Yes, it appears Laremy Tunsil smokes pot. Yes again, it also appears he had an ongoing agreement with the University Of Mississippi football program for “financial aid” regarding his mother’s living arrangement. But, regardless of the illegality of both (either from a legal or NCAA perspective), this is not an isolated incident of a player gone bad, but rather further evidence of a widespread problem growing by the minute.
I’m not a college football insider, nor do I play one on the radio. But I do enjoy the sport, live with my eyes open, and listen to and read enough from the people directly tied to it to understand that what appears to be happening at Ole Miss is not a Mississippi or SEC problem, but one that’s happening to some extent at nearly every competitive university at the FBS level.
Don’t believe me? Talk to ex-players. Talk to ex-coaches. Hell, talk to midlevel boosters who rub shoulders with millionaire alums who make this all work. Some will tell you directly, others won’t, but rest assured all will do so with a “wink and a smile” look on their face, as if to say, “What do you think?”
The NCAA plays games with these schools. They tell them there are rules. They tell them there are consequences. And occasionally they parade a football or basketball program before the media and allege infractions ranging from recruiting violations to academic fraud. Yet, the process of investigation takes years and the ensuing consequences seemingly lifetimes. As a result, no one really takes them seriously.
Intercollegiate athletics, primarily the revenue-generating sports like football and basketball, aren’t a barrel of crisp, ripe apples, tainted by a few mushy rotten ones. But rather one fraught with a handful of crisp, ripe ones, another handful of mushy rotten ones, and a primarily full barrel of slightly bruised, dull-tasting reds.
People will tell you, “These kids need to be paid!”
I disagree.
Should they get more? Yes. The rules make it difficult for student athletes to sustain a “living,” and due to the time and effort that sports’ require of them, a little extra cash would certainly be fair. But the notion that a free education that will leave the majority of kids 6-figures in debt, isn’t valued compensation for scholarship athletes who will in all likelihood not play professionally, is bunk. But it’s a notion poisoning already entitled athletes into thinking they deserve more, which has left the Laremy Tunsil’s of the world as the rule opposed to the exception.
Education has value. Somewhere amongst the talk of “exploitation” that got lost. As a result, players have been conditioned to believe they deserve more, and essentially been given a green light to do what they know is wrong.
Recruiting has become less about what a school and program can do for you, but rather what they can give you under-the-table. And I put that on the NCAA’s inability to govern via a modernized system better suited to fit today’s big-money environment.
What Laremy Tunsil appears to have done was wrong. Rules are rules, and any inference excusing such a breach is simply aiding and abetting a culture nurtured by an archaic system the NCAA seems incapable of fixing.
Whether it’s Tunsil and rent, Terrelle Pryor selling gear, Reggie Bush and a house, or even Willie Lyles allegedly selling influence behind the façade of recruiting software, the system is broken. Kids want money and we’ve empowered them to take it in spite of rules against it. For every one of the aforementioned perpetrators, there are 5 other individuals or programs under investigation for violations ranging from illegal benefits (money), to cheating (academic fraud), to improper relationships with agents. Tunsil, it appears based on reports, was rumored to have had an arrangement with a “runner” working directly with an agent, resulting in some sort of payment in exchange for his commitment to an agency upon turning professional. When Tunsil allegedly said “thanks but no thanks” when he decided to enter the draft, said agency used his draft night as an opportunity to terrorize his stock via a social media hack. It worked, and now Tunsil and the University of Mississippi are in the type of spotlight members and players living beneath the NCAA umbrella strive to keep clear of.
But little will likely come of it.
Tunsil was a problem. The Mississippi football program appears to be one as well. And many think this type of thing is standard operating procedure for an SEC Conference consistently on center stage. But to think this is isolated to one guy, one program, or one conference is ridiculous, and thanks to the NCAA … getting more ridiculous by the day.
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