Bishop Media Sports Network
Urban Dumpster Fire
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Urban Meyer is a Hall of Fame college football coach.
He was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars as head coach in January 2021. Meyer was fired by Jacksonville in December of 2021.
Team owner Shad Khan issued a statement about it.
“After deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban’s tenure with our team, I am bitterly disappointed to arrive at the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone.” Khan said. “I informed Urban of the change this evening. As I stated in October, regaining our trust and respect was essential. Regrettably, it did not happen.”
Darrell Bevell, the offensive coordinator, will serve as interim coach for the remainder of the season, the owner said.
Unfortunately, Meyer has had several controversies during his tenure. Most recently, a report came out this week that former kicker Josh Lambo accused Meyer of kicking him at practice in August. He was released in October after missing all three of his kicks from Week 1 – 3.
Lambo said that Meyer came up to him while he was stretching and said, “Hey Dips–t, make your f–king kicks!”
“And kicks me in the leg,” Lambo said of Meyer.
“Josh’s characterization of me and this incident is completely inaccurate, and there are eyewitnesses to refute his account,” Meyer told the paper. “(General manager) Trent (Baalke) and I met with him on multiple occasions to encourage his performance, and this was never brought up. I was fully supportive of Josh during his time with the team and wish him nothing but the best.”
Lambo went into further detail about the kick.
“Truthfully, I’d register it as a five (out of 10),” Lambo told the paper. “Which in the workplace, I don’t care if it’s football or not, the boss can’t strike an employee. And for a second, I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Pardon my vulgarity, I said, ‘Don’t you ever f–king kick me again!’ And his response was, ‘I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f–k I want.'”
In February, Meyer hired former Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle to be Jacksonville’s director of sports performances.
Doyle, who was on the staff at Iowa from 1999-2019, was placed on administrative leave by the school in June 2020 after several former Iowa players accused him of racism.
Shortly after, the university and Doyle agreed to part ways. Doyle posted a statement on Twitter at the time — which has since been deleted — saying the accusations about his behavior are “not true.”
A day later Meyer announced Doyle’s resignation from the team.
In October, following a Thursday Night Football game at Cincinnati Meyer did not travel home with his team. He went to a bar in Columbus and a video went viral of him sitting on a stool with a woman dancing on him. This woman was not his wife.
He has also reportedly called his coaches losers and Marvin Jones had to be restrained from him after an intense argument.
Jacksonville was 1 – 15 last year and they have won two games under Meyer. In the end we shall see if he gets another opportunity to return to college or if this is his last job.
Prime Time Recruiting
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Travis Hunter, the country’s top recruit, spurned Florida State during the early-signing period. The prodigious athlete abandoned his long-time commitment to FSU in the final hours of his recruitment for Jackson State, an FCS program led by Seminoles’ legend Deion Sanders.
Sanders, who’s led the HBCU in Jackson (Miss.) since 2020, promised to shock the world during the Early Signing Period.
He didn’t disappoint, but broke the hearts of the FSU fan base in the process. Hunter announced his decision on Wednesday during a signing ceremony at his school, tossing an FSU hat to the side while putting on a Jackson State hat and shirt.
Hunter, the five-star prospect out of Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.) was one of the highest-ranked recruits in the history of recruiting services with a Composite Grade of 0.9999. He grew up an FSU fan and was committed to the Seminoles since the spring of 2020.
But Jackson State’s late push, believed to be backed by Name Image Likeness, doomed FSU’s chances late.
It’s a critical blow to the recruiting efforts of Mike Norvell and the 2022 recruiting cycle. FSU was pushing for a Top 10 class, but losing the prodigious prospect derails that hope and puts the future of the Norvell Era in a tenuous position.
FSU’s staff was viewing Hunter as a two-year player, who could help out immediately on either side of the ball as a true freshman.
In the last three seasons, Hunter had 19 interceptions while also scoring 46 receiving touchdowns (in addition to recording 3,807 receiving yards).
In addition to bolstering FSU’s class rank, Hunter was an alpha dog for FSU on the recruiting trail as he helped guide various prospects to the Seminoles — including five-star defensive back Sam McCall — and weather the storm after an 0-4 start to the season.
