LSU Spring game

The LSU spring football game will be televised live tomorrow on ESPN at 3pm CDT.  Here is a link to the rosters.  Admission is free to the game.  I'm really looking forward to watching the game. This will be the nation's first look at the "new" offense for the Tigers after the addition of offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe.  There are plenty of things to look for during the game but a few will be:
1) The running game.   Who gets the bulk of the carries? How many yards from scrimmage will each running back get?
2) Quarterback rotation/playing time.  Which qb gets the most reps with the first string offense and who actually moves the ball? Also something to watch for is qb Jordan Jefferson's mechanics. Especially his footwork and timing with the receivers. That will be a very good indicator of improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
3) Injuries.  There are already quite a few minor injuries to key players. Those players will not be participating in the game tomorrow. These are players that need to be healthy by the start of the season in September. Hopefully we will not see any more injuries tomorrow during the game.
All in all this should be a good game and I'm can't wait to watch it. In case your going to miss the live airing at 3pm, the game will be replayed throughout the rest of the weekend on ESPN2 and ESPNU. Check local listings for times.

So U of Alabama is cheating... again.

Apparently, Jeffery Lee of Auburnsports.com  has accused an Alabama booster of paying a recruit to sign with the University of Alabama to play football.  The full story is at MrSec.com and the article goes on to list accounts of money and a car being given to the player and other recruiting misconducts. Alabama has been caught in this sort of behavior before, so it wouldn't surprise me if all this were true.  But the real problem isn't necessarily the universities, it seems to me that the problem is with boosters.  Too many die hard fans with a little too much money, so they want to ensure that their respective teams have good players for them to root for and maybe to brag to their close friends how they "got that player" on the team. The coaching staffs and universities for that matter have a hard enough time keeping track of all the incoming freshman, let a lone the boosters too. Often times college football coaches will pay recruiting services to provide game tape of potential recruits from other states to save on the costs of traveling to see the recruit first hand and to save time.  College football coaching staffs have a very busy schedule, they certainly don't have time to babysit every incoming recruit. But don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily defending this sort of behavior. This could certainly be some sort of loophole being exploited, and most likely is with some universities, so as to keep the university name and coaching staffs clean from an illegal recruiting activities. The boosters will end up with a slap on the wrist and be out whatever money they invested into the recruit should they be caught.  Right now the blame goes to the NCAA.  They will have to change rules regarding athletic scholarships to allow for some spending cash for players, much like many high end academic scholarships provide.  It won't have to be a lot of money, just enough for small stuff like a plane ticket back home once a semester/summer or a laptop or enough money to go out to eat every now and then.  Plus this might teach young athletes to be a little more responsible with their money in the future should they go pro. But only time will tell. Until then I guess it's Cheat Tide Cheat, or is it Roll? Either way, same difference.