• My conscience compels me. The court-appointed attorney for Harvey Updyke Jr. (above), the 62-year-old Alabama fan charged with criminal mischief for allegedly dousing the famous oak trees at Auburn's Toomer's Corner with a lethal dose of herbicide last year, is trying to beg out of the case due to a conflict of interest: He's an Auburn fan. Philip O. Tyler wrote in a motion to withdraw that he's been a resident of Auburn since 1988 and has "numerous personal and family ties to Auburn University." He did not add "In summation, your honor: War Eagle," though presumably he said it aloud as he finished typing. [WSFA, via CFT]
• Really Big Fan. According to an affidavit (pdf), Auburn police initially tracked down Updyke more than a week before his early morning arrest Thursday for , thanks to a voice mail Updyke left an Auburn professor on Feb. 7 referring to the crime. (The professor's specialty: Turfgrass Management and Weed Science.) Police compared the voice on that message to the voice of "Al from Dadeville," the caller who bragged about killing the trees on Paul Finebaum's radio show on Jan. 27, confirmed that it was the same person, and used phone records to find their man. Updyke admitted to making both calls, per the affidavit, but later denied actually poisoning the oaks. [Birmingham News]
As you can deduce from his wardrobe and willingness to literally poison the soil at Alabama's most hated rival, Updyke may actually be the most hardcore Crimson Tide fan alive – he has two children named "Bear" and "Crimson" – even though he didn't attend the school and has spent most of his life in Texas. Public records list 33 former addresses for "Al," most of them in the Lonestar State, and his Facebook page indicates he's a former Texas state trooper. He was also arrested in Texas in 2007 on charges of writing two bad checks, on top of 16 civil judgments against him.[Al.com, @kleph]
• Sorry about that, dude. The NCAA reversed course Thursday on North Carolina fullback Devon Ramsay, determining that he committed no violation and declaring him eligible to play in 2011 – after forcing him to sit out the last nine games of 2010 over questions about a two-year-old class paper. Ramsay was one of 14 Tar Heel players benched last year over various NCAA probes, though he was the only one specifically tied to allegations of academic fraud by a former university tutor, who reportedly suggested "minor revisions" to a three-page paper Ramsay wrote in 2009, an offense student academic officers didn't even deem worthy of sending to the university honor court. The NCAA, however, declared Ramsay permanently ineligible over the paper last October, costing him the rest of his junior season. [Associated Press]
• Wildcattin'. Former Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage will transfer to Arizona, where he signed scholarship papers on Thursday and will be eligible to play in 2012. Savage originally signed with the Scarlet Knights as the most hyped QB prospect in the Northeast in 2009, and had a firm hold on the starting job by the end of his first game there. The up-and-coming narrative went off the rails last year, though, after Savage struggled through the first three games, left an eventual loss to Tulane with an injury in early October and never took the reins back from true freshman Chas Dodd, even as the Knights spiraled to the bottom of the Big East. [Tucson Citizen]
• Get well soon. Florida linebacker Neiron Ball is no longer in a life-threatening situation and will be moved out of the ICU of a Gainesville hospital today, days after a blood vessel burst in his brain. His former high school coach said Ball is "doing OK" and "having headaches," but is "scared more than anything." (Which… yeah, obviously. That is justified fear.) Ball isn't going to participate in spring practice next month, and hasn't had conversations about returning to football in the long run. [Gainesville Sun]
Quickly… Notre Dame fans give Boston College a brief preview of their new offensive coordinator. … Florida State offers Jimbo Fisher for a Caribbean cruise. … A film company begins a series of Michigan documentaries with Gerald Ford's stand for a teammate. … TCU will take on BYU in the Jerry Dome in October. … Creating Arizona State's mascot is the least interesting aspect of this guy's life. … And they're smiling today, but every one of them will tell recruits horrible things about all the others tomorrow.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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