NCAA Investigators have interviewed LSU coaches about “street agent” Willie Lyles in an ongoing saga that’s already embroiled three major universities in a pay-for-play scandal.
Willie Lyles’ LSU Recruiting Video ‘Would Be Of Little Use,’ According To Report
According to a report from ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” the scouting video obtained by LSU from Willie Lyles’ scouting service was of poor quality and contained footage of players already playing Division I football. Lyles received $6,000 for what was ostensibly scouting information on prospective high school and junior college recruits, but may have instead been payment for steering athletes towards LSU.
The footage obtained by ESPN through a public-records request was reportedly sent to the school beginning in October 2010. On the tapes are footage of players dating back to 2007, and several clips that were already available on YouTube. Lyles reportedly ripped footage from paywall and password-protected recruiting sites such as Scout.com without permission. Also included were whole recordings of high school football games without any indication of which players were being targeted as recruits.
Read Article >NCAA Muzzles LSU Regarding Willie Lyles Investigation
The NCAA has placed a gag order on LSU from discussing Willie Lyles. It can safely be assumed that LSU is now officially under NCAA investigation. Via the The News Star:
LSU admitted to paying Lyles $6,000 last season, and in return received scouting information and, potentially, inappropriate access to high school recruits. A Thursday press release from the athletic department confirmed that an NCAA official had been in Baton Rouge interviewing unidentified members of the coaching staff about Lyles’ connection with the program.
Read Article >LSU Interviewed By NCAA About Will Lyles, According To Report
I guess Les Miles has heard of Will Lyles now. Joe Schad with the scoop:
Read Article >Miles On Lyles: Les Is The Only Coach Who Can Get Away With This
Les Miles told CBSSports.com Friday he didn’t know who Willie Lyles was until he saw him in December at the college football awards show in Orlando, Fla.↵↵If it were any other coach saying this, there’d be all kinds of alarm bells going off, but yes, it’s Les, so this is completely plausible.
Read Article >Patrick Peterson Reportedly Visited Texas A&M With Will Lyles In 2007
He’s also claimed he never even visited Texas A&M and that Van Malone “had no involvement” in his recruitment.
And there’s more! Peterson is quoted as saying, “At A&M I really like the coach recruiting me, coach [Van] Malone. He is also my position coach and he is really down to earth and he seems to care about the players more than just in football.”
Read Article >Patrick Peterson, Texas A&M Respond To Van Malone’s Willie Lyles Claim
A few days after the kid’s visit, Will calls and says, ‘If you want this kid, there are other schools that want this kid as well. They’re willing to pay a certain amount of money, around the $80,000 mark. He said that was something we were going to have to beat as a university to be able to obtain the services of this kid.
Texas A&M has weighed in with a statement of its own, calling the claim “a non-issue.”
For more on this story, visit And The Valley Shook, I Am The 12th Man, and Team Speed Kills.
Read Article >
