Kipp Branch
Brunswick High Coach’s Show w Sean Pender October 6
Urban-ed Out Jacksonville
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Urban Meyer experiment in Jacksonville seems to be headed in the wrong direction.
Videos popped up on social media last weekend that showed Meyer in a compromising position with a female that is not his wife.
The Jaguars are 0-4 on the season and apparently Meyer stayed behind in Ohio after a loss to Cincinnati last Thursday night.
On Monday’s episode of NFL Live, former NFL player Marcus Spears unloaded on Meyer and explained why he believes he should be removed from his role in Jacksonville.
“Shad Khan, you need to find you a new head coach,” Spears said. “It’s time for Urban Meyer to be dismissed and relieved of his duties. This is not the first distraction. This is not a visceral reaction to what Urban Meyer did, even though there needs to be one to that as well. He brought in a strength coach that had a racist history. He brought in Tim Tebow to play tight end, which he never did in the NFL before. This is a pattern that we’ve seen go on since Urban Meyer took over in Jacksonville…I played football nine years in the NFL. Every head coach I ever had said ‘don’t be the guy to take focus off of what we’re doing as a football team as we try to win games.’ It was a message that resonated throughout every locker room I’ve been. Shad Khan, you on the clock bro. It’s time for you to find a new head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.”
The video clips led Meyer to apologize to his team for becoming a distraction, but that hasn’t seemed to have a positive effect on the national sports media.
Questions and thoughts:
Do you think Meyer has quickly realized that he isn’t cut out for the pro game?
Meyer won everywhere he has been at the college level, but professional athletes get paid big money and you have to deal with them differently from the college player maybe. It just seems that Meyer has struggled from a public relations standpoint since he was named Jaguars head coach.
Is Meyer trying to get fired for cause by the Jags instead of resigning and being viewed as a failure at the NFL level?
I raise the question because Urban Meyer seemed to have his act together when he ran the show at Utah, Florida, and Ohio State.
Big time college jobs like USC are now open which Meyer probably has some interest in.
LSU looks like a train wreck currently and some other jobs like FSU or Miami could come open.
Rumors swirl around Jacksonville that Meyer has lost the Jaguar locker room, and if that is the case then a decision must come quickly by Jaguar ownership.
Great college coaches like Nick Saban and Lou Holtz did not succeed at the NFL level and came back to the college game.
Look at Arkansas, Notre Dame, and South Carolina under Holtz, and Saban has won more National Championships at Alabama than Bear Bryant did.
Could Urban just resign and go after the USC job?
I’m thinking that may be a real possibility now. Meyer does not seem to be a good fit for the NFL, but could take the USC job and build that program back into a national power.
He has always been able to recruit the elite athlete and he is suited for the college game much better than the dumpster fire he has created in Jacksonville.
The man looks like he is having a root canal without local anesthetic on the sidelines in Jacksonville.
The 57-year-old Meyer seems to have plenty of fire left in the tank based on the videos that surfaced so “chest pains” seem to be out of the question for now.
Shad Khan the ball is in your court.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender September 29
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Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender September 8
The Crystal Ball Of The SEC
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Labor Day weekend is upon us and that means the greatest game of all, College Football kicks off.
I love many sports, but college football is just special. In this part of the world, you have SEC football; which is the best brand in college athletics.
Others try and duplicate it, but they simply come up short.
Oklahoma and Texas are moving over probably next season instead of 2025. Some critics say conference expansion is bad using excuses like geography, and any other reason they can find.
We live in a generation of participation trophies as it relates to sports, and quite frankly the SEC has an ‘iron sharpens iron’ kind of mentality and that keeps them ahead of the rest in the college football world.
Here are my 2021 SEC Predictions:
Most Overrated Team: Texas A&M: The 2021 hype train has the Aggies picked by some to knock of Alabama to win the West.
I don’t think defensively A&M is there yet, and will Jimbo Fisher open up the offense to the Alabama and LSU levels of the past two seasons?
I don’t think the Aggies have those types of weapons and will come up short in the West. What happens if they lose at home to Alabama? Well, they are and I think they end up losing to Ole Miss and possibly LSU.
Most Underrated Team: Ole Miss: Ole Miss may end up having the best offense in the conference. So, when you line up against this team you better be prepared to score a lot of points.
Everyone harps on the Ole Miss defense, but I ask the question they can’t be worse than they were last year, right? I expect improvement out of the unit in 2021. This team could sneak up into the double-digit win category.
SEC West:
Alabama: Until someone knocks them off, they are the pick here.
Nick Saban is the best head coach in the history of the conference and he has the national championships to prove it in the playoff era of college football.
Ole Miss: This team is dangerous. Sleep on them if you want to.
Texas A&M: I’m just not buying the hype. This team is too conservative on offense, and do they have enough defense to be championship elite? The answer is no.
