Disassociated Alabama booster Tom Al-Betar posted the below photo of Alabama football star Trent Richardson to his now-deleted Facebook page on February 11, 2011:

The description of the photo on Al-Betar’s Facebook page read, “Trent and his new Dog at the new home!”

That caption was followed by a comment by Al-Betar which noted of Richardson, “Mr. big # have new dig.”

On the same day Al-Betar uploaded that photo to his defunct Facebook page, he posted a photo of Trent Richardson’s mother and the Crimson Tide running back’s two daughters with the photo description: “Trent and he’s Momm and kids dinner 2 days ago having fun with my boy.”

Richardson and/or his likeness has now been seen in subsequently-deleted Facebook photographs posted by Al-Betar:

1) In the above picture in which Al-Betar describes Richardson as being “at the new home!”

2) Inside Al-Betar’s T-Town Menswear store in Tuscaloosa repeatedly signing items used by Al-Betar as promotional store displays.

3) Inside Al-Betar’s T-Town Menswear store in Tuscaloosa signing multiple personalized memorabilia items for Al-Betar - some of which matched items for sale at an online auction site and a Birmingham mall kiosk.

4) Inside Al-Betar’s T-Town Menswear store in Tuscaloosa being fitted for - and picking up - new suits.

5) Out to dinner with Al-Betar on at least four different occasions. (Including at his own birthday party.)

And don’t forget Al-Betar confirming on video that he sells Alabama memorabilia inside his T-Town Menswear store - while standing in front of a storefront sign which reads, “‘Bama memorabilia DISPLAY ONLY NOT FOR SALE.”

With the photo-documented evidence of Richardson’s relationship with Al-Betar, court records of Richardson mother Katrina’s rental car-fueled 2010 move to Alabama, Richardson’s adoptive brother confirmed as member of the 2009 Brooks (AL) High School football team and now the “new home” photo posted by disassociated booster Al-Betar, might it be time for NCAA rules enforcement investigators to seek some answers from the University of Alabama?

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

Eight months ago T-Town Menswear owner and disassociated Alabama booster Tom Al-Betar posted a series of Facebook photos showing him in the company of Trent Richardson, Richardson’s mother Katrina and the current Alabama football star’s daughters.

(Trent’s mom: Pensacola “home” in 11/2010 but court doc shows otherwise)

In one of the photos, Richardson and his mother are shown with Al-Betar at the rogue booster’s menswear store - where Trent Richardson can be seen in dozens of other now-deleted Al-Betar photos signing T-Town Menswear promotional store displays and personalized Alabama football memorabilia - and picking out new suits.

Until I posted the photos of Richardson’s mother and daughters with Al-Betar last month, the Richardsons had given every indication that the football player’s family still resided in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.

(Six days after Booster’s pics posted on SbB, move to Alabama reported)

Though six days after I noted Al-Betar’s Richardson family photos on the disgraced Bama supporter’s Facebook page, the PENSACOLA NEWS-JOURNAL suddenly struck up a story about how Richardson’s mother and daughters had moved to Alabama. From the PNJ piece:

The driving force behind all of Richardson’s hard work are his daughters — Taliyah, 5, and Elevera, 3.

The pair are growing up too quickly for their 20-year-old father’s liking, and having them nearly 250 miles away in Pensacola wasn’t working.

So Richardson’s mom helped move them closer. The girls now live in Birmingham, about 60 miles west of Tuscaloosa. Richardson’s girlfriend — Taliyah and Elevera’s mother — and his mother and grandmother all help to watch the girls.

The Pensacola News-Journal provided no detail on Richardson’s mother and daughters moving from Pensacola to Alabama but Katrina Richardson appeared to indicate in a November 4, 2010, SHREVEPORT TIMES article that she was still living in Pensacola. From the story:

It would have been a lot easier on Katrina Richardson, if her son Trent had just gone to LSU.

That way her older son Terrell Richardson, a senior starting defensive end at Louisiana-Lafayette who is among the team leaders with three tackles for losses, would be much closer to his brother Trent Richardson, a tailback at Alabama who leads the Crimson Tide with 606 yards rushing.

And she would have much easier travel plans to see both play in person.

