Sunday, December 15, 2013

12/15 Very Quickie

*Not unlike Johnny Manziel, Jameis Winston has the chance to finish his college career next year ranked as one of the best players in the sport's history -- a short list that includes Cam Newton, Herschel Walker and, of course, Tim Tebow.

Of course, Winston should skip next year and get ready for the 2015 NFL Draft, for which he is the clear No. 1 pick. (He'd be the clear No. 1 pick of the 2014 draft -- for which he isn't eligible, for some inane reason -- but that's another story.)

*Texas is the best job in college football. But they can't just take their pick of college coaches -- among the top tier, Nick Saban is out. Kevin Sumlin is out. Jim Harbaugh presumably wouldn't take it (although if he WAS going to go back to college, this feels like the only job worth doing that for).

If the model is late-90s Mack Brown -- successful as a head coach at a atypically successful program, with the political acumen to navigate both UT's internal politics and external recruiting trail -- then Vandy's James Franklin has to be a serious candidate, even if his success feels a little faddish.

(I will say that the benefit of Northwestern's awful 5-win season is that if it had been the 10- or 11-win Rose Bowl year that a lot of us were hoping for, Texas would have clearly made Pat Fitzgerald an offer he would have had a very hard time turning down.)

Enjoy your NFL Sunday and for those of you with fantasy stakes on the line, good luck.

-- D.S.