Pay to play roundup

It’s funny how much the “NCAA gets serious about agents” story has heated up in the wake of the Maurkice Pouncey rumors.  Here’s some of the latest scuttlebutt and speculation making the rounds on the Intertubes:

• A couple of months ago, the hot new kid on the college football bloggerdom block was Oversigning.com.  Now, it’s The Bylaw Blog.  You can find a good, cautious summary of the Florida situation here.
• Expect the Pouncey family to issue a statement today denying that Maurkice received any illegal benefits.
• Another blog getting timely attention is SportsAgentBlog.com.  Here’s his take on what’s going on with Pouncey and Florida.  Obviously, if there’s more than one kid who’s received illegal benefits, that’s likely to change the outlook on Florida’s fate, but we’re a long way from there now.  He also asks the question that I have about the athlete-agent contact criminal statutes everyone wants enforced:  “Who would be the victim in this case?  The school?  The player?”
• Stewart Mandel has a good summary.  Two observations:  (1) how much of the current high profile this area is enjoying is due to an increased focus by the NCAA and how much to disgruntled coaches and agents who perceive that their complaints are more likely to be heard and acted upon?  (2) you’ve got to be a complete idiot to boast about your exploits on Facebook or Twitter – “… the advent of social media — and the inevitable penchant of some young athletes to post incriminating messages or pictures to their Facebook or Twitter accounts — has been a boon to investigators.”