South Carolina's Christian Walker didn't know until a half-hour before the first pitch whether he would even be able to play in Game 1 of the College World Series finals. After his adventurous run from first base to home in the 11th inning Monday night, the Gamecocks are one win away from their second straight national championship.

Coach Gene Chizik says in his upcoming book that Auburn would never have let Cam Newton play if the Tigers had any concerns about the quarterback's eligibility. Chizik says "we knew we had done nothing wrong during the recruiting process" and praised the Heisman Trophy winner's "incredible focus" amid all the scrutiny last season.

Gary Stokan stood in a parking lot in downtown Atlanta on a recent evening, catching a glimpse of the future. "Right where that red car is," he said, "that's where the lobby is going to be. "Up there," he added, pointing, "I see the big [video] screen.

Cam Newton sweated through a workout with his new Carolina teammates Wednesday morning, hopped a flight to Washington to meet the president in the afternoon, then quickly returned to make sure he attended the final player-organized workout Thursday.

Georgia high schools had another respectable showing in the MLB draft, which concludes Wednesday with 20 more rounds. Richmond Hill left-handed pitcher Kevin Matthews was the last pick of the first round, picked at No. 33 by the Texas Rangers. He was followed by two Georgia high schoolers in the Compensation Round A — Berrien outfielder Larry Greene by the Philadelphia Phillies at No.

The Braves used their first pick to target their No. 1 priority in this draft – acquiring left-handed pitching. The Braves selected left-hander Sean Gilmartin out of Florida State with the 28th overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft Monday night.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier says suspended quarterback Stephen Garcia is back on campus and working out with teammates. Spurrier adds that Garcia has no room for another misstep. Spurrier says "one more, he'd be finished." Garcia was suspended for the fifth time in his college career — and second time during spring practice — on April 6 after an incident at a life skills seminar.

Something is going to happen regarding over-signing and the SEC’s new “roster management” proposals for football this week. But exactly what, nobody is sure just yet. According to South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, the league’s football coaches took a 12-0 vote to the conference athletic directors Wednesday afternoon to keep at 28 the number of players schools can sign on national signing day.

Tickets for the Atlanta regional of the 2012 NCAA men’s basketball tournament will go on sale in October and can be purchased online. The NCAA announced Tuesday that tickets will be available for every preliminary round up to the semifinals and final, which will be played at the Superdome in New Orleans on March 31 and April 2.

Georgia football coach Mark Richt was obviously uncomfortable with being portrayed as the face of opposition against over-signing, and Houston Nutt is equally uncomfortable being called the face for it. Nonetheless, their opposing philosophies were getting a lot of media attention here at the SEC Spring Meetings as coaches and administrators entered the first day of debate over whether to introduce new legislation aimed at curbing the practice.

The Southeastern Conference will consider legislation this week to address over-signing, the controversial recruiting action that Georgia football coach Mark Richt has called "an awful thing to do." Over-signing is when a college signs more recruits than it has scholarships available.

Five SEC Meetings discussion topics
1. Roster management The issue: A broader reaching subject than "over-signing," coaches and administrators will discuss a hard cap on yearly scholarship allowances for football to 25 from December to August. Also, the SEC will address the practice of "grayshirting" (delayed enrollment), midyear enrollment, summer enrollment and medical disqualification process.

The man accused of poisoning the trees at Auburn's Toomer's Corner has pleaded not guilty and waived Thursday's preliminary hearing. Harvey Updyke Jr.'s attorney, Glennon Threatt Jr., said Wednesday night that he entered a plea of not guilty for reasons of mental disease or defect.

Creekside High School's Josh Holsey, who is one of the state's top college prospects at defensive back, will pick between Auburn, Georgia, Virginia Tech and LSU on Tuesday afternoon. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound cornerback has been publicly favoring Auburn and was asked if that was still the situation.

The top of the NFL draft had a decidedly Georgia feel to it. With the first pick, the Carolina Panthers selected former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, a College Park native who played his high school football at Westlake. Three picks later, the Cincinnati Bengals selected former Georgia wide receiver A.

Hattie Lou, 74 years young, got up on a chair, pointed to the sky in thanks, and then started to pump her hands up and down. She was raising the roof. Her grandson, Cam Newton, had just been selected as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.

Harvey Updyke, the University of Alabama fan charged with poisoning landmark trees at Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner, was assaulted at an Opelika area convenience store, a Montgomery, Ala., TV station is reporting. Updyke’s attorney, Glennon Threatt, Jr., confirmed to WSFA-TV that his client was assaulted at the Tiger Express convenience store.

NFL teams searching for the next franchise quarterback have put the top prospects in the upcoming draft under hot lights and a mammoth microscope. In retrospect, the major investigative work could be attributed to Ryan Leaf's failure in San Diego, Michael Vick's crash here and JaMarcus Russell's washout in Oakland.

Top 10 quarterbacks in NFL draft 1. Cam Newton, Auburn, 6-feet-5, 248 pounds: As a true freshman he backed up Tim Tebow at Florida. In the first game of his sophomore year, he suffered an ankle injury and opted for a medical redshirt year. He went on to lead Blinn Junior College in Texas and Auburn to national championships.

Georgia added a fourth member to its 2011 recruiting class Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA’s late signing period for basketball. Nemanja Djurisic, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward from South Kent (Conn.) School, signed with Georgia. “We’ve very excited to have added ‘Nemi’ to the program for next year,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said in a statement.

A judge ruled Wednesday there's probable cause to consider robbery charges against two former top recruits from metro Atlanta and two former Auburn University teammates. Antonio Goodwin, 20, ranked 9th in the state's top 40 recruits in 2009, and Shaun Kitchens, 19, of College Park, are free on bond following their arrests last month in an alleged robbery at the home of other college students.

Georgia is honoring native son and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton with a day of festivities that included a stop at the state Capitol. The General Assembly presented the quarterback with resolutions recognizing his athleticism at Auburn University, where he led his team to the BCS Championship earlier this year, and at Westlake High School in College Park.

In an HBO special airing Wednesday night, four former Auburn football players will say they received cash from boosters, according to the Sports by Brooks website. One of them, Stanley McClover, will say that during his recruiting process he got $500 in a handshake from LSU, other money handshakes from Auburn and Michigan State, and sexual favors at Ohio State.

High schools that share logos with universities may soon find themselves shopping for new mascots. Florida State, which last week reached a settlement with the Rockdale County Board of Education prohibiting Salem High and Memorial Middle from using the Seminoles logo, isn't the only university aggressively protecting its trademark.

Finding a flaw in men’s college basketball, especially this time of year, practically qualifies one as a crank, or at least a certifiable curmudgeon. The next three weeks, with its brackets, its buzzer beaters and its symphony of tattoos, is widely regarded as one of sport’s most visceral and pleasurable durations.