1. Ole Miss went 0-for-the NFL Draft over the weekend.

A handful of guys signed free agent deals after the seventh and final round concluded on Thursday, but there’s no spinning the fact that Ole Miss was shut out of one of the most-viewed NFL drafts in history.

First, some congratulations are in order. Benito Jones signed with Miami on Saturday. Scottie Phillips signed with the Houston Texans. Myles Hartsfield inked a deal with the Carolina Panthers. Josiah Coatney signed with Pittsburgh. Jalen Julius signed with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. They’re all stand-up guys who were a pleasure to cover. I wish them all well.

Still, no one was drafted. Why?

It’s not complicated. It doesn’t require thousands of words or any deep-thought theories. NCAA investigations are meant to cause harm. They drag out for years and leave severe damage in their wake. That’s exactly what happened to Ole Miss, and the evidence was left to be seen over the weekend.

Ole Miss’ 2017 signing class left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t a championship-level class and it was signed at a time LSU, Alabama and Auburn were recruiting at a very high level. That was months before Hugh Freeze was fired in July 2017 for “a pattern of personal misconduct.”

You know the rest. Sanctions. Chaos. An interim coach getting the full-time gig. Rinse. Repeat.

Ole Miss is in a better place today. Think what you will of Matt Luke, but at the very least, Luke did a good job stewarding the program through sanctions and did nothing to embarrass it. The end was ugly, sure, but that wasn’t his doing.

Ole Miss now has a very strong coaching staff in place. The Rebels appear to be poised to recruit at a very high level. The page has been turned.

If anyone was still struggling with sentimentality, the weekend should have stopped that cold. An era is over and if you needed convincing that moving on was the right thing for Ole Miss, the draft should have done that in spades.

2. Leo Lewis wasn’t drafted either. He signed Saturday with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent. Sometimes that works out. Usually it doesn’t.

It’s worth noting that about Lewis, the former Mississippi State linebacker who became the face of the NCAA’s case against Ole Miss. Whatever he got on the recruiting trail from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU and whoever else dipped into their funds in an attempt to procure his signature is almost certainly long gone by now. Undrafted free agents don’t make life-changing money, certainly not unless they make a team and wind up playing a role for years. Lewis, if all goes well, is years away from a big NFL payday.

I’ve long said this, and it’s not popular, but Lewis will one day be seen for what he was in this whole thing — the victim. Oh, he’s worn that false bravado on his sleeve for years now, but he got used as a pawn.

Everybody else is still making money. Well, most everyone. The NCAA got its pounds of flesh. Lewis, unless he can defy the odds and make a career in the NFL, will be the one person left to answer for the circus.

Joker gifs aside, he got used. He got chewed up and spit out. No one (well, except for Dan Mullen, perhaps) won in the Ole Miss NCAA saga. There were a lot of losers, however.

3. That led to, I felt, a natural time to put a bow on the whole Ole Miss/NCAA saga. It’s over now. All of the players (well, at least the majority of them) can now have an accurate postscript written about them.

The NCAA didn’t get what it set out for. Hugh Freeze is now stuck at Liberty. Dan Mullen got the hell out of Starkville and is now running a top-10 program and making gazillions at Florida. Ross Bjork fell forward to Texas A&M. Matt Luke is a very highly paid offensive line coach at Georgia. Ole Miss doubled down and hired Kiffin, who assembled a very strong recruiting staff. Lewis, the coveted high school recruit, never lived up to the hype on the football field. Rivals, Scout/247, everyone got him wrong.

The irony is there were people on the Ole Miss staff who told Freeze that Lewis wasn’t worth the time or risk, but Freeze was star-chasing then. He obsessed over Lewis, and it burned him. Saturday seemed to be the ideal time to write the epilogue to the entire drama.

4. Boy, did that get #MSUTwitter worked up.

I have covered the Southeastern Conference, either as a beat writer or a columnist, for more than 22 years. I’ve covered Auburn and Ole Miss for extended periods, filled in on the Alabama beat for a time and covered LSU as a quasi-beat writer. I’ve seen a lot, both good and bad.

I’ve never seen anything like #MSUTwitter. They are obsessed. I simply pointed out that Lewis wasn’t drafted and that served as a postscript to the entire saga.

