Kansas linebacker Huldon Tharp is calling it a career. (AP)

Our best wishes to Kansas starting linebacker Huldon Tharp, who’s giving up football due to repeated injuries in service of the game. The university announced Tharp’s decision on Monday; Tharp himself offered the following statement:

“Physically my body just can’t hold up anymore. I love KU and have enjoyed my time being a part of the football program. Thanks to Coach Weis’ encouragement I am going to graduate this summer and head out into the real world. I want to thank Coach Weis and the entire KU football staff for all that they have done for me,” said Tharp. “They have treated me very well and I definitely see bright days ahead for this program.”

Tharp would have had one more season of eligibility to play college ball.

Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman is hanging up his cleats. (AP)

First, the actual bad fortunes, as in fate: Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman, who turned heads by rushing for 783 yards as a freshman in 2009 and has since been repeatedly beset by injuries, is scheduled to announce Wednesday that his football career is at an end. Norman explained his predicament to The Tennessean:

“I’m 100 percent sure I’m not coming back,” Norman said. “It’s my right knee that had surgery, but my left knee is pretty much the same thing. The cartilage is wearing down pretty fast and it’s bothering me right now. The doctor told me basically I wouldn’t be able to play on it.”

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UConn running back Martin Hyppolite was a passenger in a head-on car collision that left him hospitalized. (AP)

Keep Connecticut’s Martin Hyppolite and his family in your thoughts today: The Hartford Courant reports that the senior UConn running back is in intensive care at a New Hampshire hospital following a weekend car crash that left one person dead:

The accident occurred on Route 4 in Durham, near the University of New Hampshire campus. A vehicle driven by Bruce Larson, 74, was hit head-on by vehicle driven by Ryan Marchant, 22, of Wakefield, Mass., according to Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley. Larson, of Durham, was pronounced dead at the scene. Hyppolite, who is from Wakefield and lives in Malden, Mass., was a passenger in Marchant’s vehicle. Marchant was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and his condition is unknown.

Hyppolite saw playing time in 11 games for the Huskies last season, recording 69 net rushing yards on 19 carries and one touchdown. Our thoughts are with him, his family and the Connecticut football community.

South teammates having a Senior Bowl moment. (AP)

• Actual football content! Sort of! E.J. Manuel earned MVP honors at Saturday’s Senior Bowl, scoring the South’s first two touchdowns — a two-yard run and a 20-yard pass to Alabama’s Michael Williams — to give his team a 14-0 first-quarter lead. BYU’s Ziggy Ansah shone on defense with seven tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Stepfan Taylor led all rushers with nine carries for 53 yards; Kenjon Barner was the game’s top receiver with seven catches for 59 yards.

Also, this happened. Of course it did.

• And what do recruiters make of the new recruiting regulations? ”It’s insane. It’s bad on both ends,” said a recruiting coordinator at a major-conference school. “If it’s not regulated where coaches have periods here and there that are designated as breaks, you don’t get any time with your family.” That and more from Stewart Mandel.

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As of Wednesday afternoon, here is every publicly available tweet hashtagged with #MarylandFootball. [Click to enlarge.]

Here’s a bit of news from Maryland’s athletic department that is relevant to your interests and mine, as internet wags: Randy Edsall will host a Google+ Hangout on National Signing Day! No, this is really happening:

“The Google+ Hangout will be moderated by quarterback C.J. Brown and will be one of the first opportunities fans have to hear reaction from Coach Edsall on National Signing Day. To view the Hangout, fans can log on to their Google+ account by visiting Google.com/+. From there, the Hangout can be viewed by visiting the Randy Edsall Google+ page at 4 p.m. The Hangout will be posted on the Maryland Football YouTube channel.”

(It is comforting, in a special way, to know that no matter how high these coaches ascend in the power structure and however many millions of dollars they make, they still have to get millenials to help them work the computers, no?)

The school is soliciting questions on various social media platforms in advance of the Hangout; the results of Twitter search of the requested #MarylandFootball hashtag are visible to the right. It’s been two full days since this release went out, and this is the best we can do, internet? What shall we ask Randy Edsall on this very special day? Let’s help out with some bright ideas:

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In the dystopian future of the Big East, BBVA Compass Bowl trophies will be a highly valued currency. (AP)

• “Group of five” still just sounds so ominous. Jeremy Fowler reports on the coalescing system the Big East, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt are working on to distribute playoff revenue from the new postseason system:

In this proposed system, more than half the group’s roughly $86-million playoff pot would be distributed among the Big East, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and Sun Belt as guaranteed base shares, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussions. The source expects those shares to be evenly split, but added discussions are ongoing. The second tier pays out based on a conference’s body of work — the top conference gets the highest amount, then “X” amount for the next-rated conference, and on down. The third tier pays a kicker to the conference with the highest-ranked team, which is guaranteed an access bowl bid or, if among the top-four teams in the country, a semifinal berth in the playoff.

• Harbros’ early broing days. Check out Dan Wetzel’s tale of relatively wee Harbaughs recruiting youngsters to their dad’s team at Western Kentucky, including an appearance by one Willie Taggart.

• Exactly how you would’ve guessed. Former Miami Hurricanes make up the biggest slice of Super Bowl roster pie charts, but two of the next five teams on that list are … Marshall and Utah? Marshall and Utah! Go ThunderUtes!

