Honey Badger heading to the NFL

By John TaylorNov 29, 2012, 11:59 AM EDT

The roller coaster ride that’s been the life and career of Tyrann Mathieu the past year has officially come to an end at the collegiate level.

As expected, and as first reported by ESPN.com‘s Joe Schad, the former LSU cornerback announced Thursday that he has decided to forego his remaining eligibility and will make himself available for the April NFL draft.

“I am committed to tackling my personal issues and will work to better myself every day as a man first and only then as a football player,” a portion of Mathieu’s statement read. “I will always consider myself an LSU Tiger.”

A 2011 season that ended with Mathieu as a Heisman Trophy finalist and his name on numerous postseason All-American teams gave way to a series of developments that led to today’s decision. August 10, Mathieu was dismissed from the Tigers football program for what turned out to be the failure of multiple drug tests. While speculation flew that he would drop down to the FCS level, Mathieu ultimately returned to school at LSU — following a brief stint in rehab — and some around him held out hope that he could return to the team after sitting out the 2012 season.

While that was never a realistic possibility, the door was all but officially slammed shut after an SI.com article hinted at Mathieu and others running afoul of NCAA bylaws as well as a late-October arrest on marijuana-related charges.

At this point in time, the best-case draft scenario would be in the second- to third-round range, although he’ll have several off-field hurdles to clear with NFL teams to even be selected that high.

Gophers’ leading sacker ruled out of game vs. Nittany Lions

Getty Images

Ex-LSU AD repeats claim Les Miles turned down Michigan, more money in 2011

Getty Images

2 Comments

By John TaylorSep 28, 2016, 9:11 PM EDT

One of the biggest open secrets in all of college football has been confirmed (?) by a person who purportedly had a front-row seat to the spectacle.

Shortly after Rich Rodriguez was fired following the 2010 season, Michigan put on the full-court press to land Les Miles as his replacement. It was known at the time that then-UM athletic director David Brandon and other school officials flew down to Baton Rouge to meet with Miles, who played his football for the Wolverines in the mid-seventies and was an assistant at his alma mater a decade later.

The open secret many still swear by? That on that trip south Brandon had offered the job, along with a significant raise to what he was making at LSU, to Miles, who ultimately decided to turn it down and stay with the Tigers.

During a radio interview Wednesday, Skip Bertman, LSU athletic director from 2001-2008, confirmed that version of events

“Les Miles turned that job down for more money at Michigan. He turned it down,” Bertman told the ESPN Radio affiliate in Baton Rouge. “He would never say that because he’s a very humble guy. But I was there; he turned it down.”

Renowned Michigan historian John Bacon, however, disputes not only the 2011 claim, but the 2007 claim by Kirk Herbstreit and one made in 2014 as well.

To repeat – yet again – all my sources, very good ones, made clear UM never offered Les Miles the HC position in 2007, 2011 or 2014.

— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) September 28, 2016

The football program hired Rodriguez in 2007 and Brady Hoke in 2011, then stuck with Hoke through a rough 2014 season that had Miles-to-Ann Arbor speculation flying yet again. Ultimately, though, the university finally landed its Michigan Man in Jim Harbaugh. I’m thinking that’s working out just fine for the program, regardless of how exactly things transpired with Miles in the past.

Big Ten to use commemorative coin to honor Sam Foltz, Mike Sandler

Nebraska athletics

Nick Saban would ‘love’ for Blake Barnett to stay at Alabama

Getty Images

4 Comments

By John TaylorSep 28, 2016, 8:22 PM EDT

At least from Alabama’s side of it, the door’s not completely shut on Blake Barnett‘s future being in Tuscaloosa.

Earlier Wednesday, a report surfaced that Barnett had decided to leave the football program and transfer out. In meeting with the media a short time later, Nick Saban confirmed that Barnett had “expressed some concern about his future” at a meeting earlier in the day.

The head coach said he “didn’t know” when asked if Barnett, who lost the starting quarterback job to true freshman Jalen Hurts earlier this year, was still a part of the team, although he made it clear that the redshirt freshman was still welcome in the locker room if he changes his mind.

“Blake is a fine young man,” Saban said. “He’s done a great job with his program, and we’d love to see him be a part of the program in the future, but we also want him to do what’s best for him.”

Barnett, who started the opener against USC but held on to the job for just tw series, was a five-star 2015 recruit who 247Sports.com rated as the No. 2 pro-style quarterback in the country. The California high school product originally committed to Notre Dame in November of 2013 before decommitting from the Irish in June of the following year.