Another day, another story about Urban Meyer's alleged sketchy recruiting tactics.
The latest uproar involves blue-chip junior college receiver Carl Moore, a 6-foot-4, 225-pounder from Sierra College in California. Many coaches figured he was a sure thing for USC, but Moore ended up committing to Florida. Just what sold him on the Gators is where everything gets murky.
Word got out that Moore was coming to UF as a package deal with his girlfriend, Maranda Smith, a gymnast. Smith, who broke her leg in 2006 while competing for UCLA, was getting a gymnastics scholarship. Her recruitment was pretty intriguing because apparently Meyer had been talking to her, too.
"I used to talk to him every day back in November when he was recruiting Carl," Smith told the Gainesville Sun. "He kept asking how Carl was doing, and [he] wanted me to come here and do gymnastics."
That quote touched off a storm of controversy on the Internet. According to NCAA rules, a football coach can't recruit for another sport. Worse still, a school can't call a recruit more than once a week unless it is during one of the NCAA's contact periods, where a staff is allowed unlimited calls. This wasn't one of those times. That led to reports that there was an "investigation" going on at Florida into Carl Moore's recruitment.
On Wednesday evening, Smith tried to clarify the situation, saying her comments to the Sun were an exaggeration and that she didn't talk with Meyer "every day."
"[Meyer] never called me personally," Smith told the Miami Herald. 'Carl sometimes didn't have his phone or his phone would get cut off. So, he had given Coach Meyer my number and [Moore told Meyer], 'If you call my number and I don't answer or it goes to voice mail, call Maranda because I'll be with her more than likely,' and that's how he got a hold of Carl."
You can call it setting the record straight or call it damage control. Don't expect any harsh penalties to follow. The school's investigation isn't as rigorous as it sounds. In fact, such investigations go on at schools all across the country at this time of year. From working on "Meat Market", I learned that university compliance directors have to check out all kinds of rumors and reports. In this case, the school reviewed Meyer's phone records. Sources say they revealed Meyer placed three calls to Smith.
How egregious is this? At worst, it's a secondary violation. Actually, it is not uncommon for a recruiter to develop a phone relationship with a prospect's girlfriend. It's no different than when they buddy up to the player's best friend. Anything to help get them in. The difference here, though, is that Smith was offered a scholarship. This kind of thing will give the NCAA brass headaches just because they don't want schools to lure football players by also offering up a package deal for his cross-country running girlfriend, even if she hasn't competed since ninth grade.
One college administrator I spoke with said this is delving into some uncharted waters for the NCAA rule book. Recruiters can call a prospect's coach as much as they want, but can't do that when it's a player's family member. "The NCAA might have to write more legislation," he said. "Just as they had to alter things in the wake of the Willie Williams deal."
I'm pretty sure if this didn't involve Urban Meyer it wouldn't be getting any of the attention it got. Only a handful of other coaches might've sparked such a frenzy. Part of that reason is Meyer's 2006 national championship and his string of highly rated recruiting classes. However, the other side of that is Meyer being linked to a lot of negative recruiting stories.
A few weeks earlier there was a story from an Internet recruiting site quoting Darryl Stonum, a Michigan recruit, on a conversation with Meyer: "He told me that he talked to Coach [Lloyd] Carr and Coach Soup [Erik Campbell] and that they told him that I would be a much better fit in the Florida offense than I would be in the one at Michigan. I thought, wow, my coaches are selling me out? I confronted them about it. I asked Coach Carr and Coach Soup about it and they said they never talked to that guy and that there was no way they ever said anything like that and that they think I should be a Wolverine. I believed them. Right then, I knew just how Florida rolled."
Then, there was the New Orleans Times-Picayune story about Patrick Johnson, Scouts Inc.'s top-ranked cornerback who was headed to LSU, but got held up after his ACT was flagged by the NCAA. "Florida made an issue about the ACT score," Johnson said. "They're cowards. They had to go behind my back. But that's OK. We play them this year (on Oct. 11 at Florida)."
While working on "Meat Market" a few years ago, I spoke to one-time UF recruit Jevan Snead and his high school coach. They told a story about Snead getting alarmed when he saw a TV segment on Tim Tebow after noticing Meyer in attendance. Problem was, Meyer had told Snead, committed at the time, that he was the only quarterback they were going after. When Snead asked Meyer about it, Meyer responded, "We are recruiting him for linebacker."
Last night, I was e-mailed a December Sacramento Bee story that explains how Meyer was at the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York with Tebow and dialed up Moore right after his QB won the trophy.
According to the Bee story, Meyer handed the cell phone to Tebow. "Carl!" the Florida quarterback practically yelled to the Sierra College receiver planted on his mother's couch near Placerville, "I just won the Heisman! Come on down here, and let's win a national championship!"
Such a call would be a recruiting violation, but it's only a secondary violation, which means almost nothing. What it will, and I'm sure already has done, is lead to rival recruiters using the specter of a supposed NCAA investigation of Florida against the Gators.
If you're not a Gator fan, it probably makes you sick that Meyer negative recruits. The truth is all college coaches do. Most don't like to admit it and will try and couch it as just laying out the facts. But they do. There's no rule against it. Right now, Meyer's on top. I'm sure almost every other coach in the country would like to have his problems.
