(Image of Penn State letter to another recruit from McQueary)

But thanks to a stunning revelation in Greenville, South Carolina, today, it appears Paterno and now-former Penn State recruiting coordinator Mike McQueary, both of whom knew of Sandusky’s child rape in their own locker room in 2002, had kept Sandusky on as a Penn State football recruiter perhaps until the day he was arrested last Friday. (And then quickly released by State College authorities on unsecured bond - meaning he didn’t have to put up a dime to earn his freedom.)

This week a highly touted high school linebacker in South Carolina, Adam Ah Ching, told South Carolina news outlet WYFF-TV that Sandusky, who was also spotted in the Penn State football facility three times last week, was recruiting him on behalf of Penn State.

“Penn State has sent me letters throughout my junior year … He (Sandusky) came to my last spring game going into my senior season. He liked how I moved, laterally, and how gifted I am.”

As McQueary was the Penn State Recruiting Coordinator at the time of the Sandusky visit to Ah Ching, it isn’t unreasonable to believe he had full knowledge of Sandusky representing Penn State while recruiting a high school prospect out-of-state.

After the revelations of Sandusky’s insatiable taste for child rape, the intimate details of which - according to a Pennsylvania Grand Jury - has been known by Paterno and McQueary since 2002, Ah Ching quickly dropped his consideration of the school.

“It’s very devastating to have a top-tiered program and have them drop like that. That really did play a big impact on where I wanted to go.”

Ah Ching’s father, Otto, agreed with his son’s decision:

“Do you want to be associated with the mess that’s still going to come down the road here?”

Prospect Ah Ching also noted that other players who had been considering Penn State are hastily dropping the school from consideration:

“All these recruits are decommiting because of that.”

As the primary witness of the anal rape of a 10-year-old boy by Sandusky in 2002, if then-Penn State Recruiting Coordinator was aware that Sandusky went South Carolina to recruit a high school prospect on behalf of Penn State, it isn’t unreasonable to think that he may be facing more serious consequences than losing his job.

You can read more about the story and watch WYFF’s complete on-air report here.

UPDATE (2:54p PT): The Athletic Director of Greer High School, Travis Perry, reportedly called the claims about Sandusky visiting the high school to recruit Ah Ching, “false and untrue.”

In a followup to its original story WYFF reported today:

Ah Ching stands by his story that Sandusky was in the stands.

WYFF News 4 has called and emailed Penn State to find out if Sandusky was still scouting or recruiting for Penn State recently in the Upstate. No one from the University has commented.

Ah Ching’s coach, Greer High School’s Will Young, says he is not aware anyone representing Penn State attended a spring game.

SbB currently has a message into the high school prospect’s father, Otto Ah Ching.

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(Then-Ohio State high school recruit Cardale Jones top-right)

Miller signed with Ohio State roughly three weeks before the fundraiser though he had already enrolled at the school when he made the Cleveland benefit scene where Buckeye teammates Jordan Hall, Corey Brown and Travis Howard pocketed cash envelopes from Bobby D. and then-teammate Terrelle Pryor.

The same can’t be said though for current Ohio State prized signee Cardale Jones, one of the top quarterback prospects in the country.

Jones signed with Ohio State last February and was still attending Glenville high school in Cleveland when he was photographed with his high school coach, Ted Ginn, Sr., at the exact 2011 fundraiser that cost Hall, Brown and Howard two games of eligibilty.

Jones is now attending Fork Union Academy and expected to enroll at OSU soon.

Current Ohio State player Christian Bryant was also photographed at DiGeronimo’s now-infamous annual event in 2010 two weeks after signing with Ohio State:

(Current Ohio State players Boom Herron and Christian Bryant in 2010)

Like Jones, Bryant was still in high school - and wearing his Glenville High School letterman’s jacket! - when the above photo was taken on Feb. 20, 2010. Bryant in seen in the picture with current Ohio State running back Boom Herron, who also attended the Cleveland event hosted by booster DiGeronimo in 2008 and 2009.

Ex-Ohio State players Pryor (below) and Thaddeus Gibson (above) were also at the 2009 Cleveland charity event hosted by DiGeronimo.

(2009 Bobby D. Event photo of Pryor from OSU Student Newspaper!)

