

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said he knew nothing (about an ongoing investigation), Alabama coach Nick Saban said he would say nothing (of an assistant coach leaving under reports of a possible recruiting violation), Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said there is nothing to be said (about a recruit who allegedly punched a woman in a cell phone video) and Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said he said enough (to a tweeting assistant coach who may have undermined Aggie recruiting), but he wouldn't say exactly what he said.



Meanwhile, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, who two weeks ago brushed off the importance of satellite recruiting camps, now says he'll use them to take the Razorbacks "global." Madrid? Moscow? Bret in the Bahamas?

"The Wild Hog Tour 2016," Bielema cracked.

View photos Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is feeling the heat after Laremy Tunsil's NFL draft night revelations. (AP) More

At least he was in a good mood. Actually, it was also good times for any fan who doesn't take this stuff too seriously and instead revels in the absurdity and antics of college football's best ongoing soap opera – "As The SEC West Turns."

Social media meltdowns? Revealed text messages of players getting rent payments from coaches? Mysteries surrounding assistant coach firings? Listening to millionaire coaches fumble about with prepared statements? Enjoying fans of a school dismissing any negative story about them as a jealousy-fueled conspiracy, yet accepting whole cloth anything rumored about their rival?

Across a 70-minute teleconference Thursday morning, all seven SEC West coaches answered questions from the media. Their answers are sure to be dissected by football-starved fans down south who can't believe the dang season doesn't start until Labor Day.

There was but one serious storyline here, that of the status of Mississippi State five-star recruit Jeffery Simmons, who was allegedly last seen in a cell phone video repeatedly punching a woman during a wild outdoor brawl. You'd imagine this will, if not land him in jail, then at least preclude him from playing in Starkville. Any update?

"Nope," said Mullen, his (once/still) future coach.

As for everything else, well, it's kind of the cost of doing business in the nation's most competitive division, which has seen three schools combine to produce six national titles across the last nine seasons. At least this spring no trees were poisoned (yet…that we know of).

Let's start with the most recent situation, a Wednesday night Twitter rant by Texas A&M wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead minutes after the Aggies' five-star quarterback recruit Tate Martell decommitted from the program.

"I feel sorry for people who never understand loyalty," Moorehead tweeted. "I can't really even vibe with you. At the end of the day, trust is 100 (percent) and everything else is BS... People talk about leadership and this generation flip flops like its nothing. That's a real issue. My dad would've whipped my ass."

As a result of that, one of Martell's friends, four-star wide receiver recruit Mannie Netherly announced he was reneging on his pledge for A&M.

"After tonight, I see what kind of person my 'future coach' is and I myself don't want to play for someone like that," Netherly tweeted. Later, another four-star wide receiver said he wasn't considering the Aggies anymore either.

Moorehead originally said he wasn't talking about Martell when he tweeted his disgust but no one believed him. By morning he issued an apology for his "impromptu comments on social media [made] out of frustration and out of a true love for Texas A&M Football."

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