Image: Athens Banner Herald

Hah, I guess Lane Kiffin thought he’d let the situation cool a little bit before going after released UGA commit Dexter Moody.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Moody said he was invited to Tennessee’s Orange and White game on Saturday by the Volunteers. ”Me and my dad are planning on going up there,” Moody said. “They talked liked they were going to offer me a scholarship. I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. They just want to meet me in person and everything.”

At the time the thinking seemed to be that a guy released from one SEC school for a dust up with a teacher probably wouldn’t be offered a scholly from another SEC school.

But alas, this is the age of Kiffin! Really, isn’t he just conforming to Tennessee’s already subterranean standards?

Mr. Moody spices things up a little more.

“Coach Thompson said they need some linebackers really bad,” Moody said. “I’m definitely very interested in Tennessee. It wouldn’t be bad to go there and be able to play against Georgia every year. That would be something, taking out some of my feelings against the team that released me. I think it would be fun.”

A little sour grapes? It’s too bad Moody couldn’t walk the straight and narrow long enough to become a Dawg but it is starting to sound like he was just saving us some trouble later on.

Who knows? I hope he gets it back between the lines and has success against every team but Georgia… the team he most wants to be successful against.

Jeff Owens has been typing away on his tiny iPhone keyboard. He gives love to the unsung athletic trainers who work diligently behind the scenes and has published a fresh player Q&A wth Tony Wilson.

A great tale of sportsmanship from a high school basketball game.

Seems like there is a growing number of folks in the media thinking that this Kiffin kid may actually be smarter than we all think. Pfffft….

AthlonSports profiles Georgia’s 2009 recruiting class. They ranked it 8th, 3rd best in the SEC.

The coaches pick the Diamond Dogs to unleash the power of their new Easton bats (scroll down, permalink is broken) and win the Eastern Division.

Jeff Dantzler has some great perspective on the upcoming football season over at Bulldawg Illustrated’s Dawg Blog.

It looks like it will be just one more day before Kwame Geathers makes his decision between Georgia, Tennessee and Central Florida.

Mark Richt has a blog. Subscribe!

Speaking of Coach Richt… he’s promised M.L. King RB Mack Brown the number 33 and called him a “helluva back“.

LB Darryl Gamble says there is a new culture taking hold in locker room this year.

LOST continues to bring “teh awesomez“.

Orson Charles may wait until March 6 to announce his final decision. It’s down to Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and USC.

Kwame Geathers’ decision could come much sooner… or not. Kwame has offers from UGA, Tennessee and Central Florida. FWIW there is already a Tennessee prediction floating around out there. Consider the source, though.

OOPS Lane Kiffin strikes again!

Spokesperson Tiffany Carpenter confirmed reports that Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin mentioned an unsigned prospect, tailback Bryce Brown from Kansas, by name on a Knoxville sports talk show Friday morning.

Brown, Rivals.com’s No. 1 prospect, was on UT’s campus for an official visit during Kiffin’s comments — which came in response to a question regarding the coach’s thoughts on seniors who didn’t sign on national signing day.

Lane Kiffin is a shining gift from the football Gods to help us endure the tedium of college football’s off-season. Thank you, Gridiron Gods!

I think the powers that be up in Knoxville might want to take the muzzle off of Smokey and give it to Kiffybaby until the football season gets here. Would Orson Charles really choose to play for this guy?

Garner and Richt say they will more than likely keep the 2010 signing class below twenty, very similar to this year.

Image: CLIFF McBRIDE

So who do you think is giving Orson Charles an earful about how dull and boring his career as a traditional tight end at UGA would be if he chose to go to Georgia?

Orson Charles, who is Georgia’s top remaining target for its 2009 recruiting class, said he called UGA coach Mark Richt to “clear up some rumors.”

Charles, who may wait until early March to announce his college decision, told the AJC he heard rumors that UGA may use him as a “traditional” tight end. Charles wants to play for a team that lines him up at both tight end and wide receiver. He is ranked as the nation’s No. 62 overall prospect by Rivals.

