Happy Independence Day, Buck-aroos! As you’re enjoying the cold beverage and grilled meat product that the founded fathers gave their lives to provide, we thought we’d give you a quick update on the news you may have missed when you were stuck in traffic this holiday weekend.
Buckeyes
- Not Done Yet- The NCAA was back in town last week to check into the “golf gate” allegations that Eric covered last Wednesday. Again, it’ll be difficult to prove the students in question didn’t just pay for the rounds themselves, but that still leaves “access to an exclusive course” as a perk that may have been illegal.
- Shifting Time-line– Ohio State had until Friday to submit their response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, but have been given an extension until the 12th due to this festive holiday weekend (When Gene Smith starts smoking the ribs, there’s no bothering him…). However, given the re-visit from Indy’s Finest, it’s possible that the NCAA will ask to see some reflections on golf-gate as well, which could push this back even further. That may not be a bad thing for this year’s class of seniors- since it might mean that any possible post-season ban wouldn’t kick in until next year. Although, that would certainly hose recruiting and any long term coaching decisions.
- Speaking of Coaching– We hinted at this last week, but we’re hearing that a decision regarding the open linebacker’s coaching position has been made and will be announced following Coach Fickell’s return from
wherever he gets his shirtsvacation. - In England, They Call It “Rugby”- And Ohio State is still awesome at it… but you can help by going here and voting for them against (savor the irony) Army. It won’t mean you love America… just that your “Red White And Blue” is more “Scarlet Gray and… well, this runs out of steam, since we don’t want anything to do with blue”.
Oversigning
- Former Buckeye Related- The Associate Press had a story last week about Ohio State transfer James Jackson that implied that the Buckeyes were trying to be a bit more SEC-like:
“They had an oversigning issue,” Jackson said. “They had to free up a few scholarships, and coach (Jim) Tressel told me I probably wouldn’t play and maybe Ohio State wasn’t the place for me.”
Given the B1G’s rules about oversigning/roster management as well as Ohio State’s history, this sounded a bit fishy from the beginning. Josh at Oversigning.com thought so too, and took a closer look.
In looking at the numbers, Josh determines that the Buckeyes were not in the midst of a “we need to trim the roster” moment, as they were (and currently are) under the 85 limit. In addition, he points to others who say that the “oversigning” quote came from Jackson, and that it possibly was a mis-interpretation of his conversation with the coaching staff.
It’s more than likely, then, that Tressel sat down with Jackson and told him that if he wanted to transfer that Ohio State would support that. There are too many players on the roster who are not “producing” who have not been kicked to the curb for the new hotness.
However (and the article tries to focus on this, but gets sideswiped by the “Ohio State is Evil” narrative the media is pushing), the fact remains that Jackson didn’t know that his was a year by year scholarship. Oversigning has been pushing for education of student athletes on this matter and elimination of the 1 year reality to force Universities to commit to students at the same level that the students are asked to commit to them. We agree with this.
- Can’t Spell “Oversigning” without “Saban”- Alabama, man… continuing to do what’s necessary to get under the 85 limit.
Elsewheres
- Since We’re Already In Tuscaloosa- might as well point out the 44 secondary violations that Alabama reported to the NCAA, 16 of which were from football.A lot of these involved really petty stuff that only the NCAA gets excited about (as opposed to asking agents about specifics that everyone else knows about), but it does show that all programs struggle to meet the ridiculousness that is the rulebook.
- Did Someone Say “Exchanging Memorabilia For Drugs?”And did they say “Oregon?” Hmmm… never would have guessed that this might be something that is rumored to happen outside of Columbus. Still listening for the media stampede towards Eugene.
- Congratulations! Michigan, getting all literate and stuff!!
- Reform Like A Champion Today- Notre Dame gets raked over the coals by the US Department of Education following failures in their sexual assault investigation/support process. (ht ParagonSC) This has to do with sports because the incident in question involves a potential sexual assault by a member of the football team. Combined with the tragic death of the athletic film crew, it’s been a tough couple of years in South Bend. Neither incident, though, was investigated by the NCAA– this is more a commentary on the “importance” of the NCAA’s work rather than on the Irish program.
- Don’t Get Too Comfortable- There’s more to come in the “NCAA Compliance Summer Of Love”; and Yahoo still has a couple of stories that they’re working on (using the novel concept of printing what they could verify… wow). Could Florida/Florida State/’Da U be next up? Or perhaps the folks at LSU?
- Land Of The Free- Equal Under The Law- Yeah… about that….
- Out With A Bang! Be careful out there, folks…
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