Ohio State head coach Luke Fickell has yet to comment on the record about the revelation that Miller, Jones and Bryant were all at the Cleveland charity event where a 30-year OSU booster has admitted to paying Buckeye football players with envelopes containing cash. (Jones and Bryant were in high school when they attended the booster-run benefit.)

Perhaps Fickell just wants to be sure he has his facts straight before he addresses the subject in public.

For that, he can always call his current rep, NFL agent Neil Cornich, since previously the NFLPA-censured (twice) Cornrich was also photographed at the 2010 and 2011 Buckeye benefits host by Bobby D. in Cleveland.

On June 23, 2008, Liz Mullen of SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY reported of the Cleveland-based Cornrich:

An NFL Players Association committee has voted to issue letters of reprimand to nine agents, including veteran agent Neil Cornrich .. for allegedly violating a new regulation prohibiting agents from contacting underclassmen.

Cornrich also reps former Ohio State football stars Robert Smith, Ted Ginn, Jr., Beanie Wells, Troy Smith and former Ohio State head coach John Cooper - with the previous quartet regular attendees of Bobby D.’s Cleveland charity events.

Oh, Cornrich is new Ohio State assistant coach Mike Vrabel’s agent too.

Handy.

Brooks is on Twitter, Facebook and at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

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“I already knew what I was going to say, that my family and I had reevaluated things and I was going to de-commit,” Kalis said.

Then a funny thing happened. He and Fickell talked for 56 minutes, and the word de-commit didn’t come up until the end.

“I told him, ‘Coach Fickell, the meaning of my call was to de-commit, but you talked me out of it,’” Kalis said.

Two weeks later, on June 15, Kalis told Bill Greene of Scout.com:

“I am all-in for Coach Fickell from this point forward. As long as Luke Fickell is the head coach at Ohio State I will remain committed to the program. Losing Coach Tressel was hard and I don’t want to go through this again with a third head coach.

“I still talk to other coaches out of respect, but I tell them all I am 100% committed to Ohio State and I won’t be visiting their schools. As long as Luke Fickell is the head coach there’s no chance I would look at any other school.”

Six days later, Green reported:

A talk with interim head coach Luke Fickell convinced Kalis to stick with the Buckeyes, but now comes word of him cancelling a planned visit to Ohio State this weekend. Instead, Kalis will now visit Ohio State’s biggest rival, Michigan.

“My original plan was to go to Ohio State this weekend, but that has changed,” Kalis stated. “After talking to my dad, we’ve decided to visit Michigan instead. It’s my weekend with him and he wants me to get up there and see the program, so that’s where I’m going.”

Last night, Green reported:

Five-star offensive tackle Kyle Kalis has officially de-committed from Ohio State, the Lakewood St. Edward star announced Tuesday evening.

“I did speak to Luke Fickell minutes ago, and I told him I was de-committing from Ohio State,” Kalis announced. “I want to keep all my options open, and will consider several programs going forward, including Ohio State. That’s really all I want to say about my recruitment at this time.”

The sudden reversal by the five-star, in-state offensive line prospect followed a permanent de-commit by incoming 2011 OSU signee Ejuan Price, who has since enrolled at Pitt.

Though Price wavered throughout the recruiting process right up until signing day, Fickell personally closed the Pennsylvania linebacker in early February. But despite Price signing on the dotted line to play for the Buckeyes, the linebacker changed his mind last week and was subsequently granted his release by Ohio State.

The day Tressel resigned the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW had this on Price:

Price, who also was recruited to Ohio State by Fickell, wasn’t surprised by Tressel’s resignation.

“It was just a matter of time,” he [Price] said. “I thought he’d do it during the middle of the summer, though, when all the recruits had already come in (to campus).”

In confirming to Jeff Svoboda of BuckeyeSports.com on June 18 that he was seeking his release from Ohio State, Price indicated that Fickell wasn’t keen on responding immediately - for a very specific reason:

Ohio State’s class of 2011 football recruits are set to report to Columbus on Sunday, but it’s safe to say Ejuan Price will not be with the rest of the group.

The linebacker from Pittsburgh Woodland Hills said after the Big 33 Classic on Saturday night in Hershey, Pa., that he has been released from his scholarship by Ohio State.

