has reportedly pulled the trigger on a move out of Tuscaloosa.

The defensive coordinator at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has confirmed to the Birmingham News that Sentimore has decided to move on from Alabama to the JUCO level.  Steve Davis added that the defensive lineman should be at his new school next Tuesday.

It was announced in late June that Sentimore and redshirt freshman wide receiver Keiwone Malone ”have been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules and policy” according to a statement from head coach Nick Saban.

It was reported over the weekend that Malone would be transferring to Memphis.

As a redshirt freshman in 2010, Sentimore played in 11 games.  Based on his performance this spring and the praise he garnered from Saban, Sentimore was expected to see an increased role in the Tide’s line rotation.  Obviously, that will no longer be the case.

In addition to Sentimore and Malone, defensive lineman Brandon Moore, running backs Demetrius Goode and Corey Grant, defensive back B.J. Scott and linebacker Petey Smith have all, since the middle of January, left the football program we think — OK, I think — should be the No. 1 team in the country heading into the 2011 season.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen has done it. So did former Miami coach Randy Shannon.

Coaches banning their players from using Twitter is slowly becoming enough of a trend on the popular social networking site that it deserves its own hash mark (#notweetsforyou). Now, you can add Kansas’ Turner Gill and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier to the fraternity of coaches who have banned their players from using Twitter.

The Kansas City Star reports today that the Jayhawk players have been banned from Twitter only during the football season, effective immediately. During SEC Media Days, Spurrier mentioned that he wanted to ban his players from using the site because of the poor image it projects on the players and program.

“Well, we have some dumb, immature players that put crap on their Twitter, and we don’t need that. So the best thing to do is just ban it,” Spurrier said at the time. “When I get back and talk to the team tomorrow, we’re going to make that announcement.”

Not to mention there’s some team information coaches don’t want made public. Case in point, cornerback Victor Hampton, who tweeted that he had been abruptly kicked off the team back in June. Hampton was later reinstated to the team, but it was certainly an undesirable situation for Spurrier.

I’m not for keeping things under wraps just for the sake of it — CFT is part of the instant media world, after all — but there really isn’t a lot of upside to athletes using Twitter. Coaches already have a lot to worry about, and what their players say (which is often stupid) to the entire world shouldn’t have to be one of those things.

In all likelihood, Texas is still trying to figure out who will be the starting quarterback for the Longhorns this fall — be it incumbent starter Garrett Gilbert, or one of his several backups in Case McCoy, David Ash or Connor Wood.

Whoever ends up chucking the pigskin for the ‘Horns, though, will have one less receiver to which to throw. According to a tweet from OrangeBloods’ Chip Brown, Texas coach Mack Brown announced that senior receiver Malcolm Williams will give up football because of family matters.

“He’s had some tough things happen that would be tough for all of us, that got tougher in the summer. He was planning on playing, but some more things popped up. This morning, we talked. I want what’s best for him. I wish him well,” Brown said.

Williams, a huge target at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, had 24 receptions for 334 yards and a pair of touchdowns in what was, by practically all accounts, a disastrous 5-7 season for the Longhorns in 2010.

Williams’ departure, coupled with Marquise Goodwin‘s decision to redshirt the 2011 season to focus on track, leaves Texas relatively thin at the WR spot.

Interim Ohio State coach Luke Fickell is adding some responsibilities to two assistant coaches on his staff. His safeties coach, Paul Haynes, has now been promoted to co-defensive coordinator, and running backs Dick Tressel, the older brother of fired Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, will now be special teams coordinator.

Prior to being named the interim coach, Fickell also served as co-defensive coordinator along with his job as linebackers coach.

You can check out the whole statement on Ohio State’s website, but here are the quotes from Fickell.

“Paul Haynes is an exceptional coach who has worked extremely hard for this football program,” Fickell said. “He deserves to take on a greater role with our defense alongside coordinator Jim Heacock. And I felt it was important to get Doc [Tressel] more involved in all aspects of our special teams. He has so much experience, and he brings so much knowledge to the field every day, that I really wanted him to be responsible for coordinating our special teams efforts.”

Last week at the Big Ten media days, Joe Paterno intimated that Paul Jones would likely not be available for the entire 2011 season due to academic issues.

Today, Penn State’s depth at the quarterback position appears to have taken yet another hit.  Maybe.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Kevin Newsome has decided to leave the football program and will likely transfer.  Penn State, which began summer camp Thursday, has not commented on Newsome’s status with the program.

When reached by phone by the school’s student newspaper, Newsome’s father indicated that a final decision hasn’t been made, but did allow that a transfer is certainly an option.

“We don’t really have any set details of anything right now,” Kevin Newsome Sr. told the Daily Collegian. “It’s possible. Right now, of course as you can imagine, we’re just trying to work through some things, and sort a lot of things out.”

Newsome, the No. 4 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2009 according to Rivals.com, did not make the trip with the team to the Outback Bowl late last year, fueling rumors that his time with the program had come to an end.  He did participate in spring practice, although the battle for the starting job essentially centered on Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin.

Given the fact that Jones will likely be unavailable, and if Newsome does ultimately decide to bolt, that would leave the Nittany Lions with just Shane McGregor, a walk-on redshirt junior, behind Bolden and McGloin.

It was expected and known that LSU would have a new offensive coordinator heading into the 2011 season.  What wasn’t expected was that the new coordinator wouldn’t be Steve Kragthorpe.

Such is the case, unfortunately, as LSU announced Thursday afternoon that Kragthorpe has decided to step down as the team’s offensive coordinator.  Kragthorpe was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which prompted the decision to step aside.

Greg Studrawa will take over as the Tigers’ coordinator, although Kragthorpe will remain on the staff as the quarterbacks coach.  Studrawa received what head coach Les Miles referred to as a “battlefield promotion” roughly two weeks ago.

“I hope for the next 8 to 12 years I can still be here coaching the QBs. At this point, it is best for me to only coach the QBs,” a statement attributed to Kragthorpe on the school’s official football Twitter feed read.

Kragthorpe was hired by LSU in January of this year to replace Gary Crowton, who left to take the same position at Maryland following the 2010 season.  In July of 2010, and five months after he was hired for the position, Kragthorpe resigned as Texas A&M’s wide receivers coach due to medical issues involving his wife.

Our best wishes and prayers go out to Kragthorpe as he fights his way through this battle with Parkinson’s.

The Big Ten will enter its first year as a 12-team league with eight conference games, and when Nebraska joined the conference last year, Big Ten officials decided that — for the immediate future, anyway — that was going to be the case.

Starting in 2017, though, that will change.

Thanks to a conference press release, the Big Ten has announced that it will move to a nine-game conference slate beginning that year. This, of course, means that Big Ten schools will no longer have the luxury of a guaranteed even split in conference home games. According to the release, three teams from each division will have either five or four home games on odd or even years.

Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska from the Legends Division and Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State from the Leaders Division will have five home games in 2017. Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern of the Legends Division and Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin of the Leaders Division will have five home games in 2018.

That means securing that all-important, revenue-rich seventh home game could be harder during certain years if a team is already locked in a long-term home-and-home series with another program. Really, it makes scheduling, which is already like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, a little bit more difficult for athletic directors.

Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing; one more conference game means there’s another matchup that has Big Ten title implications. And there’s nothing wrong with that.