McCall has already requested out of his National Letter of Intent and will be back on the market soon enough. Florida State is asking him to take a few days to consider.
The NLI is pointless at this point as it costs a counter if you force the kid to enroll and, until they enroll, it does not count as a transfer. Likewise, they can transfer anywhere immediately so it’s a mutually assured destruction situation where no one wins. This is what happened famously with Zach Evans and UGA.
More bad news for Seminole fans, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Dillard four-star wide receiver Devaughn Mortimer has flipped his commitment from Florida State to Louisville and Tift County four-star defensive tackle Tyree West flipped to Tennessee.
Again, FSU is 5-7 and likely going to sign the best class for a team with a losing record in the early signing period.
This class is beyond impressive once you realize the hurdles the staff had to overcome, even if those hurdles were somewhat self-imposed. The jury is still out if this staff can recruit and it will be interesting to see what they can do on-field in 2020.
My final thoughts: has he done more damage to the FSU program in the last 4 months than he did to help FSU in the previous 35 years? Is Deion’s contribution to FSU now officially a net negative or a net positive?
Ill Play There
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
National Early Signing Day has come and gone for college football and here is what the top 10 looked like:
1.Texas A&M
2.Alabama
3.Georgia
4.Ohio State
5.Texas
6.Penn State
7.Notre Dame
8.North Carolina
9.Michigan
10.Oklahoma
Here are some of my take aways from National Early Signing Day:
Texas A&M-This is Jimbo Fisher’s first #1 class, however A&M has consistently been in the top 10 over the last few years. This has not translated into being relevant in the National Championship picture or even in the SEC West.
Notre Dame and Oklahoma-Both of these programs did well to finish in the top 10, considering they both lost their head coaches weeks before National Early Signing Day.
North Carolina-The Tar Heels once again finished inside the Top 10, second straight year. Possibly a rising ACC power?
Kentucky-The Wildcats finished with the 11th class in the country. Yes, you read that right, 11th! Kentucky is making a case to replace Florida as the second-best team in the SEC East.
Florida State and Tennessee-Two blue bloods hoping to wake up the echoes. Their recruiting classes will help. FSU finished 13th and Tennessee 14th.
Clemson-The Tigers were a perennial Top 5 program when it came to recruiting for a decade. Looks like the guard is changing in the ACC as the Tigers finished 17th.
Georgia Tech-The Yellow Jackets have recruited well the last few years under Geoff Collins, without a lot of wins to show for it. Tech finished 25th last year, but dipped to 41 this season. A bad omen for Geoff Collins.
UCF and Cincinnati-These two soon-to-be Big 12 teams have been the flies in the ointment of the college football playoff and you would think that would translate to better recruiting classes, it hasn’t. Cincinnati finished 38th and UCF 42nd.
Vanderbilt-Something must be in the water in Nashville as the Commodores netted a top 40 class for the first time in… who knows how long. 38th
Florida-The Gators’ dumpster fire only gets worse. The mighty Gators ended up with the 50th ranked class in the country. New Hire Billy Napier was left with a mess. Recruit after recruit decommitted from the swamp. Good luck, Billy.
Miami-Another big mess to clean up in the state of Florida. Mario Cristobal will have his work cut out for him too. The Hurricanes finished 62nd.
USC-The mighty Trojans finished with only 6 commits. SIX! Good enough for 81st.
Georgia State-The Panthers must get credit. They cracked the top 100 with the 84th class. This program keeps getting better.
Georgia Southern-The Eagles must improve from being outside of the top 100 to compete. They reeled in the 109th class.
Game Changer
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Mario Cristobal is heading home.
The Cuban-American, who won two national titles at Miami while playing for the Hurricanes, is set to become the program’s next head coach according to multiple reports.
It’s a monumental acquisition for Miami and one that will have major recruiting implications, not only in the Sunshine State, but across the country with the Early Signing Period less than two weeks away.
Some members of the media may point to Oregon’s flat performance in last week’s Pac-12 title game and try to knock the hire for Miami.