Of course, my mind goes straight to “Boy Blunder”, infamous Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin. Something tells me though, that Charles is probably too smart to listen to that tool. Which leaves us with… Urban Meyer?

i guess Meyer is really smarting from the recruiting defections to Tennessee and losing out on Greg Reid to Florida State. He’s looking for that final splash to give the Florida class the same “umphh” that the Georgia class got when Marlon Brown chose to be a ‘Dawg late in the afternoon on signing day.

Remember, Florida already has an edge with Charles since he accidentally destroyed the Gators 2006 BCS trophy.

Al.com columnist Paul Finebaum puts in print what everyone around the SEC is thinkging… that Tennessee should cut it’s losses and fire Kiffin to save their program a coaching debacle.

There is a simple solution to the anarchy at Tennessee. It doesn’t require committee meetings or deep analysis. It might be costly in the short term, but the long-term effect will be bountiful.

To maintain even a modicum of integrity and respect in the world of college football, Tennessee needs to fire Lane Kiffin as its head football coach.

Well, that didn’t take long. Paul Finebaum is a UT alumn, so he must really care. Right?

What do you do after you come to your senses and fire Lame Kiffin? You go after recently fired Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden.

Gruden would be the perfect replacement. He is available and anxious, having just shockingly lost his job with the Tampa Bay Bucs. His résumé is spectacular, with a Super Bowl championship ring. He actually won with the Oakland Raiders, going 38-26 vs. Kiffin’s 5-15. He would get Tennessee immediately back on track. Besides, if UT delays, Gruden will get snapped up by Notre Dame or another major school next year and be gone forever.

Gruden is such wishful thinking. Why would an NFL guy who will in all likelihood have plenty of NFL choices next year going to go to the train wreck previously known as the University of Tennessee?

His wife, Cindy, was a UT cheerleader.

Maybe she’d take the UT job. Unconventional for sure, but an upgrade nonetheless.

UPDATE: And he apologizes:

“At an energetic breakfast with some of our donors and alumni I made a statement that was solely meant to excite the crowd,” Kiffin said in a statement. “If I offended anyone at the University of Florida, including Mr. Foley and Urban Meyer, I sincerely apologize. That was not my intention.”

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Lane Kiffin officially reprimanded by the Southeastern Conference.

“Coach Kiffin has violated the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics,” Slive said. “SEC Bylaw 10.5.1 clearly states that coaches and administrators shall refrain from directed public criticism of other member institutions, their staffs or players.”

“The phone call to which Coach Kiffin referred to in his public comments is not a violation of SEC or NCAA rules. We expect our coaches to have an understanding and knowledge of conference and NCAA rules.”

Lane Kiffin called out Urban Meyer at a signing day breakfast for a possible recruiting violation during the recruitment of Nu’Keese Richardson.

“I’m gonna turn Florida in right here in front of you,” Kiffin said, according to WVLT-TV. “While Nu’Keese was on campus, his phone kept ringing. One of the coaches says, ‘who’s that?’ And he said, ‘Urban Meyer.’ “

Yep, that’d be a violation, but before we start calling people names let’s make abso….

Kiffin told the crowd, “I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him.”

Ok, nevermind. Oh look, he saved a little for Saban too!

Kiffin also took aim at Alabama coach Nick Saban and suggested that Saban should “thank” new Tennessee assistant Lance Thompson for the Crimson Tide’s No. 2-ranked class. Thompson was one of Saban’s best recruiters at Alabama before leaving to join the Tennessee staff in January.

Thompson even got into the act and assured the crowd that Saban wasn’t going to get another one of his players.

Either Lane Kiffin is one USC O-Coordinatin’, Raider Head-coachin’ bad ass that is going to blow the doors off of the SEC next year, or he is headed for the biggest face plant in SEC coaching history.

Seriously, I don’t where this guy gets it. I mean, it’s one thing to be an arrogant jerk (Meyer, Saban) but Kiffin is just being a PUNK.

He does get Georgia at home but he has to travel to Florida and Alabama. I’m thinking Junior is going to be getting an education in SEC football sooner rather than later.

And, there is video.