TENNESSEE: Junior receiver James Banks was suspended for the first three games of the season by Coach Phil Fulmer after he was cited early last Friday morning for a noise disturbance and underage drinking. Although he was not arrested, Banks is still trying to recover from being suspended this spring for a verbal incident in the Thornton Academic Center. He was also suspended for the first half of the Peach Bowl for not returning to campus for bowl practice on time in early December. Banks could be reinstated for the Oct. 2 home game against Auburn. Meanwhile, he must perform 25 hours of community service and attend alcohol related counseling sessions. (Tennessean.com) Ricardo Kemp (5-11, 175), an athlete from Warren, Ark., has committed to Tennessee. Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma State have all shown interest in him. (Volquest.com) Junior backup defensive tackle Greg Jones has failed to make the academic requirements and will miss the 2004 season unless he gains a favorable ruling on his appeal. Jones lost his sister and niece last November in a car accident. Freshman quarterback Erik Ainge has impressed players with his strong arm. (Tennessean.com)

FLORIDA: Louis Murphy (6-3, 180), a receiver from St. Petersburg (Fla.) Lakewood, has verbally committed to the Gators. Maryland, Iowa, Duke, South Florida and Louisville have offered him. Receiver Kenneth Tookes has picked up the pace during voluntary drills after having an average spring. Jerome Hayes (6-2, 225) of Bayonne, N. J., visited the Florida Rising Senior camp. Hayes said he has 47 offers. Rutgers, Miami, Florida, Tennessee, Michigan State and Virginia are high on his list. Sophomore starting middle linebacker Channing Crowder and junior starting free safety Jarvis Herring have been suspended for the season opener against Middle Tennessee State. They were arrested May 16 after an altercation outside a nightclub in Gainesville. Crowder was charged with disorderly conduct and Herring was charged with resisting arrest without violence. Linebacker Taurean Charles was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated battery after he allegedly punched Florida student Dane Eagle in the head causing him to fall to the ground from a deck. Then he threw a partially full beer keg at him. A police report stated that Eagle suffered a concussion, broken nose that required reconstructive surgery and several stitches in his head. A Gainesville police detective said more than 10 other Gator football players were involved in the fight and that misdemeanor complaints would be filed against two of them. Charles, a sophomore, pleaded no contest last year to misdemeanor battery charges for an altercation with a female student in her dorm room. He underwent anger management counseling and was suspended for the first game. Freshman signee Michael Brown, who weighs 280 pounds, will begin his career at defensive tackle. Tailback Deshawn Wynn has lost down to 223 pounds. He wants to be 215, but has been as big as 240. Gabe McKenzie, a tight end/defensive end from Mobile (Ala.) Davidson attended the Florida Rising Senior camp recently. Florida is his favorite school, but he is looking at LSU, Alabama, Auburn, FSU and Miami. (GatorBait.net)

GEORGIA: At least three senior level positions in the UGA Athletic Association—Associated Athletic Director for Ticket Operations, AAD for Marketing and Promotions and the AAD for Standards and New Sports Programs-- have been eliminated as a part of restructuring. Josh McNeil (6-4, 270), a center from Collins (Miss.) visited Georgia last weekend. He is the No. 2 rated center according to Rivals.com. Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Tennessee and Florida are his top seven. Carlos Thomas (5-11, 165), an athlete from College Park (Ga.) Banneker, is looking at Georgia, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida, Auburn and Maryland. He took an unofficial visit to Florida last weekend. Punter Gordon Ely-Kelso has been suspended for the first game against Georgia Southern for a violation of team rules. He punted 66 times for an average of 39 yards per kick. (UGASports.com) Signee Jamar Bryant, a receiver from Hamlet, N. C., did not meet academic requirements and will attend Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia this fall. (AJC.com)

ALABAMA: Baron Huber (6-4, 240), a linebacker or defensive tackle from Powell High in Knoxville, Tenn., has verbally committed to the Tide. Nikita Stover, a Tide 2004 signee from Hartselle (Ala.) High, is adjusting to life at Itawamba Junior College in Fulton, Mississippi. He said Alabama is still his favorite school. (BamaOnline.com)

AUBURN: Coach Tommy Tuberville told a group of Tiger boosters this week that tailback Carnell Williams weighs 212 pounds after playing last year at 197. His backup Ronnie Brown has bulked up from 220 to 233 pounds and reserve quarterback Brandon Cox is 202 pounds after reporting his freshman year at 164. For the first time since 1998, Auburn has a full compliment of 85 scholarships. (Huntsville Times)

VANDERBILT: The Commodores and Middle Tennessee State are close to finalizing a contract to play in Nashville during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. (Tennessean.com)

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Bulldog officials are excited about new construction on campus such as a new addition to the Shira complex, which is State’s athletic training facility. There are also plans to build new parking lots and improve the baseball facility. (Bullblitz.com)

ARKANSAS: Redshirt freshman quarterback Landon Leach, who had offseason shoulder surgery, should be able to compete with Robert Johnson and freshman Alex Mortensen for the backup job behind starter Matt Jones. (Collegefootballnews.com) Defensive end Phillip Jones (6-4, 240) and linebacker Alex Odiari (6-0, 225), who are from Hebron High School in Lewisville, Texas are considering committing to the Hogs. Both are attending the Seniors Camp this weekend at Arkansas. (HawgSports.com)