“Yes, sir,” he said when asked if the release had been granted. “They were waiting for Friday so it wouldn’t cause a tumble effect or whatever. That came and went. All I need are the papers now and I’ll be good to go.”

When asked Saturday night, an Ohio State spokesman could confirm only that Price had asked for his release, not that it had been granted.

Particularly striking in those recent OSU de-commits is Fickell’s personal involvement with each recruit.

Price was recruited by Fickell while Kalis specifically cited the interim coach in re-affirming his ultimately temporary verbal commit to the Buckeyes after Tressel resigned.

While no one begrudges Fickell the opportunity of a lifetime, it’s hard to imagine why Ohio State didn’t install a higher profile interim coach as it awaits an infractions verdict from the NCAA.

With all the high profile former Buckeyes floating around, including several in Columbus, what did OSU have to lose in recruiting someone like Chris Spielman to step in for the moment? And if Spielman wasn’t interested, what of former Ohio State and NFL offensive lineman Jim Lachey? Might Kalis have elected to stay had someone like Lachey come calling - even as a temporary assistant coach?

Spielman and Lachey are just two of dozens of former Buckeyes who might or might not be interested in giving back to their school in its current, extraordinary time of need. And knowing the character of former OSU players like Spielman and Lachey, it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t - at the very least - agree to help Athletic Director Gene Smith find a high profile coach willing to serve in an interim albeit temporary capacity.

These days, virtually every recruit who signs with a program like Ohio State does so with a possible NFL career in mind.  Smith installing a coach with no college head coaching experience, no NFL coaching experience and zero national profile can’t be looked at as any other than a disservice to the Buckeye football program and its fans.

Then combine the unknown extent of Ohio State’s impending NCAA penalties with Ohioans at the helm of the football programs at Michigan (Brady Hoke - Dayton) and Michigan State (Mark Dantonio - Zanesville) and the Ohio State athletic administration abandoning its last, best asset in stemming the long-term damage to its football program approaches the same, shameful negligence it has already perpetrated on the school.

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A Jan. 28, 2011, article in the AUBURN PLAINSMAN detailed the background of the longstanding, school-sponsored group:

The Tigerettes got their start in the late 1970s during former football head coach Doug Barfield’s tenure.

At first, the program used local high school seniors and Auburn freshman as guides for prospects, but as the program expanded, interviews and training processes were added, and participation in the program was limited to female Auburn students, at which point they became known as the Tigerettes.

The program further expanded once former coach Pat Dye came to Auburn.

“We used more of them because he brought in large numbers of recruits, trying to build the program back up” said Sue Locklar, on-campus recruiting coordinator. “We started going through a very hard selection process.”

Locklar said there are typically between 400–500 applicants who go through the selection process.

Those selected undergo in-depth training seminars about football, the football program and the coaching staff.

Males were added to the group as “Tiger” hosts in 1992 but the demographic makeup of the Auburn football recruiting organization remains almost entirely female.

According to employee payroll data available to the public on the official Auburn University website, 21 Tigerettes were paid $78,044.26 between Oct. 2, 2009, and May 31, 2011. Five male “Tiger” hosts were paid $6,880.19 during the same period. (The 27 school employees are currently listed as “2010-2011″ officers and members of the organizaton on the Tigerettes official website.)

Here is a sampling of Auburn students who have been paid by the school as “Tigerettes”:

Jamie Nolen (female): $12,840.48 (since 3/19/2010)
Emily Jenkins: $8,415.49 (since 2/19/2010)
Jordan Poitevint (female): $7.547.25 (since 3/5/2010)
Dominique Neville (female): $6,521.45 (since 10/2/2009)
Morgan Stewart (female): $4,132.50 (since 9/3/2010)

All tolled, Auburn has paid out $84,924.45  to student football recruiting hostesses and hosts since Oct. 2, 2009.

So what does Auburn get for that money? In late 2009 Simpson Fletcher of the AUBURN PLAINSMAN reported:

(Dominique) Neville’s duties as president of the group include serving primarily as the liaison between Auburn University Athletic Department administrators and the organization, daily hostings of prospective students and prospective student-athletes, providing clerical and administrative support for the athletic department, and serving at various athletic department functions.

