With summer upon us and fall moving quickly — too quickly — toward us, we’re starting to get plenty of “fall preview” questions when we appear on radio talkshows across the Southeast.  Having answered the question, “What intrigues you about School X” umpteen times already, we thought it might be a good time to put all of the topics that most interest us together in one or two posts.

Below you’ll find our look at the SEC East and the seven questions — one per team — that we look forward to having answered in the fall…

Florida

Can offensive coordinator Brent Pease and head coach Will Muschamp put enough skill position talent around quarterback Jeff Driskel to make him successful?  Driskel showed flashes of dual-threat abilities last season, but the Gator offense continued to slump, just as has since Tim Tebow departed Gainesville.  It’s time some of those hotly-recruited tailbacks and receivers on the Gator roster stepped up and gave the Gator QB some help.  Driskel needs some help from someone.

Georgia

Can defensive coordinator Todd Grantham get enough out of a rebuilt defense for UGA to capture another East Division crown?  With so many parts returning on offense, it’s expected the Bulldogs will be able to put up points a’plenty.  But can they stop the league’s other teams from putting up points on them?  UGA ranked 4th in the SEC in scoring defense (against conference foes) last season.  To reach Atlanta again, Grantham and crew will probably need to have similar success… and his crew will feature a lot of new faces.

Kentucky

How will offensive coordinator Neal Brown’s “Air Raid” offense mesh with head coach Mark Stoops’ defensive background?  Stoops has talked about creating a Florida State-type strong defense in Lexington.  Brown’s throw-it-all-over system — a throwback to his days at UK under Hal Mumme — actually has Wildcat fans excited for football season.  Now, we don’t expect everything to come together in Year One, obviously, but will they start to come together at all?  Check the stats and you’ll find that pass-happy, up-tempo offenses are rarely paired with tough-as-nails defenses.  Maybe it’s because those defenses don’t get enough rest between series or perhaps it’s because there’s no smashmouth offense to go against in practice, but it’s rare to see a pass-first team sport a brickwall defense.  (Example: Bobby Petrino’s teams at Arkansas.)

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1. 5 Years Of Penalties: How Flags Fly In Each SEC Stadium

2. 5 Years Of Penalties: Which Teams Get More Flags On The Road Than At Home?

3. Ole Miss, Mississippi State: Masters Of Cupcakery…Georgia, Vanderbilt: SEC’s Toughest Schedulers

4. SEC Commitment Comparison

5. 6 Of Top 8 Favorites To Win BCS Title Reside In SEC

6. SEC Recruiting Notebook: Academics A Focus Of Nation’s Top Recruit

Quarterback Jacob Park from Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C., has committed to Georgia.

Park, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 9 pro-style quarterback, gave his pledge to the Bulldogs after receiving an offer from Georgia last weekend.

“He had narrowed it down pretty dead even between Georgia and Alabama but there were just a few things about Georgia he liked better,” Stratford coach Ray Stackley told PalmettoSports.com. “He struggled with the decision and talked to both schools several times since Monday.”

Alabama received a commitment on Friday from quarterback David Cornwell from Norman, Okla.

Georgia’s commitment from Park likely signals the end of the Bulldogs’ recruitment of Gainesville, Ga., quarterback Deshaun Watson, who’s committed to Clemson. He previously expressed an interest in Georgia but only before the Bulldogs offered a scholarship to Park.

Park is Georgia’s 10th commitment for the 2014 class.

Between now and National Signing Day 2014 there are 33 Wednesdays on the calendar.  Between now and National Signing Day there’s a helluva lot that can change.

Still, better to have momentum at this time of year than not.  And there are plenty of SEC teams — some that might surprise you — that have some strong momentum at this point.

Below you’ll find an updated overview of how the SEC’s football programs are performing out on the recruiting trail as we hit mid-June and race toward a new football season.  As usual, we’ve used the star ratings provided by Rivals.com as our launch point.  For each star Rivals assigns, we award a point.  Except we also give 0-star recruits — those kids who haven’t even been graded yet — a point.  Hey, we’re nice guys.

We’ll once again examine the SEC’s commitment lists in three ways, grading each according to quantity, quality, and high-caliber talent.  We start with quantity…

Now we turn our attention to quality, ranking each program according to the average number of points per committed player…

Next we look at high-caliber talent, only counting those commitments worth four or five points…

Finally, we provide an overall MrSEC.com ranking for all 14 schools by assigning points to each school for its placement on the three charts above.  The fewer the points (meaning the higher the finish in a category) the better.  Also, we’ll discuss each program’s work to date at the end of this story…

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The nation’s top football recruit will consider more than just football when he makes his college decision.

