OT: SI Implicating schools with recruiting violations.

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A2Q's take...

# After bad news broke yesterday regarding the departure of two Oregon offensive lineman from the team due to medical issues, rumor had it Oregon fans were in for another round of bad news, this time of the "major recruiting violations" variety. Fortunately, the rumor that these violations involved Oregon, the flames of which were aptly fanned by our good friend John Canzano, seem to be untrue. What we know, or at least what we think we know, is that a major news outlet is going to release an expose outing a top 10-12 program today. Here's to hoping that program is Texas, Ohio State, or Florida...or Oregon State, just for good measure.
# If you were looking for some sort of closure from today's much talked about SI piece, you're not gonna get it. The big piece that SI released today had nothing to do with recruiting violations, but looked at crime in college football. After last year's offseason, Oregon fans are familiar with that topic, but the Ducks are not even mentioned in the article.
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Cowherd is such a fucking douchebag. I was on the ESPN board as well, and somebody posted this link from last week.

http://www.sportsinferno.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81859&page=1

(A program is about to be OUTED by a news outlet...and by OUTED, the source who began this is talking of payments, etc. Also says it is not a program that many would suspect...which leaves OSU safe
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Basically exactly what Cowherd's "inside source" supposedly told him. Now, if it is anything related to LaMike, why the hell would he have returned to UO? Supposedly some magazine knows about payments to him, yet he goes right back to the school after being a Heisman Trophy finalist?

Cowherd = Drama
 
so I gotta wait till 5... Eastern or Pacific?
 
Wheels said:
so I gotta wait till 5... Eastern or Pacific?
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Wouldn't surprise me at all if Flenory was "pushing" a kid or two to Oregon. If he played for Chip and the two have a good relationship, is he not allowed to talk favorably of Chip to kids he works with? The only way Oregon would get in trouble would be if we were paying Baron to do it, but I really really doubt that is happening. Might also put the eligibility of guys like Lache and Wallace in jeopardy, but neither has played a down of football as a duck so that wouldn't be an issue yet.
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http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=128&f=1423&t=7254793

Flenory has had dozens of top Texas HS kids go through his camps, as has Lyles, yet 2 kids from Oregon are going to land the UO program in hot water?

Seems like hyperbole to me. SI ran similar stories on AAU coaches acting as agents for top basketball prospects a few years ago. Unless there is a check coming directly from a connected booster to a player, I just don't see the big deal. Plus, Oregon self-reports on things like a phone call, yet paying players somehow flies under the radar?
 
SportsByBrooks has about as much credibility as any of us on this board do. He basically just retweets information.
 
still no news that I can find.
 
Wheels said:
still no news that I can find.
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Brooks the Douchebag was going to have a press release at 5pm!

It's a nothing story, and somebody completely punked Cowherd. SI spent 6 months on this week's cover story about crime rates at Top 25 schools, yet they are funding and confirming another story about Anthony Wallace, a 4-star LB, that has 100% proof in one month since signing day? And that is a cover story? Against Phil Knight, who is basically funding SI at this point?

Fuck Cowherd. I'm considering calling that clown's show just to haze him, and I'll even tell his producer about my own rumors about poor Colin here in PDX.
 
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let us know if you get on.. I'll download the podcast :)
 
De'Anthony Thomas recent twitter...
posted this like 5 hours ago:
TheBlaccster BABY D.T JUST GOT. OUT OF A MEETING WIT THE NCAA PEOPLE MAN IT FELT LIKE I WAS TALKING TO THE POLICE 5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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but then there are other comments about that being him. lol
 
then that same account had these tweets

TheBlaccster BABY D.T
IT WAS A MEETING ABOUT USC
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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TheBlaccster BABY D.T @
@sean_***an_1 NOTHIN GOING ON THERE INVESTIGATIN USC
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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yep. About USC.

Still worried about Wallace and Seastrunk though. We will see. Just like SMU, once recruiting goes national and you take people from other big program's backyards, those programs start alerting the NCAA about you.

