Terrelle Pryor isn't Cam Newton, on or off the field

[Saniflush]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/12/scarbinsky_tattoo-gate_should.html

terrelle-pryor.jpgTerrelle Pryor, still No. 2 as a college QB, at best.

What did we learn about college football during the last week as some of us enjoyed a Christmas break? Two very important things.

Terrelle Pryor is not Cam Newton, and Jim Delany is not Mike Slive.

We already knew that Pryor wasn't Newton as a player, but the Ohio State quarterback's involvement in Tattoo-gate showed that Pryor isn't Newton as a person of interest to the NCAA, either.

Just as no one has accused Pryor of being a potential top-10 NFL draft pick if he turns pro, no one has fingered the Auburn quarterback for selling an SEC championship ring, an Iron Bowl memento or any of the multiple awards he's won in the last month.

Or for receiving cut-rate tattoos.

Since the NCAA correctly ruled him eligible, Newton has been sidelined only as long as the Auburn defense kept him on the bench. The NCAA whacked Pryor and four of his teammates with five-game suspensions, and another Buckeye will have to sit out one game.

That seems a bit harsh, but as anyone who doesn't have Newton's face on a dartboard in his basement understands, a college football player receiving extra benefits is a more serious violation than his father discussing them.

The curious and laughable part of the Ohio State ruling is that the suspensions will begin, not with the next game, but next season.

Since the next game is the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas, Slive has reason to question the NCAA's ruling.

The SEC commissioner could talk about the need for "accountability" and "consequences," especially since four of the Ohio State salesmen are juniors, who could turn pro early and thus serve virtually no penalty at all.

Slive could suggest that the NCAA missed the opportunity to do the right thing, issue the right punishment and send the right message.

In short, he could pop off about the Pryor decision the way Delany did about the Newton ruling. But Slive is bigger than that. He's too smart to throw stones, which makes him much wiser than Delany.

The Big Ten commissioner has been conspicuously silent on the Ohio State ruling, which benefits his marquee team by letting key starters such as Pryor suit up for their BCS bowl. It's just another example that Delany is a leader and a legend in his own mind.

Consider some of the findings in an excellent investigative series published by The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch in May of 2009.

Ohio State's hometown newspaper tried to survey every Football Bowl Subdivision program. One category was NCAA violations the schools had reported from 2000-09.

Of the 69 schools that responded, no one reported more violations than Ohio State, with a total that exceeded 375. No doubt many of those violations were secondaries, but the newspaper detailed several that involved extra benefits.

Like former quarterback and Heisman winner Troy Smith getting suspended for two games for accepting $500 from a booster.

And the football player who was flown on a private plane by the shoe company Adidas in 2003 for an offseason trip to Los Angeles, which included free meals, lodging and tickets to a Lakers game.

And the undisclosed number of football players who were paid $130 each by a booster in 2003 to sign autographs and play golf at a convention.

If any compliance office in America should've been educating its football players about the evils of extra benefits, it was Ohio State's. Yet the school has argued that the current players didn't know that selling their stuff was against the rules.

If true, this case goes beyond an eligibility issue and becomes a question of institutional culpability.

Delany should worry about that message, but he may have other things on his mind. His flagship football program is headed for that Sugar Bowl meeting next Tuesday with Arkansas.

Given Ohio State's 0-9 bowl record against the SEC, it's likely that the Buckeyes are about to get tattooed for free.

[War Eagle!!!]

Good article and right on target...

[Snaggletiger]

I looked back on the Eric Ramsey situation the other day and unless I'm missing something here, Auburn got hammered for the following.

1. Ramsey was receiving $300.00/month from a booster
2. Ramsey had 2 car payments paid for him
3. It was reported that players were paid money for big plays
4. Ramsey was helped by booster/coach (Can't recall which) obtain an unsecured loan for $9,000.00

Now, I'm not saying this should have been glossed over or Auburn should have received a slap on the wrist.  It wasn't and they didn't.  Auburn got the hammer.  But $500.00....flights to L.A.....free shoes....tickets to Lakers games...meals, lodging...$130.00 per autograph signed......??? 

Does anyone recall the bout with the NCAA prior to Ramsey, which I believe was in the late 70's or early 80's.  I want to say it involved a player named Gerald Robinson and the issue was over some free shoes and a movie.  Probably more but the point is Auburn keeps being depicted as a school with such a corrupt history when the fact is, they've never really done anything more than the same shit everyone else is.  We just reside in a high profile conference where everyone wants to see the other nailed somewhere besides the football field.

[boartitz]

One of the things that made Barry Switzer drag up on college coaching was a moral issue IMO.
Yeah, they were right up there with the best of them as far as fudging the rules at the time. They had thugs, drugs and muffaletas.
Barry bought a suit and a plane ticket home for one of his players to go home for a funeral. Busted for that. End of his college career. Illegal according to the NCAA.
Barry said fuck the NCAA before fuck the NCAA was cool.

[Snaggletiger]

Don't know if anyone followed my advice and watched the ESPN thing on Marcus Dupree.  I'm telling you, it would blow your mind the stuff that went on in his recruitment.  They can talk about it openly now...and they do.