That fact became clear this week when defensive end Da’Shawn Hand from Woodbridge (Va.) Senior High School announced his top three schools are Alabama, Florida and Michigan. Missing was Virginia Tech, once considered by many analysts to be the favorite to land Hand.

What took Virginia Tech and South Carolina, another school Hand was considering, out of the running? It was academics, not football.

“I eliminated Virginia Tech because they don’t offer a sports marketing program,” Hand said, according to SB Nation. “And with South Carolina, the professor just didn’t wow us. I have the utmost respect for Virginia Tech and South Carolina and their coaches and wish them the best of luck.”

It’s a strong statement by Hand, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 1 prospect by Rivals. Prospects often mention their education as an important factor in their recruitment but rarely eliminate schools so early in the process simply based on academic concern.

That’s what helped the top three schools Hand is considering.

“At Michigan, the (sports marketing) program was so impressive, I wanted to sign up right there,” he said. “During my visit to Alabama, I met the dean of their (sports marketing) program, and it’s an excellent program. He actually played football and he gets it. And I haven’t been to Florida yet, but I’ve heard their defensive coaching staff and that defensive line with coach (Brad) Lawing and coach D.J. Dunkin is amazing. And Alabama’s engineering program was working on a $25 million project when I was down there.”

As impressive as it is that Hand is focused on academics, the story will end up being the impact he can make as a football player.

Michigan is considered the favorite to land Hand, according to analysts at 247Sports. Among the analysts making their prediction, 55 percent predict Hand will pick Michigan. But not everyone has updated their predictions, with 12 percent of the votes still going to Virginia Tech.

JC Shurburtt was one analyst to switch his prediction to Alabama, citing a “source” as the reason for picking the Crimson Tide. And there’s plenty of time for things to change between now and the day Hand signs with a school. But one thing is for sure: Hand will consider more than just football.

My final grades for the year pic.twitter.com/sIJUwij8Az

— Da’shawn Hand (@TheHand54) June 12, 2013

Williams chooses Kentucky

Add Stanley Williams to the growing list of prospects who want to play for Kentucky.

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SEC Football

1. Make it four commitments in a week for Georgia.  The Bulldogs latest recruiting success is four-star cornerback Malkom Parrish. Georgia now has nine commitments in its 2014 class.

2. Kentucky getting a visit from the nation’s No. 1 all-purpose running back.  Stanley “Boom” Williams from Monroe, Ga. expected in Lexington today.Update: Williams commits.  UK makes an offer to 13-year old Jairus Brents. Said the 7th grader: ”It’s not a big deal. It’s just an offer.”

3. Homewood, Alabama offensive lineman Jordan Sims has narrowed his list to three schools - Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss. The 6-foot-4, 330 pounds Sims took an unofficial visit to Auburn on Wednesday.

4. Several SEC teams are targeting Bossier City, Louisiana quarterback Brandon Harris. And with quarterback DeShone Kizer committing to Notre Dame , expect Harris to get even more attention.

5. Projected 2014 commitments for the LSU offensive line.

6. St. Louis, Mo. cornerback Raymond Wingo will visit Arkansas June 29th.  Wingo is being recruited by several schools, including Missouri and Tennessee.

SEC Basketball

7. Three of ESPN’s top 10 2014 recruits are from Texas.  Three of the top 100 are from Alabama.

8. Mississippi State gets two verbal commitments for the class of 2015.

SEC Football

1. Just how impressive has Mark Stoops’ recruiting efforts been at Kentucky? “Mark Stoops’ first 29 commitments/signees had a total of 271 scholarship offers from BCS schools. That’s an average of 9.3 per player.”

2. Longwood, Florida linebacker Nico Firios has committed to Kentucky.  UK now has 15 commitments in its 2014 class.

3. Defensive end Da’Shawn Hand, considered by many to be the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2014.  has a top three of Alabama, Florida and Michigan. “This is my final list, I’m not open to any other teams.”

4. Casper, Wyoming’s Taven Bryan is Florida’s first defensive end commitment in the class of 2014.  Had several other offers, including one from Tennessee.

5. Cincinnati wide receiver Derek Kief is one of the top receiving targets in 2014 for Alabama.

6. Auburn going after two players who’ve committed to Tommy Tuberville at Cincinnati.

7. Dallas, Texas offensive lineman Jovan Pruitt visited Arkansas over the weekend.  He lists Arkansas and Ole Miss among his top schools. Sophomore prospects headed to Fayetteville for a visit.

