SEC Notebook: Alabama C Barrett Jones misses practice

Alabama C Barrett Jones missed Alabama's first practice for Notre Dame. (US Presswire)

A look at what made headlines in the SEC on Tuesday:

• Alabama C Barrett Jones, who injured his left foot in the first quarter of the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, missed the first day of preparations for Notre Dame on Tuesday, according to AL.com. The senior All-American rode on a stationary bike while Alabama went through its first set of drills since defeating the Bulldogs in the SEC Championship. Redshirt freshman Ryan Kelly took snaps at center in Jones' place. Coach Nick Saban said that it is unlikely that Jones will practice any before Christmas.
  
  
• Florida hopes the hiring of new wide receivers coach Joker Phillips helps boost a groups of WRs that struggled in 2012. The Florida WRs had just nine catches of 20 or more yards this season. "I was kind of just sitting and looking and evaluating our team and what we need, what is the best thing for our staff and the best thing for our future," coach Will Muschamp said (via the Orlando Sentinel) about hiring Phillips, the former head coach at Kentucky.
  
  
• Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is getting close to completing his first staff for the Wildcats. He introduced his seventh new coach, DL coach Jimmy Brumbaugh, on Tuesday. Brumbaugh is a former All-SEC defensive lineman at Auburn. He's coached at Louisiana Tech, Syracuse and most recently at East Mississippi Community College. “When I talked with Jimmy, he blew me away with his organization and plan of how he teaches and develops the defensive line," Stoops told the Louisville Courier-Journal.
  
  
• After taking a pounding on his injured shoulder all season, Ole Miss is letting QB Bo Wallace rest it during the first week of its preparation for Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl on Jan. 5. "Bo could go," coach Hugh Freeze told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "We're just trying our best to get him as healthy as possible. We're going to try to hold him until those seven (post-Christmas practices). Just make sure he has as much pop as he can in that arm for the bowl game.”

For more up-to-the minute news and analysis from SEC bloggers Larry Hartstein and Daniel Lewis, follow @CBSSportsSEC.