OLE MISS: Sophomore running back Jamal Pittman, who is recovering from two knee surgeries in as many years, and senior starting linebacker Ken Bournes were arrested late Saturday night in Memphis. Pittman is charged with felony reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and Bournes with unlawful possession of a weapon. Both players have been suspended indefinitely and are not allowed to use the team’s off-season workout facilities. (RebelGrove.com)

SOUTH CAROLINA: Travis Norton (6-2, 178), a cornerback/receiver from Tallahassee (Fla.) Lincoln High, said South Carolina and Louisville are his top two schools. South Carolina, East Carolina, and Middle Tennessee have offered him. (GamecockCentral.com)

FSU: On Tuesday, the players participated in the 40-yard dash, 10-yard dash, pro agility run, vertical jump and broad jump to determine the team’s top athlete. Last year, Michael Boulware won and Ernie Sims finished second. This year, Sims, who is 230 pounds, won on the strength of a 40-yard dash of 4.39 and vertical jump of 39 inches. Lorenzo Booker was second in the competition. Cro Thorpe ran a 4.30 in the 40-yard dash. His vertical jump of 38.5 was 2.5 inches better than last year. Cornerback Antonio Cromartie ran a 4.36 in the 40-yard dash. Clifton Dickson (6-4, 308), a sophomore defensive tackle, amazes his teammates with his acrobatic exploits such as doing backflips on the practice fields and somersaults off the diving board. True freshman offensive lineman Courtney Abbot has been medically cleared to practice. He weighs 319-pounds after losing a considerable amount of weight. Lucky Lundford, who said he weighs 345 pounds, is prepared to play guard, if Bobby Meeks, who is awaiting his fate after an altercation with law enforcement officers, is not back for the Miami game. Furthermore, offensive linemen Eric Broe, who has been plagued by a nagging knee injury, is taking a medical hardship and another lineman, Matt Heinz, has quit the team because of persistent back problems and poor academics. Senior rover Kyler Hall is considering a redshirt season. There are three seniors at strong safety and no definite backups behind them. Jerome Carter and Claudius Osei could get the majority of the snaps this year, if Hall redshirts. (Warchant.com)

CLEMSON: Quentez Ruffin (6-4, 287), an offensive tackle from Tallahassee (Fla.) Leon High, has verbally committed to the Tigers. Ruffin visited LSU, Florida and Georgia this summer. He has offers from LSU, Clemson, N. C. State, Kansas State, South Carolina and UCF. Clemson has sold out its season tickets (56,800) during the preseason for the first time. The school record for season ticket sales is 57,625 in 1988. Clemson has brought new hydraulic collapsible goal posts that are scheduled to be ready Sept. 4. The new model collapses in five seconds and cost $50,000. Coach Tommy Bowden met with the media Tuesday. He said the defense was the key for a successful season. Last year in the last four games, Clemson held their opponents including FSU and Tennessee to 12 points and 80 yards rushing per game. During the first nine games, opponents averaged 22 points and 154 yards rushing. Bowden said with road trips at Miami, FSU, Virginia and Texas A & M could cause the Tigers to have a worse record than last year. One of the major goals for the opener against Wake Forest is stopping the Demon Deacon misdirection offense that has rushed for nearly 700 yards in the past two games against Clemson. (The State) Thomas Austin (6-4, 286), a guard from Camden, S.C., chose Clemson over Penn State, Maryland, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Army, Wake Forest. (TigerIllustrated.com)

MARYLAND: Kent Hicks (6-3, 207), a safety signee from Culpepper, Va., has signed with Virginia Tech after his letter-of-intent was invalidated. Hicks fell short of the school’s academic standards, which are more stringent than the NCAA requirements. (Baltimoresun.com)

MIAMI: Randy Phillips (6-0, 181), a defensive back from Glades Central, has committed to the Canes. FSU and Ohio State are still recruiting Phillips. (CaneSport.com)

BYU: Quarterback signee Ben Olson, who will finish his two-year Mormon mission this November, has reconsidered his signing and will look at other schools possibly in the Pac 10. Olson, who signed in 2002, was redshirted in his only season at BYU. Any player on a religious mission for over 18 months is available to be recruited by another school. (Collegefootballnews.com)

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Sophomore receiver Whitney Lewis is expected to miss the 2004 season because of academic problems. He reportedly failed to pass the first semester of summer school and did not report for the second term. (Collegefootballnews.com)

BIG 12 PROPOSES 12-GAME SCHEDULE: The Big 12 conference plans on proposing NCAA legislation to play a 12-game regular season schedule beginning next year. After the legislation is introduced, it would be first considered by the NCAA in January and could be voted on in April. If approved by the NCAA board, the rule could take effect next season. Without the change, the NCAA allows a 12-game schedule to be played in 2008-09, 2014 and 2019. (SI.com)

RECRUITING LIMITATIONS: The NCAA Management Council proposed a ruling Tuesday that prohibits colleges from using university jets to pick up recruits. The Council will send the ruling to the NCAA board of directors for emergency approval Aug. 5. This rule could hinder schools that do not have an airport nearby. For instance, Auburn will have to meet recruits in Atlanta and drive them 100 miles to campus and Alabama will have to meet recruits in Birmingham and drive them 60 miles. Coaches are concerned that the rule would force recruits who play basketball to miss academic programs usually held on Saturday mornings because of their flight schedules. Also the rules would prevent schools from providing personalized jerseys and using audio/video scoreboard presentations featuring the player. There would be no more limos for recruits and lodging would be standard. Meals would primarily be served in the school cafeteria. (The Birmingham News)