Manziel not pick for SEC top QB

Southeastern Conference coaches apparently don’t think Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel is the league’s best quarterback.
The coaches rated the Texas A&M quarterback as the preseason second-team selection on the teams released by the league Thursday. Georgia’s Aaron Murray was the first-team choice while Alabama’s AJ McCarron received third-team honors.
Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman last season, but allegations that he received payment for autographs could threaten his eligibility.
Manziel’s lawyer has said he believes the quarterback will play in Texas A&M’s season opener against Rice on Aug. 31 even if an NCAA investigation isn’t finished, but that decision could ultimately be the Aggies’.
The cloud over his eligibility might have had something to do with Manziel’s downgrade. He was the first-team pick by league media before those allegations surfaced.
All three quarterbacks put up big stats, but Manziel had an unprecedented season in the SEC, even one-upping 2010 Heisman winner Cam Newton of Auburn. He led the league with 1,410 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns and also passed for 3,706 yards and 26 scores. Manziel is the first player in NCAA history to surpass 5,000 total yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.
Murray also has put up impressive numbers.
He is the first quarterback in SEC history to have 3,000 passing yards in three straight seasons, throwing for a school-record 3,893 yards and 36 touchdowns last season while being intercepted 10 times.
Ohio State pays for pushovers: Ohio State will pay more than $3 million to Buffalo, San Diego State and Florida A&M to come to Ohio Stadium for games against the Buckeyes this fall.
Through a request from the Associated Press, Ohio State’s athletic department released figures that show it is paying Buffalo $1 million to be the opposition in the Aug. 31 opener, San Diego State $1.2 million to play in the game on Sept. 7 and FAMU, a Football Championship Subdivision opponent, $900,000 to come to Columbus for the game on Sept. 21.
Mellencamp’s son back at practice: Duke coach David Cutcliffe says walk-on Hud Mellencamp will continue to practice with the team while he deals with felony battery charges in Indiana.
Cutcliffe said Thursday the son of rocker John Mellencamp will remain active in practice and “we’ll let the legal due process occur.”
Hud Mellencamp, 19, is charged with punching and kicking a 19-year-old man last month.
Monroe County (Ind.) authorities say Mellencamp’s younger brother, 18-year-old Speck Mellencamp, entered the porch of a man’s home in Bloomington, Ind., and punched him in the face, believing that man had hit him earlier that evening.