Guest BGIF Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feb. 9, 2007 CBS SportsLine.com wire reports LOS ANGELES -- Southern California is looking into whether it may have violated NCAA recruiting rules while pursuing highly rated recruit Joe McKnight, a university official said. McKnight signed a national letter of intent with USC on Wednesday and made comments during a news conference that seemed to suggest communications involving former Trojan Reggie Bush, who is now with the New Orleans Saints. Former players are forbidden from telephoning prospective recruits, their relatives or guardians. "We're aware of it, and we are looking into it," sports information director Tim Tessalone told the Associated Press late Thursday. The university's action was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on its website late Thursday. USC coach Pete Carroll denied any call took place, and McKnight's high school football coach said the recruit misspoke during the news conference. The star running back has been living with his high school coach, J.T. Curtis. "It never happened," Carroll told the Times. During the Wednesday news conference, McKnight said Carroll set up a conference call so he and Curtis could talk to Bush and ease concerns USC might face sanctions. The NCAA and the Pac-10 Conference are investigating whether Bush or his family received "improper benefits" from agents while he was playing for USC. Regarding McKnight, Mike Matthews, associate commissioner of compliance for the Pac- 10, said boosters are not supposed to be involved in the recruiting process but could not comment without knowing specifics. NCAA spokeswoman Crissy Schluep also said she could not comment without knowing more. Curtis told the Times on Thursday that he spoke to Carroll during McKnight's recruitment, but not on a conference call with McKnight or Bush. He also said McKnight told him "Coach Carroll was talking to Reggie on the speakerphone and Joe was able to listen and hear Reggie Bush's side of the story," the newspaper reported. After being informed of Carroll's denial Thursday night, Curtis called McKnight and later said the recruit never heard Bush on a speakerphone. "He said when they came in his house, the discussion was brought up about probation and that's when the conversation came up that they had talked to Reggie, but Joe was not there," Curtis said. "He said, 'I was not on the speakerphone. I never called him and he never called me. I want to make it clear I never spoke to Reggie and he never spoke to me. I just messed it up. I shouldn't have said it that way (at the news conference)."' Curtis said McKnight may have been overwhelmed by the attention and scrutiny that accompanied his announcement. "At the press conference, it seemed like he got 1,000 questions in five minutes," Curtis said. "If you saw what was going on it would be easier to understand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfschellcrna Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 usc is like teflon, nothing sticks. nothing will come of this either........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ND FANATIC Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Apparently, McKnight lacks so much intelligence that he has now idea what he sees or hears, its amazing he could qualify to get into college. Or the more likely scenerio is that Carrol and Curtis know the screwed up and are now trying to cover their a**. I sure would have like to have seen Petey's face when McKnight said that in front of the cameras Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irish_at_birth Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 is there a way to contact the ncaa to send them a petition stating that college football fans want a real investigation into their program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangeruss Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 usc is like teflon, nothing sticks. nothing will come of this either........... i agree, it doesn't seem to matter what USC does because they always seem to get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Timbo1599 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Nothing will come from this but I really have a feeling something will happen with the Reggie Bush issue. Too much money was given to him and his family to have it swept under the rug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangeruss Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 i hope your right Timbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest irishfox Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Amazing how many stories this kid can think of when he needs too. We all know that he had this conference call with Bush but nothing is going to happen it's USC, the only team that makes money in the PAC 10 and out West. This is a money game, they aren't going to pusnish a big dogg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ital-Irish Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 The following is a re-enactment of the NCAA by Ital-Irish Hey, you over there with the skis who needs endorsement money to participate in the Olympics, yea, get the hell out of here. Oh and you, who left school too early because an NFL rule was deemed unconstitutional but later was deemed OK, so you were stuck in purgatory, sorry, no dice. Your school? What's a couple hundred thousand bucks between players and agents? And a blatant recruiting violation involving who some considered the No. 1 player in the nation, followed by a sloppy and incoherent coverup? C'mon. We're only out to crush the little guy. The preceeding was a re-enactment of the NCAA by Ital-Irish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogan46 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Regarding McKnight, Mike Matthews, associate commissioner of compliance for the Pac- 10, said boosters are not supposed to be involved in the recruiting process but could not comment without knowing specifics. NCAA spokeswoman Crissy Schluep also said she could not comment without knowing more. I have a couple of questions related to this: Was Zorich at Robert Hughes announcement? Is that considered a booster involvement in the recruiting process or is the situation different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ND81 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I was thinking that too. I guess it depends on if Zorich called him, or maybe the contact was initiated by Hughes. Would that be considered a violation? Definitely seems like each person is trying cover their respective back sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishziggy Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 i was wondering that as well. does zorich do anything in the public league, coach or anything like that? j/w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTM531 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 another usc violation.... http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1728697 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ND81 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Is there anything stupider then someone ending a sentence by saying Fight On! Fight On O.J.! I'm sure you will find the "real" killer sometime, it probably won't be at the #9 tee box though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest heismancaliber Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 They should really look into Penn St too if they are gonna make this USC thing an issue because Penn St had Tamba Hali and Larry Johnson visit the same weekend as some of their top prospects (Broderick Green, etc) and that ain't no coincidence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shark83 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 They should really look into Penn St too if they are gonna make this USC thing an issue because Penn St had Tamba Hali and Larry Johnson visit the same weekend as some of their top prospects (Broderick Green, etc) and that ain't no coincidence The NIts have a way around that, smarter than I actually thought . Tamba Hali plays with Green's step-brother, Greg Welsey and Tamba was in town "to visit his girfriend" who is still at PSU. Larry Johnson was in town "to visit his father". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialFNK Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 so there is a rule that former players cant "call" a recruit? or that recruits cant "call" a former player? but what about talk in person? how would that work for former players with sons/relatives that want to attend the same college? asin a former player having a son and being a recruit for college football but his father wouldnt be allowed to discuss anything related to that college? doubtful. ..and i wouldnt be surprised if calls do go on but nothing is ever said about it therefor noone will ever know. anything that could turn out to be a violation against USC im all for because, wait for it.. i hate USC! how much wana bet if it was Notre Dame that was suspected of cheating there would be so much said about across the country and everyone from regular people to sportscasters(especially ESPN) would be all over it how ND would need to be punished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.