That triggered #MSUTwitter, causing quite a bit of vitriol. I have no issue with Mississippi State. I didn’t grow up in Mississippi and really know nothing about the school. Both of my girls have friends there and friends who are going there. My next-door neighbor attends MSU and loves it. I have no feelings for the school at all.

However, the portion of that fan base that lives on Twitter is insane. They cannot and will not understand that someone can cover a school, even when that school is someone’s alma mater, objectively. The argument is one I’m tired making and you’re tired of reading. Most here have accepted that I cover Ole Miss fairly and without bias one way or the other. Otherwise, you wouldn’t subscribe.

However, as I’ve said, if I were a fan, it would be absolutely insane for me to hide it. My life and job would be so much easier if I cheered for Ole Miss, wore Ole Miss gear, shilled for the school, etc.

I don’t, and presumably, that fan base knows it. However, for whatever reason(s), #MSUTwitter won’t come off the narrative it so badly wants to be true.

5. It also led to a conversation about Barney Farrar. Here’s what I can tell you: Farrar and I didn’t know one another, but I think he would admit he disliked me. A lot. We could delve into the whys and hows of that, but it’s an old, tired story at this point. People set a narrative about me, and I don’t work all that hard to negate it. Outside of a very small handful of people, I don’t care what people think of me.

Anyway, after Farrar had been relieved of his duties at Ole Miss, he and I got to know each other. We shared the same gym in Oxford. We’d crossed paths in that space and never said a word, but one day, he asked me a question and I answered it. I think he respected the answer.

Over time, it led to a dialogue and ultimately, I think it’s safe to say, to a friendship. One day, as the NCAA case reached its crescendo and before Ole Miss’ “day in court” in Covington, Ky., I asked Farrar a question.

“Why,” I asked, “are you willing to take the fall?”

I was genuinely curious. I told him he’d never coach in Division I again if he allowed himself to be the fall guy. His answer, delivered in that aw-shucks style that so endeared him to his players, rambled a bit. However, boiled down and paraphrased, Farrar respected the code. He also loved the kids he got to know on the recruiting trail, even the ones who disappointed him with their decisions. Farrar relates to Mississippi in a way few really can. He understands poverty and desperation and family better than most. He knows recruiting isn’t pretty, but he cares for kids and their families. He truly does.

When it was over, after the NCAA had indeed delivered the hammer against Farrar, we saw each other in the gym again. He couldn’t have been nicer. We talked about our families and his future and all of the stuff friends talk about when they see one another.

I’ve had an interesting experience covering Ole Miss for 12-plus years. At times, it’s been downright weird. However, and I feel comfortable saying this, there are few people I enjoyed getting to know more than Barney. I hope he’d say the same, but I don’t want to put words in his mouth.

He took the brunt of that fall, but I think he did it to protect kids. Like I said, I’m not sure I could’ve done it, but he did, and in his mind, it was the right thing to do. I respect the hell out of that. Sometimes, doing what one believes to be the right thing hurts the most. Farrar’s decision very likely had permanent consequences for him, but he can hold his head high knowing he did the one thing he felt he had to do. Barney is a good man.

6. The SEC absolutely dominated the draft. That should serve as a reminder of just how difficult Lane Kiffin’s job in Oxford is going to be. Matt Luke did a yeoman’s job holding down the fort during the chaos, but the roster is lacking, especially when compared with the big boys in the SEC West.

To win in the SEC, a program must have NFL talent. There’s no denying that. The SEC had 63 players drafted over the weekend. LSU had 14 players drafted off its incredible 2019 national title team. Alabama had nine draftees. Florida and Georgia had seven each. Mississippi State, who fired its coach (it did, #MSUTwitter, and my pointing that out isn’t water-toting), had five players drafted.

It’s a big-boy league. Period. To win in the SEC, Ole Miss must recruit at a higher level. Kiffin has acknowledged as much. It’s worth noting that Ole Miss’ new staff has a heavy Michigan flavor. The Wolverines produced 10 draftees over the weekend. That total didn’t include Shea Patterson, it’s worth noting, but it should show that DJ Durkin, Chris Partridge and others with Michigan ties who are now in Oxford know how to evaluate, recruit and develop talent.

7. Back to the draft for one quick moment. I had some complaints about ESPN’s coverage — maybe a few too many concerts and far too many sob stories — but for the most part, I thought the people in Bristol, Conn., should be commended for a job well done, especially considering the circumstances.

