DeVier Posey Suspended Additional Five Games

If it’s Friday, it means that it’s time for more bad news.

Devier Posey has been suspended an additional five games by the NCAA for receiving $720 in payment for hours not worked, in addition to “free golf”.  Essentially, this means that his senior season will consist of the games against Penn State and Michigan… I’ll bet he’s incredibly glad he chose to abide by his promise to Jim Tressel and return after the Sugar Bowl. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a great story on this, which highlights several things. First, DiGeronimo states that the NCAA’s restriction on $15 per hour payment for students does not take into account state requirements to pay them at the same rate as union employees, and that documentation submitted proves that the students involved were paid at this rate.

Second, Posey’s lawyer speculates that the punishment was so harsh as a reaction to Posey’s friendship with Pryor- they couldn’t punish Terrelle, so they punished DeVier.  Posey’s lawyer is quoted in the AP story as follows:

“My hard evidence and common sense and logic from 30-plus years of practice tells me (the NCAA’s decision) is not supported by sound, reliable information and documentation,” he said. “We were able to document that all these players had worked the hours that they had said. Even if we were to concede where there might be holes, less than five hours are in dispute. That takes them under 100 bucks. In DeVier Posey’s situation, (the NCAA) just absolutely disregarded evidence that any person with common sense would accept. Why they did it, I do not know.”

Somewhere, our friend Paragon is nodding his head.

Finally, Gene Smith showed some fire with a statement that he was “Extremely disappointed” in the decision that was “harsh”.  This marks the first time that Smith has disagreed with the NCAA publicly, and may be a portent that the University’s expectation of being in the “sweet spot” for sanctions was completely misguided.

In better news, kind of, Boom Herron and Marcus Hall have been cleared to play following their suspension this week against Nebraska.

At this point, I’ve been thinking about adding a “Days since last suspension” counter to our sidebar… although it will only reach “6”, as the NCAA seems to have Fridays circled on their calendars.