In the same article, Fletcher reported of a student Tigerette named Audra Brawley:

Audra Brawley, a sophomore Tigerette in biomedical sciences, said the main duties of Tigerettes and Tiger Hosts are recruiting the best young men to become Auburn football players, aiding the coaches, helping the secretaries in the office with mail outs to prospective players and working with the athletic department in recruiting students.

“I absolutely love Auburn football because I grew up watching it every Saturday in the fall with my dad,” Brawley said. “He has three daughters and turned me into his makeshift son. We would come to games and see the girls with recruits, and I knew how much impact they had on the future of Auburn football. I wanted to be them so I could impact Auburn football too.”

The Jan. 28, 2011, Plainsman piece on Tigerettes also mentioned Auburn football recruiting hostess Jamie Nolen:

Jamie Nolen, senior in public relations and third-year Tigerette, said her friends give her a hard time because she doesn’t come home enough.

“I love it so much, so I’ll be up here until three o’clock in the morning if I need to get something right. I’ll put in extra time,” Nolen said. “Pretty much the only time we were at home this weekend was to put our pajamas on and go to bed.”

Since March 19, 2010, Auburn has paid Nolen $12,840.48 for her work as a Tigerette football recruiting hostess.

Part of Nolen’s official duties as a Auburn football recruiting hostess apparently include tracking prospective Auburn football players on Facebook.

Greg Robinson, a highly-recruited lineman from Thibodaux, La., who signed with Auburn last February recently noted in a Facebook entry dated May 28, 2011, that he was moving to Auburn for the summer.

The next entry on Robinson’s public Facebook page timeline was the Auburn recruit adding Nolen as a “friend”.

In a Jan. 8, 2011, report on FOXSports.com, Thayer Evans wrote of Robinson’s recruitment by Auburn:

Former Thibodaux High coach Dennis Lorio says several coaches and students saw Robinson show off cash and a new iPhone at school after a visit to Auburn. Robinson wrote in a Facebook message in July that he got the phone when “I came to Alabama.”

… “How did players from Thibodaux, La., become so interested in Auburn?” Lorio asks. “That’s a really good question. (Auburn Assistant Coach) Trooper Taylor and (NCAA-targeted Robinson associate) Sean Nelson would know.”

… Nelson drove Robinson to Auburn for unofficial visits — two of them, both say. Nelson says he didn’t approach Robinson about taking the trips but let Robinson ride along on trips Nelson already had planned. Robinson says he told Taylor he wanted to visit the school, and Taylor called Nelson to see if Robinson could ride with him. 

A crosscheck of Scout.com articles about Robinson revealed that between late May, 2010 and Feb. 2., 2011 (signing day), Robinson reportedly took six visits to Auburn. Five of those visits were of the unofficial variety.

On Feb. 16, 2011, Sports by Brooks reported:

Monday NCAA investigators descended on Thibodaux, Louisiana, to meet individually with Auburn football recruit Greg Robinson, Robinson’s mother Lydia, Robinson associate Sean Nelson and Robinson’s former Thibodaux High School Coach Dennis Lorio.

Here is a list of all of the checks reported by Auburn University’s official website to Nolen:

In addition to Nolen, Robinson is confirmed Facebook friends with multiple other Tigerettes, including Morgan Stewart ($4,132.50), Hillarie Deen ($4.377.00), Adrianne Redding ($3,610.50) and Jordan Bocage ($3,367.63).

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And Alabama.

At the time of Pike’s verbal commitment, which was an enormous recruiting coup for Auburn, Pike was asked if he had been concerned about Auburn assistant coaches abandoning the team thanks to the possibility that the school’s football program could be hit with NCAA sanctions.

Pike’s response:

“They (Auburn) just won a national championship and they have one guy on their staff who left for the NFL and that’s their defensive line coach (Tracey Rocker). If they thought they were going to be in any kind of NCAA (trouble) I think a lot of their coaches would have left.

“Coach (Gus) Malzahn their offensive coordinator turned down $15 million to stay there (head coaching offer from Vanderbilt).

“Coach Trooper (Taylor), their receivers coach, turned down his favorite team of all-time, the Dallas Cowboys, to stay there. 

“Whatever, let people say what they’re going to say. That’s a Mississippi State problem, that’s not an Auburn problem.”