They might point to Miami’s clumsy handling of the Manny Diaz situation, too. That criticism is fair, but those same individuals need to understand what exactly the Hurricanes are getting in Cristobal; a battle-tested recruiter that’s going to get the best talent to Coral Gables.
Since Cristobal took over for Willie Taggart in Eugene, the Ducks have signed the nation’s No. 6, No. 7, No. 11 and No. 13-ranked recruiting classes.
This year’s group is pacing to finish ranked inside the top 10, as well. To the average college football fan, that might not seem impressive — good programs should get good players — but Oregon isn’t exactly a football hotbed. In fact, the state has produced less than a dozen NFL Draft picks over the past five years.
So, with Cristobal and his staff not really in a position to shop in their backyard every cycle, they have had to recruit nationally, and Cristobal has had plenty of success doing just that.
Back in 2019, the Ducks went into Los Angeles and beat out college football’s best pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, the nation’s top-ranked prospect.
Impressive, but what should have Miami fans excited about the Cristobal hire is the fact that Cristobal isn’t going to have to recruit nationally like he did at Oregon.
The Hurricanes can turn into a College Football Playoff contender with recruits nearby in the Sunshine State, and more specifically South Florida.
South Florida is overstocked with blue-chip talent every year. That means all Cristobal really has to do is keep a bulk of the five and four-stars home every cycle.
It would be a bit ridiculous to assume that Cristobal will sign everyone within an hour drive of Miami’s campus (Nick Saban is always going to get his and it’s starting to look that way with Kirby Smart) but his name should have the Hurricanes in position to land a lot of talent as the general feeling inside the ever so powerful South Florida high school football circles is that Cristobal gets it: that means coaches and parents will want their kids to play for Cristobal.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch December 11
All Area Team
All-Area
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2021 season has come to an end for the coastal Georgia football teams and once again we there was a lot of talent on display on the field.
Here is my Coastal Georgia All-Area team consisting of players from Camden County, Glynn Academy, Brunswick High, McIntosh County Academy and Frederica Academy.
Offense
QB-Tyler Devlin (Glynn)
RB-Jordan Triplett (Frederica)
RB-Chuckobe Hill (Brunswick)
RB-Austin Crosby (MCA)
TE-Trey Elvine (Brunswick)
WR-Terry Mitchell (Brunswick)
WR-Bryce Reilly (Frederica)
OL-Jacob Aiken (Frederica)
OL-Noah Demeritt (Camden)
OL-Daniel Rush (MCA)
OL-Ashton Frankel (Frederica)
OL-Kanaya Charlton (Brunswick)
Defense
DL-Iman Davis (Camden)
DL-K’Shawn Thomas (Brunswick)
DL-DJ Clinch (Glynn)
DL-Will Jones (MCA)
LB-Will Dykstra (Camden)
LB-Devin Smith (Brunswick)
LB-Colton Seay (Glynn)
LB-Jadin Jones (Camden)
CB-Jayden Drayton (Brunswick)
CB-Jalen Rogers (MCA)
S-Zach Andreu (Camden)
S-Jake Lindsey (Camden)
Special Teams
K-McClain Fineran (Brunswick)
P-Adonis Coyle (Camden)
KR-Jamie Felix (Camden)
Coach Of The Year-Brandon Derrick (Frederica)
Getting To Know Napier
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college football regular season is over.
Some coaches at prominent programs were fired and vacant positions are being filled.
USC lured Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma about 24 hours after they lost to Oklahoma State. He was the most high-profile coach on the market.
The Florida Gators fired head coach Dan Mullen. In my opinion Urban Meyer should have been targeted to return to Gainesville. He’s struggling in his first season in Jacksonville. Instead, the Gators hired Billy Napier, who is currently the head ball coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Napier played quarterback for Furman from 1999 – 2002 and took over as the starting quarterback his junior year. He led the Paladins to the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game and they lost to Montana, 13 – 6. He earned second-team All-Southern Conference honors in 2001 and 2002.
His father is a high school football coach in Northern Georgia. Napier followed in his footsteps and started as a Grad Assistant at Clemson from 2003-04. From 2006-08 he was the tight end coach and recruiting coordinator for the Tigers.
