Jimmy Dykes was on the Bo Mattingly show which I was listening to on my way to court in Morrilton today. I see Dykes as a pretty intelligent and knowledgeable college analyst. He made the comment that the Cam Newton allegations seemed plausible to him because the figure cited (about $200,000) was currently the "going rate" for top players. He said if the figure had been 50K or 400K he would have been more likely to dismiss the report. Jimmy made these comments matter-of-factly and I had no sense that he was kidding around. I feel like Dykes has pretty good inside knowledge about what goes on in college athletics. Is paying college players big sums of money really that common of an occurence?

I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Whoever thinks they can make a a fast buck will try. Some high school coaches who have big-time talent will not let college recruiters on campus to recruit their players til a nice sum of money has been forked over. Same goes for JUCO coaches. A UALR coach told me once the reason UALR did not recruit a specific player was because they knew the JUCO coach would not let them recruit the player until a recruiting fee was paid. UA recruited the kid, but I don't remember who the kid/coach was or where the kid eventually went.

(11-10-2010 11:54 PM)ez272 Wrote:  Whoever thinks they can make a a fast buck will try. Some high school coaches who have big-time talent will not let college recruiters on campus to recruit their players til a nice sum of money has been forked over. Same goes for JUCO coaches. A UALR coach told me once the reason UALR did not recruit a specific player was because they knew the JUCO coach would not let them recruit the player until a recruiting fee was paid. UA recruited the kid, but I don't remember who the kid/coach was or where the kid eventually went.

That's disgusting. They're only paying $200,000 for Cam Newton? Hell, that's bargain basement prices for a talent like him.

(11-10-2010 11:27 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Well, I kind of wondered how Pelphrey suddenly got the #2 recruiting class in the country after 2 losing seasons. On the other hand, I might give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, since 3 of the signees are from Arkansas and likely would have gone up there no matter who the coach was.

To get back to my original post, It seemed crazy to me that a player (or his dad) would have the gall to ask for $200,000- how would someone come up with that figure. That's why I was really struck by Dykes' comment that this amount was known to him to be the "going rate" for star players.

(11-10-2010 11:59 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:27 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Well, I kind of wondered how Pelphrey suddenly got the #2 recruiting class in the country after 2 losing seasons. On the other hand, I might give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, since 3 of the signees are from Arkansas and likely would have gone up there no matter who the coach was.

To get back to my original post, It seemed crazy to me that a player (or his dad) would have the gall to ask for $200,000- how would someone come up with that figure. That's why I was really struck by Dykes' comment that this amount was known to him to be the "going rate" for star players.

Seriously I can't see paying one player much in football, no matter how good he is. It takes a lot of good players to win in football. Basketball might be different. One great, dominating player could make the difference. And was Albert Means ever much of a college player? Sounds like a waste of money to me.

(11-11-2010 12:04 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:59 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:27 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Well, I kind of wondered how Pelphrey suddenly got the #2 recruiting class in the country after 2 losing seasons. On the other hand, I might give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, since 3 of the signees are from Arkansas and likely would have gone up there no matter who the coach was.

To get back to my original post, It seemed crazy to me that a player (or his dad) would have the gall to ask for $200,000- how would someone come up with that figure. That's why I was really struck by Dykes' comment that this amount was known to him to be the "going rate" for star players.

Seriously I can't see paying one player much in football, no matter how good he is. It takes a lot of good players to win in football. Basketball might be different. One great, dominating player could make the difference. And was Albert Means ever much of a college player? Sounds like a waste of money to me.

Normally I might agree with you. However, Cam Newton is the reason Auburn is the #1 team in the country. They'd be an average SEC team without him. Remember they only beat Mississippi State 17-14. Do you have any doubt that MSU would have won that game if Newton had been wearing an MSU jersey rather than an Auburn jersey? If Auburn paid $200,000 for Newton, it was one of the best investments ever (unless someone can prove they paid him).

