A quick one

One piece of the Lane Kiffin story perfectly sums up what's wrong about college football. Kiffin's already been busted for lying in his introductory press conference, claiming Ed Orgeron hadn't made recruiting calls to Tennessee signees when he had. Of course it's a low class thing to call a kid and try to get him not to go to class at a school you sold him on so that he can stay available to potentially come to USC instead. Kiffin had to know what was going on, but tried to bluff his way out of admitting it. Mike Hamilton, Tennessee's AD, has every right to be mad about this. That doesn't give him the right to claim that any early enrolee who was on campus Wednesday at 12:01 AM, regardless of whether they went to class, is now considered a UT student and can't go anywhere else without losing eligibility. That attempted strong arm move to limit the possibilities for athletes who'd already been lied to by Hamilton's coach is inexcusable and deplorable. Is there any sign that either of these parties views the kids as anything more than "meat on the hoof"?

By the way, remember how Kiffin made a big thing about his son who was born last year being named Knox? Monte was actually his first name, but Knox is what they were going to call him. Check out Kiffin's USC bio - Knox has been put on waivers. The guy really is a piece of work.

Tim Tebow's first autographed football card is out. Normally a player's national endorsement potential is based on where they go in the draft, but Tebow has always been a guy who changes the traditional concepts on how things happen. I'll be curious to see, given the current climate toward athlete product endorsers in the wake of the Tiger Woods and Gilbert Arenas PR debacles, how many companies look to tie in their brands with Tebow.