The latest uproar involves blue-chip junior college receiver Carl Moore, a 6-foot-4, 225-pounder from Sierra College in California. Many coaches figured he was a sure thing for USC, but Moore ended up committing to Florida. Just what sold him on the Gators is where everything gets murky.
Word got out that Moore was coming to UF as a package deal with his girlfriend, Maranda Smith, a gymnast. Smith, who broke her leg in 2006 while competing for UCLA, was getting a gymnastics scholarship. Her recruitment was pretty intriguing because apparently Meyer had been talking to her, too.
"I used to talk to him every day back in November when he was recruiting Carl," Smith told the Gainesville Sun. "He kept asking how Carl was doing, and [he] wanted me to come here and do gymnastics."
That quote touched off a storm of controversy on the Internet. According to NCAA rules, a football coach can't recruit for another sport. Worse still, a school can't call a recruit more than once a week unless it is during one of the NCAA's contact periods, where a staff is allowed unlimited calls. This wasn't one of those times. That led to reports that there was an "investigation" going on at Florida into Carl Moore's recruitment.
On Wednesday evening, Smith tried to clarify the situation, saying her comments to the Sun were an exaggeration and that she didn't talk with Meyer "every day."
"[Meyer] never called me personally," Smith told the Miami Herald. 'Carl sometimes didn't have his phone or his phone would get cut off. So, he had given Coach Meyer my number and [Moore told Meyer], 'If you call my number and I don't answer or it goes to voice mail, call Maranda because I'll be with her more than likely,' and that's how he got a hold of Carl."
You can call it setting the record straight or call it damage control. Don't expect any harsh penalties to follow. The school's investigation isn't as rigorous as it sounds. In fact, such investigations go on at schools all across the country at this time of year. From working on "Meat Market", I learned that university compliance directors have to check out all kinds of rumors and reports. In this case, the school reviewed Meyer's phone records. Sources say they revealed Meyer placed three calls to Smith.
How egregious is this? At worst, it's a secondary violation. Actually, it is not uncommon for a recruiter to develop a phone relationship with a prospect's girlfriend. It's no different than when they buddy up to the player's best friend. Anything to help get them in. The difference here, though, is that Smith was offered a scholarship. This kind of thing will give the NCAA brass headaches just because they don't want schools to lure football players by also offering up a package deal for his cross-country running girlfriend, even if she hasn't competed since ninth grade.
One college administrator I spoke with said this is delving into some uncharted waters for the NCAA rule book. Recruiters can call a prospect's coach as much as they want, but can't do that when it's a player's family member. "The NCAA might have to write more legislation," he said. "Just as they had to alter things in the wake of the Willie Williams deal."
I'm pretty sure if this didn't involve Urban Meyer it wouldn't be getting any of the attention it got. Only a handful of other coaches might've sparked such a frenzy. Part of that reason is Meyer's 2006 national championship and his string of highly rated recruiting classes. However, the other side of that is Meyer being linked to a lot of negative recruiting stories.
A few weeks earlier there was a story from an Internet recruiting site quoting Darryl Stonum, a Michigan recruit, on a conversation with Meyer: "He told me that he talked to Coach [Lloyd] Carr and Coach Soup [Erik Campbell] and that they told him that I would be a much better fit in the Florida offense than I would be in the one at Michigan. I thought, wow, my coaches are selling me out? I confronted them about it. I asked Coach Carr and Coach Soup about it and they said they never talked to that guy and that there was no way they ever said anything like that and that they think I should be a Wolverine. I believed them. Right then, I knew just how Florida rolled."
Then, there was the New Orleans Times-Picayune story about Patrick Johnson, Scouts Inc.'s top-ranked cornerback who was headed to LSU, but got held up after his ACT was flagged by the NCAA. "Florida made an issue about the ACT score," Johnson said. "They're cowards. They had to go behind my back. But that's OK. We play them this year (on Oct. 11 at Florida)."
While working on "Meat Market" a few years ago, I spoke to one-time UF recruit Jevan Snead and his high school coach. They told a story about Snead getting alarmed when he saw a TV segment on Tim Tebow after noticing Meyer in attendance. Problem was, Meyer had told Snead, committed at the time, that he was the only quarterback they were going after. When Snead asked Meyer about it, Meyer responded, "We are recruiting him for linebacker."
Last night, I was e-mailed a December Sacramento Bee story that explains how Meyer was at the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York with Tebow and dialed up Moore right after his QB won the trophy.
According to the Bee story, Meyer handed the cell phone to Tebow. "Carl!" the Florida quarterback practically yelled to the Sierra College receiver planted on his mother's couch near Placerville, "I just won the Heisman! Come on down here, and let's win a national championship!"
Such a call would be a recruiting violation, but it's only a secondary violation, which means almost nothing. What it will, and I'm sure already has done, is lead to rival recruiters using the specter of a supposed NCAA investigation of Florida against the Gators.
If you're not a Gator fan, it probably makes you sick that Meyer negative recruits. The truth is all college coaches do. Most don't like to admit it and will try and couch it as just laying out the facts. But they do. There's no rule against it. Right now, Meyer's on top. I'm sure almost every other coach in the country would like to have his problems.