Here's the CBS Sports article:
On Thursday night a pair of reports released details regarding a probe related to Oregon's recruiting. Charles Ronbinson, of Yahoo! Sports, released a report revealing details from Oregon's expenditure records, which included $25,000 to Will Lyles for recruiting services, and $3,747 to Baron Flenory, a trainer who runs the Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 camps. In an ESPN.com report, sources close to the probe said that NCAA officials were looking closely into the relationships between Oregon, highly-touted recruit Lache Seastrunk, and Lyles, his personal trainer and mentor.
Obviously the most significant figure here is in regards to Lyles, who has considered himself a trainer and mentor to both Seastrunk and current Duck LaMichael James. Schools often will pay for recruiting services (names, measurements, contact), but the dollar amount paid to Lyles does seem a bit high.
From the ESPN.com report:
Oregon athletics department spokesman Dave Williford confirmed to ESPN.com on Thursday that Oregon paid Lyles $25,000 for his recruiting services. Oregon's payment to Lyles was made shortly after Seastrunk signed a national letter of intent in February 2010 to play football for the Ducks, choosing them over California, LSU and USC.
Your response, head coach Chip Kelly?
"Most programs purchase recruiting services," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said Thursday. "Our compliance office is aware of it. Will has a recruiting service that met NCAA rules and we used him in 2010."
The Yahoo! report revealed more about Flenory's tie with Oregon.
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 packagesâ€
While the implications of these reports are juicy, it is merely smoke for now. If either man is found to be tied to the recruitment of players to the University of Oregon, the payment to them would be considered an NCAA violation. If both men can prove they had no part in steering the players towards Eugene, then the Ducks dodged a bullet.
52 Replies
4968 Views