Frankly, I think the network stumbled onto something. I much preferred seeing the draftees hear the news at home with their families than I do seeing them in suits in a holding room in New York, Chicago, Nashville or Las Vegas.

More than that, what I really liked was getting to see the coaches and general managers do their work at home, with wives and kids and dogs around. Give me those shots over the bunkered-down war rooms all day long. It let fans see that these people who make decisions for the franchises they love are just that — people. They go home to a real place with real children who have real feelings. It let fans see that the players they cheer for on Sundays are humans with families who love them. They’re not football robots.

8. The NFL Draft also served as a reminder that the when-can-sports-return conversation is really just getting started. Before the draft began on Thursday, commissioner Roger Goodell gave ESPN a wide-ranging interview from his man cave in New York. He was asked, of course, about the league’s plans for the coming season and he was, understandably, vague in his answers.

When are sports returning? Here’s the truth: We don’t know. No one really knows. Plans are being made behind the scenes, per sources, but there are so many questions being asked of medical people who aren’t precisely sure of the answers that no concrete plans have been made.

At the college level, for example, the questions are numerous. When players return, how long must they be quarantined? What happens if there’s an exposure after quarantine? there certainly will be exposure, somewhere, for the players and coaches aren’t robots. They have lives outside of the games they play.

Can fans be allowed into games? If so, with what rules and regulations? Will fans be required to socially distance in stadiums and arenas? If so, who enforces those rules? Will fans be encouraged to wear masks? If so, who serves as the mask patrol?

The bottom line is leagues, franchises, conferences, schools, coaches and players have to decide what level of risk is acceptable. Decisions along those lines have to be made in the not-too-distant future, as there will be advanced planning required.

Will colleges open in August? My guess is yes, but what will that entail? Before young people pour into dorms like Stockard and Martin on the Ole Miss campus, will they be required to quarantine in that setting for a couple of weeks? What about sorority and fraternity houses? What happens when someone in one of those dorms or houses tests positive? Again, so many questions. As April winds to an end and May approaches, we’re moving closer to the point where those answers have to come, one way or other other.

9a. That’s enough deep thought for a day. It’s time to eat and drink. Here’s our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 33 — Strawberry Shortcake.

With the quarantine ongoing and the weather getting nicer by the day, how about a simple dessert that always bring its “A” game? Traditionally this dessert hails from Britain and is made with a sweet biscuit. Yet, I like to go with making this “biscuit” in a loaf pan. You are still able to get little crunchy bits of sugar this way and it won’t dry out for you if per se you have any leftovers for the next day. Let’s get right into the tidbits.

Tidbit #1: Use an electric mixer for both your “biscuit-cake” along with your whipped cream. You will save your arm from an intense workout.

Tidbit #2: Before you start with the batter for the loaf, we need to go ahead and macerate the strawberries. When you hear this “maceration” word, it means for things to be softened. We will do this by adding to some of the strawberries, sugar and orange liquor. This will help to break down the strawberries slightly so that they will release their juices.

Tidbit #2.1: The reason we will start with this step instead of the biscuit, we want those juices to have developed in your mixing bowl. We will pour some of this juice over the biscuit once it comes out of the oven while hot before we un-mold it. This will add a little extra flavor to your biscuit.

Tidbit #3: For a more ascetic look for your dessert, use a scrapped vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract in your whipped cream. It will make it pop from a visual aspect.

Tidbit #3.1: For your whipped cream, you don’t have to mix it on high speed with your mixer. It is actually better to go at medium speed because it will incorporate the air more evenly throughout the cream. By this way, your cream will retains its “shape” longer.

Things you will need:

3-4 People

Glass of Moscato Wine with hints of Orange

1.5 Hours To Goodness

Equipment Needed:

1 Work Surface with a Serrated Knife

A stand or hand-held electric mixer

1 Standard Bread Loaf Pan

Measuring Cups of 3/4 Cup, 1/2 Cup, 1/4 Cup, 1 Tsp, and 1/2 Tsp.

