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Sun Devils in Hot Water
Turns out, Herm Edwards may not be a stickler for those pesky NCAA rules.
Arizona State is currently under investigation for allegations of violations related to the football program. Primarily, it seems that the NCAA is investigating whether Arizona State hosted high school prospects during the 15-month COVID-19 dead period.
And the evidence seems uh... rather damning.
Within the last month, an anonymous person sent a dossier of dozens of pages to the Arizona State athletic department. It included screenshots, receipts, pictures and emails related to numerous potential violations within Arizona State’s football program, according to sources.
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The documentation includes specific evidence of multiple examples of high school prospects taking illicit on-campus recruiting trips to the Arizona State campus. Those came during the pandemic-inspired dead period that ended June 1. For more than a year prior, NCAA rules explicitly banned players from visiting on campus because of COVID-19. The dossier, according to sources, lays out pieces of both the players' trips to campus and how those trips were paid for.
Sources said members of the football program deliberately, blatantly and consistently broke rules related to hosting players during the dead period, including coach Herm Edwards meeting with recruits. A source added that the evidence included pictures of the visits, including Edwards with a recruit who ended up enrolling at ASU. “It’s clear whoever provided it had a ton of access and knowledge of the football program,” a source told Yahoo Sports. “The stuff in there wouldn’t be provided by anyone outside the football program.”
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In perhaps the most extreme example of how normalized the illicit recruiting had become, one Bay Area prospect — who enrolled at a rival Pac-12 school — worked out with a position coach at a local park. The video of that workout was shot on a cell phone camera and then evaluated in an offensive staff meeting of more than a dozen coaches. Not only was the workout and visit against the rules, but the staffers evaluated the illegal workout on the illegal visit as if it were a recruit's high school game tape. The staff now must hope that same recruit and others like him don't detail their visits to the NCAA, which has leverage over the players' eligibility.
“The confusing part is why you’d put your career on a 17-year-old senior,” said one source.
I guess the one silver lining here is that the Sun Devils did land at least one of the prospects it broke the rules for, so I guess it was a success?
You play to win the game, after all.
The Jimmy Kimmel Bowl
It would seem that the bowl system has officially jumped the shark.
Mark your calendars; we will now have a December bowl game named after late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel. Seriously.
Finally, a college football bowl named after a human beingthe inaugural Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl on December 18th at @SoFiStadium pic.twitter.com/SylNjHUPK2
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) June 17, 2021
Remember this when the College Football Playoff tries to tell you about the sanctity and tradition of bowl games in a few months when it rolls out its plans for a 12-game playoff that features a second round played in soulless neutral-site stadiums instead of on-campus sites.
Scott Frost Gets Dunked On
Nebraska head coach Scott Frost wasn't exactly shy or subtle about second-guessing quarterback Luke McCaffrey's decision to transfer from the program.
The problem is, Frost's house is made of very delicate glass. And the McCaffrey family was happy to redirect that stone.
Hold on didnt you transfer? PSA to all recruits: take note on how a coach treats his players once theyre no longer useful to him. #CmonMan @coach_frost pic.twitter.com/3ojYASdeml
— Christian McCaffrey (@CMC_22) June 16, 2021
*Transfers in college*
— Max McCaffrey (@notoriousmax25) June 16, 2021
*Brings in transfers this week*
Bad Advice
Treat all players former and current with RESPECT. Especially kids Cmon man https://t.co/34gECN6VOe pic.twitter.com/OwR8olLp3o
In any normal scenario, you'd think that comments like this would hurt Nebraska's future recruiting efforts, but seeing as how the Huskers' 2022 class currently sits at a putrid No. 48 in the country, it can't really get that much worse anyway!
ICYMI
Joe Moorhead is Bringing His Option Attack to the 'Shoe
Our resident football-knower Kyle Jones gives us a deep dive at what to expect from Oregon's offense when the Ducks head to Ohio Stadium in the fall.
Spoiler: there will be RPOs everywhere.
Teens Are Loving the Chance to Learn From Ryan Day
Some of the nation's top quarterbacks have made the trip to Columbus to attend one of Ohio State's high school football camps these past couple of weeks, which means the chance to learn from one of the top quarterback coaches in the game – and they're loving it.
What J.T. Tuimoloau's Commitment Would Mean for the Buckeyes
A commitment from five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau would obviously big for the Buckeyes, but our Colin Hass-Hill went a little deeper on just what it would mean to Ohio State if Larry Johnson is able to land the highest-rated defensive player in program history.
Up Next
- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : Five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau will make his college decision.
