For those keeping track, SportingGnomes favorite Rendrick Taylor didn’t catch on with Tampa Bay. He has landed in the UFL. ManBearPig is now #36 for the Omaha Nighthawks, and they’re playing right now in Rosenblatt Stadium (you’ve probably heard of it). I’m watching live right now on HDnet. Here’s wishing ManBearPig the best of luck in his new home.

PS: One of Rendrick’s notable new teammates is Maurice Clarett.

Clemson is looking a little shaky at the position of place kicker. The most experienced PK on the team, Richard Jackson, is apparently still a total head case. He’s now the third man on the depth chart. It looks like primary PK duties will fall to Chandler Catanzaro. I’m not exactly sure who that is, but I bet I’ll know and hate him the first time he misses an important kick, which probably won’t happen until the Auburn game.

I was able to watch much of the final game of the Auburn regional while I was stuck in my office last night. As terrible as the previous game was to watch, this one was pretty good aside from the homer announcers from Auburn; they were still terrible. Clemson pulled out to an early lead and countered all the subsequent moves made by Auburn. In particular, Clemson forced Auburn to leave 12 runners stranded on base. Clemson left only 5 on base.

Clemson will host Alabama for their super regional games.

The bad news of the night from the football fan’s perspective is Kyle Parker’s draft position. He was taken as the number 26 pick by Colorado. Everyone expects this to mean buh-bye. If KP does end his college football career at this point, the best thing the Tigers will have going for them will be the low level of expectations for the season.

It looks like there was good reason for kicking Jamie Cumbie off the football team.

Cumbie “is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.”

The victim’s injuries included 6 or 7 fractures of the facial area, numerous lacerations to the mouth, a hemotoma to the right temple that included swelling and bleeding of the brain, two black eyes, a broken tooth and other teeth “bent back to the gum,” a warrant obtained from the Clemson Municipal Court states.

The victim’s nose was also broken in several places, the warrant states.

Block-C’s favorite quarterback, Peter Lalich, of notoriety for getting kicked off the UVA football team for drinking related incidents and being a general douche, has now been kicked off the Oregon State football team for a “boating DUI.”

[Oregon State Coach] Riley said it was not necessary to let the legal process work itself out in the Lalich boating DUI case (Lalich’s arraignment is June 21) because he had all of the information he needed…

Riley has been criticized in the past for being overly-lenient with players and being more than what would be construed as being generous in terms of giving them chances.

TigerNet has a rundown of which Clemson players went where in the draft as well as which former Tigers played in the NFL in 2009. It also includes this year’s crop of guys who went undrafted and have since signed free agent contracts.

Michael Palmer is going to Atlanta.
Thomas Austin signed with the Minnesota Vikings.
Chris Chancellor will get to keep all his orange clothes as he heads to Cleveland.
Kevin Alexander will also get to maintain a familiar wardrobe as he goes to the Broncos.

Things are less clear for ManBearPig. He “was expected to sign a free agent contract, but it was not known as of this writing.”

In other NFL news, Justin Miller is getting a tryout with the Cardinals. Says RotoWorld:

Miller, 26, was a Pro Bowl returner for the Jets in 2006, but hasn’t been the same since sustaining a complicated toe injury in 2008.

Gotta hate those toe injuries.

• I dare to say it, but Clemson may be peaking at the right time. Last night the Tigers pulled away in the 2nd half to defeat Georgia Tech 91-80 in Littlejohn. The Tigers have won 5 of their last 6 and seem assured of a spot in the NCAA tourney. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 4 of those 5 wins came at home, and it may be that the late season strength is just a reflection of being scheduled well. This is also potentially bad news because the team may relax and lose intensity at just the wrong time now that the NCAA bid seems assured. It’s imperative for the Tigers to go to Winston-Salem on Sunday and put down Wake Forest giving Clemson a very respectable 10 wins in conference.
• Via Examiner.com, there’s a poor quality video of the NFL network’s official 40 runs at the combine. Despite the low-quality, it’s pretty interesting to see the results with Ford and Spiller taking 1st & 3rd places, respectively.
  

  There is some speculation that Spiller could end up being drafted by the Browns. That would likely re-unite him with James Davis. Chansi Stuckey is also with the Browns right now.

• Bleacher Report lays out the case the Michael Palmer should be getting more attention from the NFL than he is. Since Palmer became one of my favorite player’s last season, I would love to see him overcome the odds and make it in the NFL.

• After last night’s road win over FSU, I took a deep breath. However now is definitely not the time for the basketball team to relax. They’re still something of a bubble team with 2 regular season games remaining. Next up is GT, at home fortunately. The last game is Sunday at Wake Forest. Wake is on a three game skid and just lost at home to UNC.
• The baseball team remains undefeated after sweeping Wright State over the weekend. With the wins I can now claim collegiate baseball dominance over my dad, a Miami University alum, and my brother a Wright State alum who even made a decent run to be a walk-on for the Raiders many years ago.
• From the NFL combine, we get some reports of the best 40 times. Per the Buffalo News:
  

  The fastest running back was California’s Jahvid Best at 4.35 seconds. Next was Clemson’s C.J. Spiller at 4.37 seconds.

  The fastest time among receivers was run by Clemson’s Jacoby Ford, who was timed in 4.28 seconds, according to the NFL Network.

• The Bills are apparently taking a look at Charlie Whitehurst. Maybe he’ll end up getting some playing time within the next 5 years.
• Lastly, Khalil Greene’s fresh $750k contract with the Rangers has been voided. Hopefully Khalil can get his shit together.