Pat Forde reports that the Ole Miss investigation is growing.
The NCAA’s protracted investigation of Mississippi has taken a new twist within the last month – investigators have interviewed players at two or more rival Southeastern Conference schools about their recruitment by the Rebels, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports.
NCAA Enforcement representatives have visited Auburn and Mississippi State, and perhaps at least one more SEC Western Division school, this summer to speak with players who were recruited by Ole Miss. The players were granted immunity from potential NCAA sanctions in exchange for truthful accounts of their recruitment, sources said.
Those interviews indicate that the NCAA investigation has expanded beyond the spring focus on former All-American offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil.
Generally speaking, you don’t want to see the word “immunity” in a context like that.
Expanding investigations is what the NCAA likes to do. I’m starting to think this won’t end well for ol’ Hugh.
There’s no way this ends well in Oxford. Offers of immunity aren’t given for fact finding interviews, and I guarantee Mullen wants the NCAA to drop the hammer on Ole Mi$$. I wonder if the NCAA informally contacted CMR about what happened with the recruitment of Tunsil given it was assumed that he was coming to Georgia up to about 2 days before signing day.
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AU may want to be careful about opening up the can of snitch. This could be like one of those games where everyone anticipates the other guy is going to launch his missiles first, so they launch, and soon the whole board is one imaginary smoking ember. Gus and his folks may figure they’re about a month from getting the heave ho (a 1-3 start could do it, right?), though, so why not light the fire and then enjoy the chaos from the safety of their fully paid buyouts?
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It depends on whether his buyout can be clawed back for violations of which he was aware. If it can, I imagine Gus would not want to fire the first salvo. I think MSU would make me very nervous if I’m Freeze. There’s enough hate between those programs that little brother from Starkville would love to bloody big brother’s nose.
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Dammit. What penalties did McGarity self-assess us this time?
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Guess that funeral thing wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
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Looking quite prophetic right about now.
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Ain’t that the truth.
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The Funeral was perhaps foreshadowing?
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To quote Scooby Doo:
“Rutt Row Shraggy”
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Or to paraphrase the great philosopher Forrest Gump;
We won’t have to worry about Hugh Freeze no more…good, one less thing to worry about….. I just wish it would happen before we play em
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They’ll lose 5 scholarships for a few years. Maybe a bowl ban for a year. Cheating is worth it until proven otherwise.
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And for their cheating they were rewarded with a couple of 9-3 seasons, a Sugar Bowl berth when it wasn’t such a big deal to get one anymore, and no division or conference championships. I don’t see the massive benefit in this case.
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Compared to what they done the lady 20+ years? Ask an Ole Miss fan.m
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Lady=last. fyi
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They had essentially the same level of success in the Cutcliffe era.
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BCS type bowls? I suppose…but still, they are on the Freeze train, for better or worse.
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Precisely, they are the SEC West version akin to what S. Carolina was under Spurrier. Except for the BCS bowls plus the rampant cheating.
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BREAKING: As result of the farcical US Presidential election and the flaming dumpster that is Oxford, Mississippi, popcorn supplies across the Southeast are currently running dangerously low.
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+1000
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I assume most big time SEC programs cheat to some extent or another…not saying nuttin else.
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Yup – the folks in our fanbase that think UGA is some puritan in this whole game crack me up.
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If either of you guys have any concrete evidence please share…..otherwise grab a bush axe and get in the back of the truck.
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Yeah yeah yeah…
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That’s exactly what I thought, you and audit are all bulldog mouth with a mockingbird ass! When you say UGA swims in the same waters as other cheating schools, please state your case…..or shut the f+%# up!
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You know, Hugh Freeze tweeted something very much like that, and it didn’t really turn out well for him…
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Testy this AM I see. UGA has been caught by the NCAA in the past, unless my memory is real bad.
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Unless I’m wildly misremembering things, AJ Green and Gurley were already players at UGA, not recruits. And I know I can’t think of any examples like Tunsil where a 5-star prospect signed without even a real official visit.
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Go a little further back in history….I am just one to hurl stones.
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Mockingbird ass? What in the hell does that mean even? I think you just made that shit up.