LSU: Coach O it is starting to slip away. Fix it in 2021 or your seat is going to get very hot.
Auburn: New coaching staff that wants to go from a spread offense to more of a pro type offense. Going to take some time Aubbies.
Arkansas: I love how the Hogs are building this roster, but you are in the best division of the best conference in college football.
Mississippi State: Not a terrible team, but you have six bowl teams ahead of you.
SEC East:
Georgia: This is an elite football program that gets the underachiever label by folks who don’t hold everyone to the same standard they judge UGA by.
Could it be they know UGA is about to knock the National Title door down in the near future and what that may mean? Cue the 1980 jokes haters.
Florida: Gators will be good, but a different kind of good. One that starts with better defensive play. Florida lost 6,600 yards and 79 TDs to the NFL draft from last year.
Missouri: A much improved Tiger squad could challenge for 2nd in the East.
Kentucky: Nope, I’m not buying what you are selling Cats. Your offense is like watching paint dry.
Tennessee: Vols are building back the roster. It is going to take a couple of years.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks are starting a Graduate Assistant at QB. Ouch!
Vanderbilt: We love the Dores during baseball season, but they are an instant win during the fall.
SEC Title game will be Alabama against Georgia.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender September 1
Blazing
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Valdosta State University Blazers are ready to get back into action in 2021.
The Covid-19 Pandemic caused the Blazers 2020 season to be suspended. The last football VSU played was an upset loss to West Florida at home in the Division II playoffs that ended a school record 25 game winning streak.
Gary Goff enters his third year at the helm of the Blazers with a 10-1 record. The Blazers are picked 2nd in the preseason Gulf South Coaches Poll, and picked 6th nationally in The American Football Coaches Association preseason poll.
VSU returns great talent across the board as they have 8 preseason first team all-conference selections.
Headlining the preseason all-conference team for the Blazers are 2019 first team all-conference running backs Jamar Thompkins and Seth McGill, along with wide outs Brian Saunds and Lio’undre Gallimore. Saunds also was named to the preseason all-conference team as a return specialist.
Blazer standout offensive tackle Ralph Singleton also earned a spot on the preseason team as he earned second team all-conference honors in 2019.
Defensively, the Blazers had selections at all three levels with Ja’Davien Williams earning a spot up front, while Nick Moss was selected as a linebacker and 2019 second team all-conference selection Cory Roberts earned a spot in the secondary on the preseason team.
VSU will be attempting to win their third straight Gulf South Conference football title this fall.
Gulf South Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll:
West Florida
Valdosta State
Delta State
West Alabama
West Georgia
Mississippi College
North Greenville
Shorter
Schedule/My Predictions:
Sep 4 vs. Savannah State: The Tigers will be looking for answers early in this one, but none will reveal themselves. Everyone with a Blazer uniform on plays. Blazers start 1-0 with a 52-7 win.
Sep 11 @ Virginia Union: Long road trip for the Blazers, but they shake off a first quarter hangover and end up pulling away for a 34-14 win to go to 2-0 on the season.
Sep 18 vs. Albany State: The Rams travel to Bazemore-Hyder and get a rude welcome. Blazers go to 3-0 on the season with a 38-17 win.
Oct 2 vs. Shorter: Shorter is not a very good football team, and they get blown out on the road 49-3. VSU goes to 4-0 on the season.
Oct 9 vs, Delta State: The Statesmen give the Blazers a test on the road, but come up short in a good contest 31-24. Blazers are 5-0 and ranked #2 in the nation.
Oct 16 @ West Alabama: Trips to Livingston, Alabama are never easy. Blazers pull one out against a very good Tiger team 27-23. VSU is 6-0 on the season.
Oct 23 @ Mississippi College: Back-to-back long conference road trips are never easy. MC is down and VSU whips the Choctaws 42-17. Blazers go to 7-0 on the season.
Oct 30 vs. West Georgia: Rivalry game at home. Wolves get hammered by the Blazers 49-20. Blazers are 8-0 on the season.
Nov 6 vs. North Greenville: Homecoming week where folks like me show up and reminisce about our days at old Valdosta State College from the 1980’s while the Blazers rip the Crusaders just like the Delta Chi’s did the Kappa Alpha Order in anything considered athletic back in the day. VSU wins 42-0. VSU is 9-0 on the season.
Nov 13 @ West Florida: The Argos are preseason #1 in the county and defending national champions. This could be the Division II game of the century.
The Argos ended a 25 game Blazer winning streak in 2019. VSU has been looking forward to this game for two years and will go on the road and get it done in Pensacola with a hard fought 31-28 win, and win their third straight GSC title.
Valdosta State will enter the playoffs as the #1 seed and will be a strong pick to win another National Title for Winnersville, USA also known as Valdosta, Georgia.