“Oh, it’s so hard,” she said from her home in Pensacola, Fla.

If Katrina Richardson provided her correct address to the Pickens County, Alabama, traffic court following a traffic stop in late 2009, Trent Richardson’s mother has been living in the Birmingham area since at least April 11, 2010.

(Case #4551: Katrina Richardson speeding ticket related to below certificate)

In response to being pulled over on November 30, 2009, in an Avis rental car for speeding (Case #4551) and failing to provide a necessary child restraint for a passenger (Case #4552), Katrina Richardson later submitted proof to the Pickens County, Alabama, Traffic Court of her completion of a defensive driving course.

Part of that proof was a document Katrina Richardson submitted to the court that reported her “address” to be located in the Birmingham suburb of Leeds, Alabama. (I’ve redacted the exact address and other personal details of all documents in this post - though the information is available to anyone online via public records requests.)

Katrina Richardson was also pulled over in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, on April 17, 2010 for failing to provide a necessary child restraint for a passenger. (Case #12354.) Despite listing her “address” as being in Leeds, Alabama six days earlier to Pickens County Traffic Court, this time Richardson claimed a Pensacola address to Tuscaloosa County Law Enforcement.

 (Trent’s mom traffic stops: Two separate rental cars, address discrepancy)

Katrina Richardson was also cited for driving a Hertz rental car in the latter traffic stop, different from the Avis rental car she was documented to be driving when pulled over in Pickens County.

So who owns the (Birmingham-area) Leeds, Alabama, home Trent Richardson’s mother claimed as her residence in early 2010?

At the time Katrina Richardson claimed her Leeds, Alabama, resident address, April 11, 2010, a public title search of the home at the same address reveals it was in foreclosure at that time - with Fannie Mae as the last property tax assessee.

(Home at the address Katrina Richardson listed to Pickens County Court in 2010)

Though according to Jefferson County 2011 property tax records, the mailing address of a woman named Kristie Kessler is listed as the property tax assessee. Ms. Kessler appears to own multiple properties in the Birmingham area including one with Dr. Allen W. Kessler.

(Father of woman who owns home at address claimed by Katrina Richardson)

A check at the time of this post of Dr. Kessler’s Facebook page for his Fairfield, Alabama-based dental practice yielded the above image - which includes a seemingly non-sequitur reference to Trent Richardson.

Phone records connected to a title search of the Leeds, Alabama, single-family home found at the same address Katrina Richardson submitted to Pickens County Traffic Court on April 11, 2010, also yield the name Alethea Longmire - the mother of the son of Trent Richardson’s brother Terrell. The title search also shows that Longmire’s phone number was first associated with the address in April, 2010, the same month and year Trent Richardson’s mother claimed the Birmingham-area address to Pickens County Traffic Court.

(Trent brother’s baby momma connected to Katrina-claimed address)

There is further indication that at least one other member of Trent Richardson’s family, his adoptive brother Zan Carter, moved from Pensacola to Killen, Alabama, in 2009. At the time of this post Carter was still listed on the MaxPreps.com website as a player on the Killen-located 2009 Brooks High School freshman football squad that year.

Brooks High has yielded multiple Alabama football players over the years, including former Crimson Tide player Freddie Roach, who was a member of the Crimson Tide football support staff until taking a job as an assistant junior college coach in February, 2011.

Since his move from Pensacola to Killen in 2009, Carter has also attended Huffman High School Birmingham, which is located about 13 miles from the address Katrina Richardson claimed to Pickens County Court on April 11, 2010.

Trent Richardson’s adoptive brother Zan Carter is now currently enrolled at Paul W. Bryant High School in the Tuscaloosa area.

With the Richardson family of modest means, it isn’t unreasonable to think that the funding of their now-documented move from Pensacola to various locations within the state of Alabama may be outside of NCAA rules.

(Trent Richardson’s mom: Two traffc stops, two different rental cars)

That thought is further fueled by the separate rental cars Katrina Richardson was driving - as documented by Alabama law enforcement - in her two most recent traffic stops.

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

What’s it like to play pickup football with Trent Richardson?