• From the no-jokes department. Compelling story via OTL on UCLA researchers and evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in living football players.

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We have at least three weeks’ worth of Sebastian photos on hand, in case this Miami story keeps dragging on. (AP)

Assorted newsy bits — of varying degrees of importance — you might have missed over the long weekend:

• Didn’t we already do this headline a week ago? ”Imminent” can mean a lot of things! In the cosmic sense, the NCAA’s investigation of Miami has spanned less than a fraction of an eyeblink, but here we are, riding on a human-speed space-time wave, just twiddling our bloggy thumbs until the ‘Canes’ notice of allegations drops. The latest rumblings, per Bruce Feldman, involve a very large book being thrown at ex-Miami and current Louisville assistant Clint Hurtt and other former ‘Canes colleagues. We’ll have more on this when we actually see the notice of allegations, unless we don’t see this notice of allegations, in which case we’ll be right back here next Monday writing a third variation on this same headline.

• And speaking of the NCAA: On the final day of the annual NCAA convention, the latest raft of changes — touted as an effort to streamline NCAA regulations — were unveiled. Your friendly neighborhood Bylaw Blogger takes a look at one proposal, regarding recruiting start dates, that was left out of the bundle.

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Is this the real Kliff Kingsbury, or an incredible simulation? (AP)

• Kliff Kingsbury is on Twitter. His hair does not look artfully tousled. He is wearing a suit and tie, and that tie is not a skinny tie. No v-necks are immediately visible. This may in fact be a wax dummy of Kliff Kingsbury pictured here, which would go a long way toward explaining why it hasn’t tweeted yet.

• We are now contractually obligated to call him Bear O’Brien for one calendar year. Penn State’s head coach has been bestowed with the Bear Bryant College Coach of the Year Award, marking him as the most alliterative winner in the award’s history. Congratulations, Bill O’Bryant!

• Coach-hirin’ follies! Florida defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is leaving to rejoin the Seattle Seahawks; Gators assistant D.J. Durkin has been elevated in his place … per our express wishes, Clancy Pendergast will replace Monte Kiffin as USC’s DC … Rutgers will reportedly lose offensive coordinator Dave Brock to Delaware … Rick Smith, who’s coached defensive backs at South Florida since 2010, will join Ruffin McNeil’s staff at East Carolina as defensive coordinator … now-former Boston College OC Doug Martin (not, so far as we know, nicknamed “Muscle Hamster”) is headed back to New Mexico State in the same capacity.

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If Brian Kelly takes the Eagles job, maybe there will be an NFL team that Alabama could beat

— Brandon (@TeamSpeedKills) January 10, 2013

• Eagles to turn next to R. Kelly. There are folks getting awfully het up at Brian Kelly (subscription required) for his dalliances with the Philadelphia Eagles, who are just trying to live frugally after printing up all those WE <3 COACH KELLY cocktail napkins for Chip.

Elsewhere in coach-hirin’ follies: Obvious international superspy Bob Toledo will rejoin Rocky Long as offensive coordinator at San Diego State … Chuck Bresnahan will coordinate Willie Taggart’s defense at South Florida … Bill Young is out and Glenn Spencer is in as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator … Texas A&M swipes West Virginia’s quarterbacks coach to serve as co-offensive coordinator in College Station … and from Regular Virginia, Kevin Sumlin snags an assistant who’d been with the Cavaliers for just over a week.

• Roster blotter. Eddie Lacy, Dee Milliner and D.J. Fluker will all leave Alabama early to enter the NFL draft … Clint Moseley has left Auburn football, though not Auburn … also draft-bound, Clemson’s Nuke Hopkins, Washington State’s Marquess Wilson and Georgia’s Kwame Geathers … Joseph Randle to turn pro, per Joseph Randle … LSU has, at last count, 11 early departures … notable non-departures include Texas A&M’s Jake Matthews and Texas’ Mike Davis … and spare some healing vibes for Notre Dame’s Kapron Lewis-Moore, whose BCS title game injury has been confirmed as an ACL tear.

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Our continued best wishes to Tulane’s Devon Walker for a complete recovery. (AP Photo/Tulane University)

• Actual good news, actually. Devon Walker is getting out of rehab and will spend the winter holidays continuing his recovery at home with his family. Here’s his statement: ”I am so happy to be going home where I can reunite with my family and friends. My family and I are very grateful for the support we continue to receive. Some days, when I think that I just can’t do this anymore, remembering my many friends and supporters (both old and new) who are praying for me gives me the strength to go on. I know that my fight is just beginning. Please continue to pray for my recovery. Thank you very much.”

• And now, humans in plush cow suits playing drums in the general direction of Dabo Swinney. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is your one-stop destination for events of this kind.

• Coach-firin’ follies. Are increasingly giving way to coach-hirin’ follies: Missouri offensive line coach Josh Henson will replace the departed Dave Yost as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator.

• Roster blotter. Stedman Bailey will pass on his senior season at West Virginia in favor of the NFL draft … also turning pro: Tennessee’s Justin Hunter, per Justin Hunter … Louis Nix will return to Notre Dame, with the intent of taking a little Senior Day stroll with his mom … Cincinnati’s Brendon Kay has been granted a sixth year of eligibility … and stop us if you’ve heard this before, but a Montana player is transferring. No, again. No, again again.

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