In 2008 Tommy Bowden resigned and Dabo Swinney was named the interim head. Swinney promoted him to quarterback coach. When Swinney was promoted to the full-time head coach after the 2008 season, he promoted Napier to offensive coordinator. In 2009 Clemson scored a then school record 436 points and won the ACC Atlantic Division.
The offense was not nearly as productive in 2010 and he was fired after the season.
In 2011 he was hired by Nick Saban as an offensive analyst for Alabama. In 2012 and 2013 he made coaching stops at Colorado State and Florida State.
In 2013 he returned to Tuscaloosa as wide receiver coach and stayed there until 2016. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Arizona State in 2017.
In 2018 he was hired for the head coach position at Louisiana-Lafayette. His record for the Ragin’ Cajuns is 39 -12. They were 12 -1 this season and beat Appalachian State in the Sun Belt Championship game.
Hiring coaches from the Nick Saban coaching tree is very popular, considering he’s the best college coach of all time.
Every program is hoping they can replicate his success. Napier will make the 27th former Saban assistant to get hired as a head coach.
I think this is a decent hire for Florida. They have someone who has proven he is capable of turning a program around.
On a scale of 1 to 10 I rate this as a 7. Hopefully he can turn the Gators back into a powerhouse.
Smart Or Not?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
First and foremost, I am a huge fan of Kirby Smart.
After six years, some honest and constructive assessments seem fair game.
Kirby is hands down the best recruiter UGA has ever seen and probably the best in college football. The Athletic Board has given him a blank check for several hundred million dollars of new and upgraded facilities.
The UGA fan base is one of the most loyal, loud, rabid and die-hard in America. They show up and show out. Kirby has been given every possible resource at his disposal. He has proven himself as a phenomenal recruiter. He has not yet proven himself to be a phenomenal head coach.
Some guys are great defensive coaches. Kirby, Will Muschamp certainly qualify. Some guys are great offensive coaches. Todd Monken appears to be one of the best they have ever had at UGA.
But being a great Coordinator does not mean you will be a great Head Coach, just ask Muschamp and Mullen.
So far, Kirby has been a better than average Head Coach, and he has shown growth and improvement during his six years.
Clearly there are other coaches who have done more with a lot less talent and sub-standard facilities. Kirby is building a program for the long haul. No shortcuts. But to quote Kirby, “you’re either elite or you’re not” and Kirby is not an elite coach … YET.
Elite professionals work as hard improving themselves as they do improving others.
They don’t let egos or stubbornness impede their personal growth. I don’t know if that is what is happening with Kirby this season or not, but the next few weeks will certainly answer the question.
Kirby has tried beating Bama twice with Stetson Bennett. He failed both times.
He has more than enough film to prove he is not going to beat his mentor with Stetson Bennett. He also saw Auburn take Bama to 4 OT ‘s by playing man defense and pressuring Young with a constant blitz.
Georgia has three of the brightest defensive minds and through stubbornness or ignorance, they stayed in zone defense, with no pressure, and allowed Young to pick the Dawgs apart. Auburn had 7 sacks; Dawgs had zero.
Elite coaches will ADMIT their mistakes and make the necessary corrections. Time will tell if Smart has that skill set or not. And soon, we will see if Kirby can become an elite coach.
If he continues to do the same thing and expect different outcomes, then we will know Georgia hired a phenomenal recruiter, and an above average head coach.
Flame away if you like, but these are my constructive thoughts. Good news is you won’t have to wait but about a month to find out if I’m right or not.
Reevaluate the quarterback situation and get JT Daniels ready to play. I don’t know if it will happen but I do believe it needs to. I know many Dawg fans want to see Daniels under center against Michigan.
UGA has to get healthy and get some guys ready to play.
The STAR/nickel position got exploited against Alabama. I think the staff needs to get Kamari Lassiter or Javon Bullard or whoever ready to play winning football going into the playoffs.
The bottom line is Kirby Smart has built an Elite Program but can he win the BIG GAME?
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch December 4
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender November 24
