Headlinin’: Lloyd Carr may or may not have told Ryan Mallett to leave Michigan

Making the morning rounds.

? Now that we've exhumed this horse in order to thoroughly demolish it again, can't we just move on? Certain Maize-and-Blue partisans will tell you ex-Wolverine quarterback (and recent draft pick) Ryan Mallett was on his way out of Michigan at the end of his freshman season regardless of the coaching situation or the direction of the offense. But his dad, Jim, told New England Patriots beat reporter Ian Rapoport this week that Mallett was still mulling his options when Rich Rodriguez was hired to bring his spread offense to Ann Arbor in December 2007, until outgoing coach Lloyd Carr told him to get out of there. "At the Capital One Bowl, we were trying to smooth things out, and we talked to Coach Carr," the elder Mallett said. "I asked him, 'Coach, next to my dad, you're the classiest person I've ever been around. What would you do if Ryan was your son?' He said, 'If I was in that situation, with a different offense, he needs to leave.'"

Spread offense or not, Mallett's departure for Arkansas ? along with seven senior starters and two early exits for the draft ? left the Wolverine offense for dead in Rodriguez's first season, and the actual result in 2008 was even worse than that.

Of course, Jim Mallett says, it didn't help that Rodriguez made no attempt to keep the Family Arm in the family. "Ryan's the one who called (Rich Rod)," Jim said. "He said, 'Can I talk about the offense?' And then he told me, 'Daddy, (Rodriguez) never looked me in the eye.' He never visited with the family, he didn't talk to us. I never met the man. But hey, it wasn't a fit. Let's move on." Of course, Jim Mallett also vows "payback" at the Miami Dolphins for failing to draft his son in the first round, so, you know, consider the source. [Boston Herald, USA Today]

? We're here to help. The SEC will donate $500,000 to the University of Alabama to assist students, faculty and staff affected by the deadly tornado that left much of Tuscaloosa and other areas of the South in ruin last week. "I've heard a lot of people say words don't describe what happened, and words don't describe it," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, who toured some of the hardest-hit areas of the city last Sunday with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore. "The devastation is so complete that in a sense it's mind-numbing. You keep seeing it and it's almost as if your eyes are trying to send a message to your mind that this is really what you're seeing." You can still donate to the effort through the Alabama Red Cross, or text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to donate $10. [Birmingham News, Tuscaloosa News]

? That's what Nick Saban calls walkin' around money. Of course, the real money in the SEC still goes to the football coaches, and if you were wondering just how much it took Florida to lure Will Muschamp from his coveted coach-in-waiting position at Texas, you have your answer: Muschamp will make $13.75 million over five years, according to a finalized contract released by the university on Thursday. At $2.75 million per year, Muschamp's salary is just $100,000 shy of Gator legend Steve Spurrier's annual cut from South Carolina before the former has coached a single game as a college head coach. [Gainesville Sun]

? Let me guess: There's a chip on your shoulder? This year's most baffling draft-day snub was probably Clemson safety DeAndre McDaniel, a two-time All-ACC pick projected to go as high as the third round, who said Thursday he felt "disbelief and despair" when he wasn't picked at all due to a meh 40-yard dash time and concerns over a fractured wrist that he played with throughout his senior season. "They felt like I was going to need surgery and miss (2011)," McDaniel said. "I was real shocked. It was something I never expected. It was a humbling experience." [Charleston Post and Courier]

? Warm up the tractor. If you enjoyed this earlier this week, this is about to blow your mind, man:

Yes, Ron Prince, we will follow you. [catlab]

Quickly… Oregon and Oregon State have already spent most of the windfall from the Pac-12's blockbuster new television deal. ... Maybe trading five picks for Julio Jones probably wasn't such a great idea. … Florida lands a verbal commitment from a Pennsylvanian giant. … Kansas State moves its Farmageddon showdown with Iowa State to the first weekend in December. … Notre Dame outsources the concession stand. … Come on, the Pac-12's bowl lineup is not that bad. … And your college football vocabulary word of the day: Blueshirting.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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