Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Johnny Football Snub Edition

Johnny Manziel got snubbed yesterday by the SEC coaches in favor of Georgia's Aaron Murray for first string All-SEC quarterback. The interesting thing is, it has nothing at all to do with who is actually better at the position in college.

Tweet of the Morning:

I'm ready for the season http://t.co/2T5Wv0n3fK

— DeWayne Peevy (@UKDeWaynePeevy) August 23, 2013

Oh, yeah!

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• This is very good news. No, it's great news. Without Za'Darius Smith, Kentucky's defensive line cannot be considered at full strength.

• Both Neal Brown and Mark Stoops are happy with the moving of the UL/UK rivalry game to the end of the year, particularly Brown

• More high-tech toys for the Boys in Blue.

• Bud Dupree is making them bleed in practice with his speed and size. Other teams are going to struggle with him, just like Jordan Swindle has.

• No large bags or backpacks allowed in Commonwealth Stadium anymore.

• Mark Story is another guy who dislikes the move of the UK/UL game, and he's another measuring stick to me. If he takes the opposite position as me, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

  But he does have an interesting proposal to move three UK-UL contests into one weekend — football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. Intriguing. What do you think?

• 4-star wideout Blake Bone will make his decision on Tuesday. We need this guy, folks, he'd be a huge pickup for UK.

• Position rankings for the 2014 UK football commitments. The most impressive ever, at least since I've paid attention to football.

• Bud Dupree, Avery Williamson named to All-SEC 3rd team.

• Dawg Sports takes a look at this year's matchup with Kentucky between the hedges down in Athens. They don't know that Bud Dupree has been moved to DE, but that's certainly forgivable as Georgia fans shouldn't be expected to care about that.

  This is, by far, one of the most fair and least biased looks at Kentucky you'll see in the SEC. They don't mock Kentucky, and even warn that the Wildcats could be a real danger in 2014. Read it, I think you'll enjoy it.

Kentucky basketball

• Calipari was ranked 16th as an X's And O's coach. Eric Crawford strongly disagrees with that assessment (and so do I), and makes a compelling argument. Here's a taste:

  To a degree, Calipari has been a victim of his recruiting success in this discussion, and of his own unwillingness to make the game more complicated than it really is.

  Just because you have great players doesn't mean you roll the ball out there and win games. Some games you might, but most games you can't.

  Calipari has added a level of difficulty with the roster turnaround he faces every season. You have a short preseason, maybe some summer work, and then you have to start the team playing together. You experiment as you go. It's trial and error, much of the time. And not just with the X-and-O stuff, but with team chemistry. It all has to be built on the fly.

  Read the whole thing. Corey Nichols at KSR has related thoughts here.

• 2015 shooting guard Luke Kennard visited Kentucky for the second time last Saturday since getting an offer from Coach Cal. I love our chances to land him.

Other Kentucky sports

• Kentucky women's soccer kicks off the season tonight against #15/10 Wake Forest. This will be an excellent test for what is figured to be a terrific ladies futbol team this year.

Links posts

• John Clay's SEC Links

• The Leach Report — Friday Wildcat Links

• John Clay's Big Blue Links

College football

• Johnny Football is only a second-teamer when it comes to All-SEC. I have to tell you, this is simply a risible vote, unless they think Aaron Murray is actually good enough to beat Manziel out in the Heisman race. No matter what, Manziel is a proven commodity, and so is Murray. There is no question who's better at college football, and it isn't Murray, as good as he is.

  CBS' Jeremy Fowler agrees with me, sort of:

  To be clear: Georgia's Aaron Murray, who beat out Manziel for first team, is better than Jevan Snead. So is Alabama's A.J. McCarron, who would be a first-teamer by an overwhelming vote in leaner quarterback years.

  But let's not act like the Murray vote was all about football, that Manziel's offseason travails and his growing look-at-me reputation in light of the NCAA investigation didn't affect voting.

• Funeral services have been announced for UK recruit De'Antre Turman, who perished in a tragic football accident. May God comfort his loved ones.

• Garnet and Black Attack looks at Jadeveon Clowney's chances to win the Heisman now that Johnny Manziel has fallen into disfavor. Very informative.

• SEC at a glance. Absolutely nothing about Kentucky

• I have to admit, I love this. We need to make something like this about Bud Dupree or Za'Darius Smith for next season:

• Kentucky isn't the only SEC team having serious wide receiver issues.

College basketball

• Andy Katz's 3-point shot.

• Fired UCLA coach Ben Howland is eager to coach again. I'm sure he will get a job very soon, and he'll be a good one. He just wasn't a great fit for UCLA, but he did have some very productive years in Westwood.

Other sports news

• The old adage about serving two masters proves right again, as ESPN backs out of the "Frontline" documentary about concussions in the NFL.

• What is it about scam artists and South Beach? Seriously, Miami either has the most, or the stupidest blue-collar criminal element south of Chicago.

  Gotta give them credit, though — when they scam you, they scam you huge. I wonder if he's any relation to Nevin Shapiro?