2 Small Mixing Bowl

1 Rubber Spatula

1 Spoon

1 Oven

1 Fridge

Pan Spray

1 Toothpick

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Cup of Sugar + 1/4 Cup of Sugar + 2 Tsp Sugar

4 Tbsp Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract + 1/2 Tsp

1/2 Vanilla Bean, Scrapped

1/4 Cup Whole Milk or Buttermilk

2 Eggs, separated

1.5 Pints of Fresh Strawberries

2 Tsp Orange Liquor

3/4 Cup Heavy Cream

4 Tsp Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Step 1: “Mis en place” all of your ingredients. With your 1 pint of the 1.5 strawberries, slice and place in one of your mixing bowls. Add the 2 Tsp of sugar, the orange liquor, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Give a good toss and then place in the fridge.

Step 2: Turn your oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. In your stand mixer, add your egg whites. Whisk on medium speed. Once frothy, add the 1/4 cup fo sugar and continue to mix until you get soft and smooth peaks. Usually 3-5 minutes. Pour this mixture into your other small mixing bowl.

Step 3: In the bowl that you just poured the egg white mixture out of, add your butter and sugar. Whisk until creamed on medium speed. 3-4 minutes. Add your two egg yolks and your other 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Mix until all combined and then pull from bowl from the stand mixer.

Step 3.1: Now in that bowl, add 1/3 of your egg white mixer and incorporate with your spatula. Then add the rest of your mixture and fold until almost completely combined. Add to the bowl the salt, baking powder, and flour. Now fold these ingredients in. Once it begins to become thick, add your milk. Then fold until all completely combined.

Step 4: Pour your batter into your greased loaf pan and then cook for 40-50 Minutes. Use your toothpick to check the cake to ensure that it is fully cooked.

Step 5: When your cake is ready, pull from the oven. Now pull your macerated strawberries form the fridge and pour 4 spoons of the juice in the bowl over the top. Let sit till room temperature and then untold.

Step 6: Now back in your stand mixer bowl, add your heavy cream, powdered sugar, 1/2 vanilla bean scrapped. Whisk on medium speed until soft but firm peaks. Set to the side.

Step 7 (Last Step): Slice the rest of your strawberries and set to the side of your work surface. Slice 2 slices of the loaf biscuit-cake. Pour some of the juice in the macerated strawberries on each piece. Then assemble on your plate with layers in the order of biscuit cake, macerated strawberries, whipped cream, and then repeat for your second layer. With your fresh sliced strawberries place them over the top layer. Then dig in and enjoy a little bit of springtime. This recipe is quite a few steps but well worth the work put in for the final result. So from the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appetite!

9b. And here’s Jonathan Howard with the Drink of the Week:

Hello Rebelgrovers! I hope we are all staying safe and getting by in this unprecedented time in our country’s life. I am finding myself at home with a large amount of food in the fridge, which is rare considering how often I am out to eat on a normal work week. So, this means I’ve got things I need to use before they go bad, and a perfect drink to help me do that is a Whiskey Smash. This “garbage can” cocktail can be a really great tool for both flavor and to utilize all the things you have in the fridge. So, the Whisky Smash is your Drink of the Week.

First a little review!

The 5 ingredients of a cocktail are:

Physical Liquids & Solids, Dilution, Aeration, Balance, & Mouthfeel, Temperature.

Physical Liquids & Solids are the tangible items being used to create the cocktail. They of course start with spirits whether they are a full 80 proof or not, but can also include acid, sugar, herbs and spices.

Dilution is the amount of water added to the drink to bind it through the use of ice or chilled water. To get proper dilution into a cocktail:

Stirred Cocktails: 35 rotations.

Shaken Cocktails: Shake hard for 12 seconds

Thrown Cocktail: Toss 6 times.

Swizzled Cocktails: Swizzle for 12 Seconds

Aeration is the amount of oxygen forced into a cocktail by stirring, shaking, or throwing the beverage. Aeration adds a dry quality to the cocktail much like drinking sparkling water instead of still as an example.

Stirred Cocktails: This is for drinks consisting of all spirits and gives minimal aeration.

Thrown Cocktail: This is for drinks consisting of all spirits and gives medium aeration.

Shaken Cocktails: This is for drinks consisting of mixed ingredients and gives maximum aeration.

Swizzled Cocktails: This is for drinks consisting of mixed ingredients and served on crushed ice and gives medium aeration.

Balance is equaling out the ratio of spirit to acid to sugar. This is something a little more complex that we will get into drink by drink as it is in my opinion the hardest and most important ingredient we will deal with.