8. Monroe, Georgia athlete Stanton Truitt is being recruited by more than half of the SEC.  

9. T-shirts given out at Georgia camp: “Mark Richt Is My Dawg”

SEC Basketball

10. Fayeteville, Georgia forward Philip Cofer took to Twitter to give a verbal commitment to Tennessee.  Cofer’s father, Michael Cofer, played football at UT from 1979 to 1982. Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Ole Miss had all reportedly offered the three-star prospect.

In the end, there was no need for added security when Alabama coach Nick Saban visited Athens, Tennessee for a speaking engagement last night.  More seats, more water and more Gatorade, on the other hand, would have been handy.

After about a hundred complaints from Volunteer fans, the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce’s benefit dinner was so packed that the line of fans stretched more than a city block a full hour before Saban grabbed the mic under large tent.

Fans from Alabama, Georgia and, of course, Tennessee were in attendance and a smattering of Vol supporters — in the words of The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Evan Woodberry — “mingled comfortably with the hordes in crimson.”  According to Andrew Gribble of The Birmingham News, 900 of the 1,500 tickets sold were snapped up by out-of-state residents with one group traveling all the way from Michigan to hear Saban speak.

Among the coach’s comments on the night:

*  “I don’t really know that much about Butch (Jones), but I have a lot of respect for him.  He’s had success everywhere he’s been.  I’ve got a lot of respect for the University of Tennessee.”

*  “I’m not going to talk a lot about football.  I’m going to talk about how you win.  There’s no way you can be a good leader if you’re not willing to serve other people.”

*  “Mediocre people don’t like high-achievers and high-achievers don’t like mediocre people.  I know I’m old fashioned, but I believe it, it works for me, and that’s why I have success.”

*  “We’ve been up here several times and we do some things for people.  This is not about Tennessee.  This is not about Alabama.  It’s about what we do for people.  We try to support charities and we’re here to support the chamber today.”

*  “This is a lot like the town I grew up in, filled with a lot of people with down-to-earth values.  A lot of great people just like you in that town kept me on the straight and narrow.  And you’re doing that for somebody right now, even if you don’t know it.”

The Chattanooga Times Free Press also filed a report on Saban’s speech.  Fifteen-hundred people, busloads from far off states, and multiple newspapers and television stations covering the event.  That’s a pretty good tent revival by anybody’s definition.

Georgia’s 2014 class received a big boost Tuesday night when running back Nick Chubb from Cedartown (Ga.) announced his commitment to the Bulldogs.

Chubb, who’s ranked the No. 1 running back in the state of Georgia by 247Sports, chose Georgia over Auburn and South Carolina.

“(Georgia is) where I feel most comfortable,” Chubb told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’ve been to Georgia more than anywhere. I really like it there.”

Chubb’s commitment is good news for Georgia, which before Tuesday had struggled to land a marquee in-state player. That raised questions about the Bulldogs’ recruiting in their home state after a disappointing haul in 2013 and a slow start to the 2014 class.

But now Georgia can point to Chubb, who joins running back commitment Sony Michel from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the Bulldogs’ class of 2014. That’s a nice haul at running back, writes Kipp Adams of ESPN RecruitingNation.

“The addition of Chubb gives the Bulldogs the top running back prospect from Florida and Georgia this year, an impressive accomplishment for any program and a badge of honor for running backs coach Bryan McClendon.”

Chubb is the eighth prospect to commit to Georgia’s 2014 class.

Earlier today we looked at which SEC stadiums provided the biggest advantage penalty-wise to their occupants.  You can read the full breakdown here, but here’s a hint: cowbells.

Since we found no real conspiracies in that number-crunching session, we thought we’d now look at each SEC squads penalty numbers at home and on the road.  Below you’ll find each SEC program’s penalty numbers at home from 2008 through 2012.  You’ll also see each program’s road penalty numbers over the period.  Finally, we’ll compare the two numbers.

First, let’s start with the home numbers, from best to worst:

Now, a look at the number of penalties totaled by each squad in road (or neutral site) games from 2008 through 2012, from best to worst:

As was the case with home games, Alabama, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State all fair rather well when it comes to road penalties.  And once again, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida and Texas A&M reside at the bottom of the list picking up more than seven flags per road contest.

But which teams see the biggest difference in flags between their home games and their contests away from home?

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