They are all scared of how quick Oregon's rise is right now. They don't want a dynasty here, but fuck 'em.
 
MrJayremmie said:
yep. About USC.

Still worried about Wallace and Seastrunk though. We will see. Just like SMU, once recruiting goes national and you take people from other big program's backyards, those programs start alerting the NCAA about you.

They are all scared of how quick Oregon's rise is right now. They don't want a dynasty here, but fuck 'em.
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Wallace is connected to Flenory, and Seastrunk is connected to Lyles. Flenory and Lyles, for practical purposes, are rivals competing to attract kids to their respective football camps.

Every top school signs players connected to street agents. This is the biggest bunch of nothing I can remember. Cowherd isn't even talking about it anymore, other than the "text message" he got, which has been proven to be a rumor started last week.
 
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6179423

Looks to me like UO probably found a way to do a technically illegal thing in a technically legal way. I doubt the Ducks will be hit with any sanctions, but I wouldn't be surprised if this investigation ends up resulting in some rule changes.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6179423

Looks to me like UO probably found a way to do a technically illegal thing in a technically legal way. I doubt the Ducks will be hit with any sanctions, but I wouldn't be surprised if this investigation ends up resulting in some rule changes.
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I was on the road to Bend and lost 95.5 right as Canzano was going off air. Is this a big deal? Seems like UO couldn't be so stupid as to actually make illegal payments from their own coffers and leave a paper trail.

If this is what Cowherd was talking about, then a lot of schools are in trouble, because Auburn, for one, also pays for Lyles' service.
 
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PapaG said:
I was on the road to Bend and lost 95.5 right as Canzano was going off air. Is this a big deal? Seems like UO couldn't be so stupid as to actually make illegal payments from their own coffers and leave a paper trail.

If this is what Cowherd was talking about, then a lot of schools are in trouble, because Auburn, for one, also pays for Lyles' service.
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I think the issue isn't so much that they paid for his services but how much. If UO paid him five times the normal rate for what he can legitimately provide, then it makes sense that it would raise some eyebrows.
 
Don't like this article...

Documents: Oregon paid pair with ties to recruits

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AsxQlxhFj62Crou_J9sGfUMcvrYF?slug=cr-oregon030311

The University of Oregon paid more than $28,000 to two men with ties to multiple recruits who signed letters of intent with the school, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

According to State of Oregon expenditure records, the university paid $25,000 to Will Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston, and $3,745 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics. Lyles is a former athletic trainer who recently was serving as a mentor to highly touted Ducks running back recruit Lache Seastrunk. Meanwhile, Flenory runs the Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 football camps which have featured several celebrated Ducks signees including running back DeAnthony Thomas, defensive back Cliff Harris, defensive back Dior Mathis and wideout Tacoi Sumler. Flenory had a personal training relationship with recent Ducks signee Anthony Wallace.

If Lyles and Flenory aided in or were involved in any way in the recruitment of student athletes to Oregon, they would be classified as boosters by the NCAA, and any payment to them from the school would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13. Bylaw 13 prohibits boosters from directing a recruit to a school.

A message left on the cell phone of Oregon coach Chip Kelly was not immediately returned, and there was no answer on a number listed for Lyles. Flenory said the payment to him was for a recruiting service that his company set up for Oregon. The package included names, birthdates and other info on potential recruits. Flenory said the package to Oregon was the only one ever sold by his company because “we stopped doing it because the NCAA said recruiting services could no longer do camps on college campuses. Because we were running camps, we decided that was a better business for us than to sell the recruiting packages.”

Flenory said he didn’t have an invoice readily available for the service, but that his company approached the school and offered the package. He said the school instructed him how he could be paid for the recruiting package. Flenory said he played no part in players either visiting or signing with the University of Oregon, and didn’t understand why the NCAA would have a problem with him.

“We stopped doing it when the NCAA made the rule,” Flenory said.

