The annual summer clinic for the SEC football officials almost always took place the weekend following the SEC Media Days session.

After I became an observer for the SEC, I had to report for the clinic a couple of days earlier than the officials. Since the media and coaches kept the Sheraton (which was right across the street from the SEC office) full through the Friday of Media Days, we observers were shunted off to the Hotel Winfrey, several blocks away from the league office and the clinic.

Our rooms were nicer and the place was much quieter, but we seldom ran across any of the SEC head coaches there. That didn’t matter because during the 1990s, schools were changing coaches at a rapid pace. There is now not a single head coach in the conference who was coaching when I last officiated in 1989. There are but two head coaches, plus Spurrier at a different school, who were head coaches when I was last an observer in 2001.

While thinking about Media Days, I am reminded writers don’t always listen closely enough to the person they are quoting.

One writer at the SEC Media Days essentially quoted SEC Commissioner Mike Slive as saying that the SEC was making some changes to the NCAA football rules for this season. I went over all of these changes in an earlier column, but I must set the record straight as to the origin of those changes. The writer in question, in a paragraph headed &uot;SEC rules changes&uot; credited Slive for promulgating several changes to the college playing rules for the SEC.

While SEC football officials might be putting extra emphasis on the enforcement of several rules, the changes were actually placed in the NCAA rules book by the rules committee.

We were told in the article the SEC now has a rule that intentional grounding is to be called if the quarterback is inside the tackles. In actuality, the rule now reads that the quarterback must be outside the tackle box (rather that within 5 yards of the center lineman) for the pass to be legally grounded. That simply clarifies the rule to mirror how the play has been called by the officials.

A more noticeable change removes the word intentional from the spearing rule. Hereafter, any time contact is initiated with the helmet, accidental or not, spearing is to be called.

Another noticeable change is to the clipping rule. While it remains legal to block from the rear in the zone around the original line of scrimmage, that contact must now be at or above the knee. This is designed to lessen the number of injuries from the chop block.

I haven’t made a habit of making football predictions, but here is my take on the SEC. In the West, Alabama will win it if Croyle stays in one piece. Ole Miss and State will both be better than in 2004 and stand a chance to finish first in the division.

Auburn and Arkansas will show how much they miss Campbell and Jones, and LSU has enough good players back to win even with a new coach.

Next week I’ll touch on the East, and that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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