Malzahn did receive a reported $15 million offer to take over the Vanderbilt football program, a long-noted coaching graveyard because of high academic standards and lacking facilities.

Pike’s statement about the so-called “Mississippi State problem” is a reference to the fact that Cam Newton’s father Cecil Newton has admitted to the NCAA that he solicited MSU coaches for a payment of up to $180,000 in exchange for his son signing to play football for the Bulldogs. (Cam Newton later committed to Auburn, obviously.)

Because of Cecil Newton’s admission, the NCAA rendered Cam Newton ineligible for one day, then reinstated him for the remainder of the 2010 season.

While Pike’s statement about Malzahn may or may not be accurate, at the very least it isn’t completely unreasonable. Likewise his supposition that Mississippi State may not yet be in clear with the NCAA as it pertains to the recruitment of Cam and Cecil Newton. After all, MSU didn’t report any NCAA irregularities involving Cecil Newton to the SEC or NCAA until after Cam had signed with Auburn.

In other words, even after MSU coaches knew of Cecil Newton’s NCAA violation - which directly involved Cecil’s solicitation of them - the Bulldogs tried to lure Cam Newton to Starkville to the very end.

But from what I was told by two sources inside the Dallas Cowboys organization today, Pike’s comment about Auburn wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor and the NFL team is dead, flat false. (more…)

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(Prime suspects)

Blake, who posted the photo of the envelope on his Facebook page, also added the comment, “The way they wrote my name is Raw!”

I had Texas A&M football coach Mike Sherman pegged as a glitter guy myself.

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(Exacly one of seven departing players were on 2010 final two-deep)

For all the recent hoo-hah about Nick Saban’s oversigning practices at Alabama, Nutt’s reputation for secretly running off underperforming scholarship players is equally notorious. In 2009, with 64 scholarship players already on the Ole Miss roser, Nutt signed 38 players to letters of intent. (Schools are only allowed to have 85 players on scholarship.)

So Nutt mostly ran off 17 then-current scholarship players from the 2008 team to make room for the new recruits.

Of those 2009 Ole Miss recruits, ESPN’s Bruce Feldman Tweeted this wek:

Two yrs ago, Houston Nutt announced a 38-man signing class: 17 of em are not currently on the roster: 9 were 4-stars or better, 3 remain.

That brings us to Veazey’s inevitable story this week about the ever-changing state of Nutt’s 2011 roster - and the sudden, somewhat mysterious deletions from it since signing day.

Excerpts of Veazey’s roster report below are in italic followed by my quickie analysis of the players who - in the majority of cases - were cast adrift by Ole Miss: (more…)

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(SI & 24/7: The best recruiting pitch college football has to offer)

In response to his being bestowed such a prestigious honor on behalf of the University of Alabama, here’s Sunseri first comments as reported by 247Sports.com’s JC Shurbutt:

“This recognition should really go to our entire staff and to the University of Alabama. (Saban’s) philosophy is to provide an atmosphere for academic development, athletic development, character development and career development. When we are talking to recruits across the country, we talk about those four areas and show how that works at Alabama.

“We’ve had more Freshman Academic All-SEC honorees than anyone and more Academic All-Americans than anyone in the conference the last two years. Our graduation rate is always up near the top nationally.”

With Sunseri the best college football recruiting has to offer, I thought it might be instructive and fun to see him in action.

Here’s Sunseri giving his pitch to Lousiana high school defensive end prospect Jermauria Rasco: (more…)

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From his official Twitter account, Zac Etheridge, a starting defensive back for the 2010 Auburn football team and longtime mainstay for the Tigers, Tweeted this entry: (more…)

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He will join his brother Arie as a football player at the University of Alabama.

Kouandjio made the announcement on his personal Facebook account while Kristen Kenney of Scout.com reported Saturday, “After spending the weekend discussing his decision with family, Kouandjio faxed over his letter of intent to Alabama earlier today.”

Tommy Deas of the TUSCALOOSA NEWS also reported on Twitter: “Cyrus Kouandjio’s father confirms to Tidesports.com that he has signed with Alabama.”

In a message announcing his intentions to spurn Auburn for Alabama, Kouandjio posted this note to his Facebook account Saturday: (more…)

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