The payouts all took place within the last fiscal year and appeared in the annual college budget expenditures for the university. According to records, the monies were paid under the account for “Books, Publications and other References.” The $25,000 check was made out to “Willie J. Lyles/dba [doing business as] Complete Scouting”. The check to Flenory was made payable to his company, New Level Athletics.

Lyles became a known quantity on the football scene as a personal trainer in Houston while running a company called Speed Dynamics. The company held conditioning camps for players on college campuses. The camps were typically held in the summer and focused improving the speed and overall fitness of players as they headed into the fall football season. Lyles has also been affiliated with Complete Scouting Services, which claims to offer a national high school scouting and video database nationwide.

Flenory received his college degree from the University of New Hampshire, where he played under current Oregon coach Chip Kelly. Following his senior season in 2005, Flenory remained close to football, joining Scout.com as the company’s Midwest Scouting Director. In that position he made widespread connections with high school coaches and was charged with evaluating national prospects for the service. After leaving Scout.com, Flenory established New Level, which runs 7-on-7 tournaments and camps for the development of skill position players in the prep football ranks. Since the establishment of New Level, the tournaments have come to field some of the most coveted high school recruits in the country and include 32 traveling teams nationally.
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Ducks saying fuck you...

Ducks say payments for recruiting services OK

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-oregon-recruits

EUGENE, Ore. (AP)—School officials have confirmed that Oregon paid about $28,000 to a pair of recruiting services, but claim the payments and services were within NCAA rules.

Yahoo! Sports reported Friday that Oregon paid $25,000 to Will Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston. Lyles has a mentoring relationship with Ducks running back Lache Seastrunk and is also tied to running back LaMichael James, a Heisman trophy finalist.

ESPN.com, citing unidentified sources, reported the NCAA is probing Seastrunk’s recruitment. Both Seastrunk and James are from Texas.

The Yahoo report also said that Oregon paid $3,745 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics. Flenory told Yahoo he also ran a recruiting service that provided Oregon with information about potential recruits, but the company no longer operates because of a change in NCAA rules.

The Oregon athletic department issued a statement Thursday night that said: “This is something we remain confident that is within the acceptable guidelines allowed by the NCAA and occurred with the knowledge of the department’s compliance office.”

If either men guided a recruit to Oregon, it would violate NCAA rules. The NCAA will not comment on ongoing investigations.

The Ducks went 12-1 this past season, falling to Auburn in the BCS title game. They were ranked No. 3 in the final Top 25. James led the nation in rushing with 1,731 yards.

Rumors had been swirling for the past week that Oregon was facing a possible investigation into recruiting violations.

“We have previously stated that we have not been in contact with anyone from the NCAA or Pacific-10 Conference in regards to these practices and that situation remains unchanged,” Oregon’s statement said.

Attempts to reach Flenory and Lyles by telephone on Thursday night were unsuccessful.
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Lyles accompanied Trent Richardson on his 'Bama visit. Richardson's mom was moved into a $200k house shortly after Richardson signed. LSU has at least five 4-to-5 star players via Lyles, and has paid him on numerous occasions.

That's the real story here, but the NCAA can't kill their golden SEC goose.
 
depends on who you ask lol.
 
Natebishop3 said:
The thing is, they can put down whatever they like on the check. There's no way of really being able to prove guilt or innocence here unless Seastrunk comes forward and says he was steered.
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I don't think it even matters if Seastrunk says he was steered, so long as Oregon didn't know about it. Lyles accompanied Trent Richardson on recruiting trips to Alabama and LSU, and even went with Seastrunk to USC.

In terms of NCAA violations, unless there was no "service" actually bought, this is a non-story. Of course, if the NCAA decides that they want to address the issue of street agents/recruiting services, and schools paying for them, then that's another story entirely.

At this point, as I look at various boards, the only fans still screaming for blood are Husky Honks and some USC bittermen. Oh, and George Schroeder of the Register Guard, who is still trying to convince people that this was all a scam.
 
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