There’s a strongly-worded report out from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles which states clearly that an internal investigation into car purchases made by Ohio State football players has uncovered no evidence of illicit dealings on the part of the players. The Associated Press has more:
Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State Players’ Car Purchases Not Illegal, According To Ohio BMV
The BMV’s 65-page report issued Tuesday said the certificates of titles for cars sold by Jack Maxton Chevrolet and Auto Direct to players and families accurately reflected the vehicles’ sales prices. The investigation also rejected allegations that the sales prices did not reflect the true cost of the vehicles because players provided dealers with tickets, jerseys and other memorabilia in place of cash.“We found no evidence in the dealers’ business records that tickets and/or sports memorabilia were included in the sales,” the report said.
Are the Buckeyes out of the woods on this particular investigation? Maybe, but pitfalls still lie ahead before OSU administrators can kick back and focus on the first, larger memorabilia investigation instead. The BMV investigation’s conclusion doesn’t mean the NCAA won’t be looking into all the details of the situation it can dig up, and if they find discrepancies in this reportedly perfect paperwork, there’ll be more trouble in Columbus. And given the Committee on Infractions’ capricious behavior of late when it comes to rulings, it’s still possible other elements of the players’ relationship with the auto dealers (like those perhaps too-frequent Terrelle Pryor test drives) could be tagged as illegal benefits. I hate to wrap up another update with, “This is the NCAA we’re dealing with, so all we can do is wait and wonder and, if we’re wearing scarlet and gray, cross our fingers,” but here we are again.
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