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He’s rolling, UGA is as pure as the driven snow, always has been, just ask him. 🙂
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the metaphor is actually “alligator mouth and a hummingbird ass,” but let it go. He’s on a roll.
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I always heard it was a battleship mouth with s tugboat ass.
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….steamboat mouth with a motorboat……
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Like a Hawaiian roll? Love those
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Cool story, bro.
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You seem like a fun guy
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Recommended reading on the subject.
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This article sounds like a recruiting ad to be a bag man. $15k can win us a couple games or a few more 5 stars? It that easy!
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AD, I don’t think any program is puritan, but you have to admit the guys in Oxford have been pretty blatant about it.
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I don’t know if blatant is the word I’d use to describe it. I’d say they’re not being smart about it. Although Hugh Freeze has always been an ambitious guy.
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Well obviously we’re not as skilled at it as some of our brethren in the west. We couldn’t match them for Tunsil, or Trey Nixon. I guess cheating is something else in which we underachieve.
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Things could go south quickly in Oxford this season. They have a rough schedule to open the season and pretty decent expectations. It will be an interesting storyline this season.
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It will be the easiest treasure hunt the NCAA has had, it was all too obvious and amateurish to have disguised much. The problem is, even with the evidence in plain sight, it will still take the NCAA 5+ years to complete it’s recommendation and finally issue sanctions that will hurt players/coaches who will be long gone. And yes, the other schools in the West will throw everything they have at them to make the Rebels go back to their traditional place near the bottom of the conference. And while PTC and Audit are technically correct about all schools having some things that are not totally clean, there is fudging/coloring outside the lines, and there is grand theft with injuries….that is the difference. Auburn, nd TN have been the worst offenders, but Ole Miss went all in without even understanding there should be some camouflage involved. No, it won’t end well. The pre, and post, game hours in The Grove will again be the best experience of all Saturday’s in Oxford.
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So smart cheating and dumb cheating. 🙂
Still karma can be a bitch….
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Just going to put this here.
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Also- man, did the Dawgs have a hangover in the Ole Miss ’12 game.
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Unless the NCAA has hired new investigators within the past few years there is a really good chance that Freeze gets off scott free, just like Manziel, Winston, Newton, and Miami who, if they got punished at all didn’t receive much more than a slap on the wrist.
The NCAA’s only real ace in the hole would be an AD like McGarity who will basically do all their work for them by investigating and preemptively suspending his own staff and athletes.
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They have already self imposed and that was not including the spectacle that was draft night. Hugh Freeze really showed the height of arrogance when he posted that tweet about allegations and reporting it to the compliance staff. After that you knew the shit was gonna get real. Dumb ass. Did he not learn anything from Auburn? If your gonna be blatant about it you better get you a natty (Cam).
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Agree. Wake me up when the ncaa imposes a penalty harsher than a slap on the wrist.
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LOL at Red Cub Rebellion’s headline:
“The NCAA asked players at SEC West rivals to snitch on Ole Miss recruiting”
Fonk that school. Their “everyone hates us cause they’re secretly scared that we’re awesome now!!11!1” narrative with all the NCAA stuff is hilarious.
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It’s called “Whistlin’ through the graveyard”.
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Or “Whistlin’ Dixie through the graveyard”…
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There it is.
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They can’t use Dixie anymore. It’s not inclusive.
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They are all in on the denial. If they get the hammer they are going to be shocked. I would be horribly depressed if that was us.
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I love me some scandal when it’s not my team, especially when the team is set to play my team.
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Try not to imagine the most Georgia possible thing that could happen in this case.
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Uga, anticipating this investigation, has suspended Chubb for 6 games for taking a second plate of pork chops from the dining hall. Eason has been removed from the team for improper contact with a Georgia girl during recruitment. More to come.
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Post of the day!
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Ole Miss put gasoline on their fire with their year of “doesn’t involve this coaching staff ” leaks. In retrospect, it just served to convince the NCAA (and later the media) that they were dealing with a group of people who can’t think beyond the next lie. It’s like that entire crew over there is stuck in middle school.
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Hugh should probably check his email inbox. He may have overlooked some of the info that now going to end up in the NCAA’s hands.
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Well then…
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Going for the first time this year. Really looking forward to it.
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