After one round of cold feet, former Auburn offensive lineman Chaz Ramsey has agreed to be questioned by the NCAA following his allegations on HBO’s Real Sports that he received illegal benefits while playing for the Tigers.
Auburn Football Investigation: Chaz Ramzey Agrees To NCAA Interview
It’s been over a week since we’ve heard anything interesting out of that pesky Auburn football illegal benefits story, but let it never be said the spider-gods that operate the gears and levers of college football are forgetful type: Chaz Ramsey is going to talk to the NCAA after all. This is a particularly interesting development because Ramsey, in the HBO special, described events that fell within the acceptable timeline laid out in the NCAA’s statute of limitations. SB Nation’s Track Em Tigers reminds us that Ramsey also has a history with the university that might charitably be called acrimonious:
You’ll recall the would-be whistleblower already turned the Association down once because Auburn attorneys wanted to be present for Ramsey’s detailing of (presumably) the money handshakes and illicit student ticket sales taking place on the Plains, but they appear to have cut him a deal:
Read Article >Auburn Football Investigation: Stanley McClover And Chaz Ramsey Are All Sizzle, No Snitch
“How awesomely is the awesome Auburn investigation going,” you ask? “Which one, haha!”, we reply. “Good question, haha!” And isn’t that just what the sinister powers that pull college football’s puppet strings want us to be doing?
HBO builds and builds the momentum for an Auburn-centric scandalicious special that ends up being, for anyone in the know, more than a bit of a letdown in terms of revealed facts. No one can commit Kenny Rogers or John Bond or A Newton Of Any Sort to camera. Stanley McClover goes on television but won’t implicate anyone by name in pay-for-play. Chaz Ramsey goes shy violet when Auburn’s lawyers want to accompany him to an interview with the NCAA. The ineptitude of these self-styled whistleblowers is nothing short of staggering, almost too conspicuously so. (You would think, operating in such close proximity to Tuscaloosa, somebody in this program would be better at snitching.)
Read Article >Auburn Football’s Ryan Pugh, Lee Ziemba Deny Being Paid During College Careers
Auburn’s football program may be answering some questions about illegal benefits thanks to allegations raised by an HBO Real Sports special that will air tonight, but offensive linemen Ryan Pugh and Lee Ziemba both say they were never paid while at Auburn.
The linemen, both members of the 2010 Auburn team that won a BCS National Championship, told Sporting News that their pockets were never lined, and that those former Tigers telling HBO of improper conduct sound like people with axes to grind.
Read Article >Auburn Football Players To Claim Widespread Pay-For-Play In HBO Special
The program is scheduled to air on March 30 at 10 pm ET. A few choice cuts:
It goes on and on, and you really should read SbB’s transcript and be sure to clear your Wednesday night schedule. Will anything come of this? College football fans know this stuff happens everywhere, but something this big could be the kind of thing that actually gets the casual public involved enough to cause some government body to lumber to life and attempt to “fix the system,” whatever that means.
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