(11-11-2010 12:13 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-11-2010 12:04 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:59 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:27 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Well, I kind of wondered how Pelphrey suddenly got the #2 recruiting class in the country after 2 losing seasons. On the other hand, I might give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, since 3 of the signees are from Arkansas and likely would have gone up there no matter who the coach was.

To get back to my original post, It seemed crazy to me that a player (or his dad) would have the gall to ask for $200,000- how would someone come up with that figure. That's why I was really struck by Dykes' comment that this amount was known to him to be the "going rate" for star players.

Seriously I can't see paying one player much in football, no matter how good he is. It takes a lot of good players to win in football. Basketball might be different. One great, dominating player could make the difference. And was Albert Means ever much of a college player? Sounds like a waste of money to me.

Normally I might agree with you. However, Cam Newton is the reason Auburn is the #1 team in the country. They'd be an average SEC team without him. Remember they only beat Mississippi State 17-14. Do you have any doubt that MSU would have won that game if Newton had been wearing an MSU jersey rather than an Auburn jersey? If Auburn paid $200,000 for Newton, it was one of the best investments ever (unless someone can prove they paid him).

There was certainly a little luck here. Could anyone have predicted how dominating he would be during the season. He had never played a down in the SEC (maybe a little when he was at Florida), so to pay a kid that kind of money and take a chance on being caught and punished by the NCAA seems a little ludicrous. Of course in hindsight, it would have been a pretty good investement. Like buying original stock offering of Wal Mart years ago.

I recently paid $4.75 for a Sports Illustrated magazine. The featured article was the confession of a Sports Agent. He openly tells of his career as an agent offering big sums of money to college athletes who potentially have a pro career. After reading that, nothing about big time college sports will surprise me. That said however, seems to me Jimmy Dykes could be saying too much. Is he prepared to prove his statement about $200,00 being the growing rate. Not that I doubt it but, can he prove it.

(11-11-2010 12:13 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-11-2010 12:04 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:59 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-10-2010 11:27 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  I believe it. The Albert Means case involved several SEC teams as well and the facts were similar. I just can't believe some of the people in Arkansas are so quick to root for Auburn's demise over this with the false belief that Arkansas doesn't engage in the same activity. They didn't go to Mississippi State by accident and Means's people didn't shop at Arkansas by accident.

It would be like looking for a prostitute and randomly propositioning women in a department store. You shop where you know the business is going on. The SEC schools and their ilk have the money and boosters to buy the big time players. Some just get outbid a lot.

Well, I kind of wondered how Pelphrey suddenly got the #2 recruiting class in the country after 2 losing seasons. On the other hand, I might give him the benefit of the doubt in this case, since 3 of the signees are from Arkansas and likely would have gone up there no matter who the coach was.

To get back to my original post, It seemed crazy to me that a player (or his dad) would have the gall to ask for $200,000- how would someone come up with that figure. That's why I was really struck by Dykes' comment that this amount was known to him to be the "going rate" for star players.

Seriously I can't see paying one player much in football, no matter how good he is. It takes a lot of good players to win in football. Basketball might be different. One great, dominating player could make the difference. And was Albert Means ever much of a college player? Sounds like a waste of money to me.

Normally I might agree with you. However, Cam Newton is the reason Auburn is the #1 team in the country. They'd be an average SEC team without him. Remember they only beat Mississippi State 17-14. Do you have any doubt that MSU would have won that game if Newton had been wearing an MSU jersey rather than an Auburn jersey? If Auburn paid $200,000 for Newton, it was one of the best investments ever (unless someone can prove they paid him).

Exactly. I don't think everyone has a price but a guy like Newton probably does. I guarantee that Miss. State has done this before if it's true about the Newton deal or they wouldn't have been approached.

I just wish Newton had been ineligible before the season. Their defense is so bad that ASU would have had a shot at the upset if he hadn't been there.