Temperature is the desired degree of heat or cold you wish for a cocktail to be. Drinks should be chilled between 28- 32 degrees Fahrenheit for most options however hot drinks like the toddy should be around 116 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is going to help with the mouth feel of the drink and how much of the alcohol shines through depending on what you get for balance.

Mouthfeel this is literally the way the liquid feels once it hits the mouth.

Now that we know a little more of the why let’s dive in with a basic recipe and break it down then put a couple simple twists on it.

WHISKEY SMASH

Physical Liquids & Solids: American Whiskey of your choosing, Lemon Slices, Mint, Sugar

Balance: A base recipe of 2 oz Spirit, ½ oz Simple Syrup, 4 Lemon Slices, 10 Mint Leaves

Aeration: This will get aeration in 2 ways. One from Muddling all the non-alcoholic ingredients, and TWO from an extremely aggressive shake.

Dilution: Dilution should be your typical level of 20% dilution for the volume of the drink.

Temperature: 26 degrees is the temperature you want so I would strongly suggest using a chilled cocktail glass at the end so that you can keep that temperature for a long as possible.

TWISTING THE WHISKEY SOUR

Physical Liquids & Solids: This is a very easy drink to twist and change. You can change the mint out for any herbs you find and add slices of other fruits and even vegetables to them at your leisure. The sweetener can also change with your desires which is going to open up all types of opportunities to use whatever you have available.

Balance: In keeping with the same formula as the classic version can be a solid idea. With some really acidic ingredients like green apple or sweet ingredients like pear you might need to slightly adjust the amount of sugar to the base recipe. This can be done with adding a ¼ oz a liqueur for instance. Or with a sweet ingredient perhaps a dash of bitters?

Aeration: Take the lemon slices, herbs, and sugar and muddle them by pressing them with the blunt end of a mallet or wooden spoon. Then add the spirit and shake the absolute life out of it.

Dilution: Shouldn’t Change

Temperature: Shouldn’t Change

Recipe could look something like this:

Grapefruit Smash

2 oz. Bulleit Rye

½ oz. Honey Syrup (1:1)

3 Lemon Slices

2 Grapefruit Slices

10 Mint Leaves

Fall Smash

2 oz. Crown Royal

½ oz. Maple Syrup (1:1)

4 Lemon Slices

2 Apple Slices

4 Sprigs of Thyme

Grove Smash

2 oz. Blade & Bow Bourbon

½ oz. Simple Syrup

¼ oz. St. Germaine

4 Lemon Slices

2 Rosemary Stalks

1 Dash Cardamon Bitters

CHEERS!

10. My daughter, Campbell, turns 19 on Friday. This hasn't been the easiest of times for her. She's badly missed her friends at college. She's missed her roommate, Parker. She's missed her spin studio, her sorority sisters, her routines and all of the activities that were planned for April. She and her friends had plans for her birthday, and those obviously have gone by the boards. Campbell has hung in there. She had some rough days, but she's rebounded. Like we've told her, it's a good thing that you miss something as much as she misses Arkansas. It means she made the right choice. It's been nice having her home, but I'll be happy for her when she can return to the life she was building in Fayetteville. Happy birthday, Campbell.

We’ll have coverage of something this week at RebelGrove.com. I’m not sure what, but by golly, we’ll have something. Until then, here are some links of interest to me _ and hopefully, to you _ for your reading pleasure:

NCAA moves toward allowing athletes to be paid sponsors

Tech companies, including Apple, interested in Pac-12 media rights starting in 2024

The Brady blunder: How Michigan and Henson set him back for NFL Draft | Sports | eagletribune.com

Tigers, Rockies go beyond most teams in their commitment to paying employees – The Athletic

Why Won't MLB Teams Issue Refunds?

Vecenie's 2020 NBA Draft Buzz: Some names moving up and down...

Starts and stops (for good): Japan's B.League is a cautionary tale for the NBA

Inside Mark Hamilton's journey from MLB to MD fighting coronavirus

How MLB can put stop to Red Sox, Astros-like video scandals

What if MLB had ties? We crunched the numbers and here’s how your team did – The Athletic

Young people with coronavirus are dying from strokes - The Washington Post

Coronavirus in Ohio: More than 1,800 inmates at Marion Correctional test positive

Milan announces ambitious scheme to reduce car use after lockdown