(USA Today Sports Images)

Houston running back Charles Sims, arguably the team’s best offensive weapon, announced Thursday he was departing Houston, leaving his football future up in the air.

“It is with regret and deep humbling, that I am ending my playing career at the University of Houston," Sims said in a statement. "I have a lot of great memories that I will carry with me forever. I want to thank the University of Houston for allowing the opportunity to be a part of its football program.

"I don't know what my next step will be. I have one more year of eligibility, therefore I may look to play one more year of college football or I may enter the NFL Supplemental Draft later this year."

In January, Sims said he would return for his senior season, but after receiving his degree this spring, Sims started having second thoughts. Since he has graduated, Sims could transfer to another school and be eligible to play immediately.

Here’s a little fun for your Friday.

Indiana released a promo video this week for something. Sorry, we can’t be more specific, but the video doesn’t offer a lot of clues at to what it’s trying to share with the audience. Just a few local heroes giving their thoughts when the “thing” is unveiled.

"Niiiiiiiiiice.,” former running back Anthony Thompson said. “That is nice. I like that.”

"Oh yeah. You really fire me up on that one, I guarantee you,” former coach Bill Mallory said.

He then adds: “Holy mackerel," later in the video.

(USA Today Sports Images)

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

PLAYERS WHO COULD KEEP JOHNNY MANZIEL FROM ANOTHER HEISMAN

NO. 2, TAJH BOYD

When Tajh Boyd announced he would forgo being part of a weak 2013 NFL draft class to come back to Clemson, he solidified his spot as one of the major threats to unseat Johnny Manziel for the Heisman Trophy.

Boyd has been a little underrated and overshadowed during his career, but that should change this year.

He has had two productive seasons as a starter, throwing for more than 3,800 yards each of the past two seasons, with 69 touchdown passes. He also ran for 514 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah, a former scout and a great follow on Twitter, had a very accurate and complimentary comparison for Boyd:

Most college football teams have great traditions, but Clemson's two pregame routines stand out as among the best in the sport.

If you like Clemson, or are just antsy for the next three-plus months to pass so we have college football games again, the video above should give you more than a few chills (and don't complain South Carolina fans, we've already hooked you up with some Jadeveon Clowney videos this offseason).

The video from Clemson talks about the two main pregame routines at Clemson. First is rubbing Howard's Rock, a rock given to then-Clemson coach Frank Howard by Tigers alum S.C. Jones, who picked it up in Death Valley, Calif. That tradition started in 1967, and is still going strong today. No matter how many times you have seen it

(shop.soonersports.com)Unlike Kevin Ware T-shirts being sold to profit off his horrible injury, this is an apparel sales idea that is easy to support.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa are teaming up on T-shirts to help benefit the victims of the tornadoes that caused massive damage in the state. At $19.99, the shirts bear the logos of the three major schools in the state with the phrase "OK Together" at the top. Proceeds will go to The United Way.

The link to buy one from the Oklahoma team store is here.

Here was the description of the shirt from Oklahoma's site:

It’s the Oklahoma Standard. In times of need, our communities rally around each other with an outpouring of love and compassion. As a Cowboy, Hurricane and Sooner fan, you can do your part to help the Oklahomans that have been affected by the recent devastation by supporting those in need with this 2013 Disaster Relief Efforts tee. All proceeds from the sale of each tee will go to The United Way for disaster relief efforts in the affected areas to further the movement of recovery and restoration.

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(SBNation.com)

SBNation's Patrick Vint had a great find, as he wrote about how Tim Tebow's name was actually used for a play call in NCAA Football 10, a game by EA Sports.

Now, that last sentence might not seem like a big deal to you. But it contradicts one of the key arguments being set forth by the NCAA and EA Sports in a very important lawsuit brought by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon.

O'Bannon's suit claims that the NCAA used the likenesses of players to sell things like DVDs and video games made by EA Sports, and players didn't make anything off it. The NCAA and EA Sports tries to get around that by saying that no player names are used. Anyone who has played the games will tell you that when "QB #16" for Michigan has the exact same attributes as Denard Robinson (and is playing in an exact video game replica of Michigan Stadium, in an exact replica of the Michigan uniform), for example, it's pretty clear that player on the screen is supposed to be Denard Robinson. But EA Sports and the NCAA kept saying no names were used.

But apparently the highest profile name in college football the past few years was inserted into the game a few years ago, which makes that argument even more dubious than it already was.

As SBNation wrote, it took some digging to find Tebow's name on one of the plays (the sixth and seventh plays listed on the image at the top), but one of their readers did it and the site confirmed it:

While the full formation name is shortened during gameplay, the full title is revealed in the Game Prep feature in Dynasty mode. The formation, with the quarterback in the shotgun and two running backs placed two yards ahead of him, was a formation commonly used by Florida during

J.J. Arrington (Getty Images)

Since 2003, running back J.J. Arrington had a full football career.

He had a 2,000-yard season for Cal, was drafted in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals, played four seasons with them and had two catches in a Super Bowl, was with Denver and Philadelphia after that but didn't play due to knee issues, and was signed and released by the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL in the span of a few months in 2011.

A decade ago, Arrington was known for an incident in which he forged his father's name and falsified the time on his letter of intent to beat the deadline under an Oregon coach's watch according to the LA Times. Even though that was so long ago and Arrington went to Cal anyway, it still looms over the Ducks' program.

The Register-Guard obtained a copy of the NCAA's notice of allegations it sent Oregon in early December, regarding Oregon's recruiting practices and its relationship with Willie Lyles. The notice of allegations confirmed that because of the long-ago Arrington ordeal, which resulted in a two-year probation handed down in 2004, the Ducks are subject penalties under the NCAA's repeat violator rules.

These incidents never seem totally in a school's past, do they?

The Register-Guard said the notice of allegations is almost identical to the summary disposition proposal sent to the NCAA last year, so there wasn't a lot of new ground covered in the latest document. The Ducks met with the NCAA's committee on infractions last month.

Given that, according to the Register-Guard, the notice of allegations points out that "all of the alleged violations ... are considered to be potential major violations of NCAA legislation," this is a nervous time for Oregon. The repeat offender classification won't make the Ducks sleep easier, either.

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(USA Today Sports Images)This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

PLAYERS WHO COULD KEEP JOHNNY MANZIEL FROM ANOTHER HEISMAN

NO. 3, LACHE SEASTRUNK

Since 1999, only one non-quarterback has won a Heisman. But that one was a running back (Mark Ingram), so there is a little Heisman hope for the guys who carry the ball.

Ka'Deem Carey of Arizona is coming off a very productive year. Alabama's T.J. Yeldon and Georgia's Todd Gurley were great as freshmen last year and should be even better this season. Kent State's Dri Archer and Oregon's De'Anthony Thomas are hybrid players who are exciting and capable of huge years.

But if there's one running back who can get the voters to look past the quarterback position this season, we think it's Lache Seastrunk.