Brooks can be reached on Twitter, Facebook and directly at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

The below photo and accompanying caption, “Julio getting pumped up for the game!“, was uploaded to the now-deleted Facebook account of disassociated Alabama booster and T-Town Menswear owner Tom Al-Betar on September 4, 2010:

(Inset: Al-Betar sideline photo from 2008(!) season)

September 4, 2010 also happened to be the day Alabama played San Jose State at Bryant-Denny Stadium - just a couple miles away from the banned Bama booster’s suit store.

As Nick Saban still hasn’t banned players from pregaming at the disassociated booster’s establishment, maybe y’all can catch a glimpse of couple-dozen Bama players fitting in a visit to TTMW before dressing out for Kent State on Saturday.

Brooks can be reached on Twitter, Facebook and directly at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

Before he deleted both of his Facebook accounts last month, Alabama booster and T-Town Menswear owner Tom Al-Betar published several photos to one of those accounts in an album titled, “befor duke game me and my boys fitting there suit.”

The photos show Al-Betar, ex-Alabama football player Julio Jones and current Crimson Tide star Trent Richardson outside the fitting rooms of Al-Betar’s suit store, located just a couple miles from the Alabama campus.

Jones and Richardson played for Alabama in its game against Duke on Sept. 18, 2010, so both were presumably in T-Town Menswear the day Al-Betar’s Facebook photos were taken to acquire suits they would wear on gameday at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, NC.

University of Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore sent a letter to Al-Betar in March banning him from any formal association with the Alabama Athletic Department.

In the letter, Al-Betar was cited by Moore for displaying personalized Alabama football memorabilia in his T-Town Menswear store that featured the likenesses of current Alabama football players - a violation of NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1.

NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1 states:

NCAA bylaw 12.5.2.1 states: “an individual shall not be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics if the individual permits the use of his or her name or picture to promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind.” (Page 74.)

As documented here in recent weeks, Al-Betar has displayed countless personalized Alabama football memorabilia items featuring Richardson, Jones and Mark Ingram inside T-Town Menswear over the years.

Al-Betar’s T-Town Menswear store displays, which featured a “The Mark Ingram Heisman Suit” promotional display, date back to the summer of 2009 and included signed, personalized items from all three Alabama football stars. (In Al-Betar’s previous store, he displayed similar Alabama football memorabilia.)

In addition, Richardson, Jones and Ingram have been seen in dozens of Al-Betar Facebook and Myspace photos inside T-Town Menswear while those store displays - featuring their likenesses - were in full view.

Al-Betar’s now-private Myspace account has also included photos of Jones in different suits on Alabama football gamedays throughout the 2008 season. Like the below photo of Jones in a white suit, posted to Al-Betar’s Myspace account on December 5, 2008:

And this photo of Jones in a dark suit, also posted to Al-Betar’s Myspace account on December 5, 2008:

And this photo of Jones before Alabama played Georgia in 2008 in Athens, Georgia posted to Al-Betar’s Myspace account on December 5, 2008:

So just exactly how long has Al-Betar been enjoying the company of Jones and Ingram at the disassociated booster’s clothing establishments?

Good question.

From the above photo posted to Al-Betar’s Myspace account on Sept. 30, 2008, which was taken in his old clothing store, at the very least we’ve now verified that Jones and Ingram were enjoying the disgraced Alabama football booster’s company nearly a year before the now-notorious T-Town Menswear store had ever opened its doors.

Brooks can be reached on Twitter, Facebook and directly at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

Nick Saban wasn’t at Trent Richardson’s 2010 birthday party.

Though you can’t say the same for disgraced Alabama football booster and Tuscaloosa suit store owner Tom Al-Betar.

Al-Betar can be seen in multiple photos, now-deleted from his former Facebook account, enjoying yet another evening at a Tuscaloosa Japanese steakhouse with Richardson - this time perhaps as party host of Richardson’s 19th birthday party. (Al-Betar has now been seen out to dinner with Richardson on three different occasions in Facebook photos.)

Red flag?

Not according to the NCAA rules compliance folks representing the University of Alabama. They contend that, despite the school officially disassociating Al-Betar from Alabama Athletics last March, no NCAA rules violations have taken place as it pertains to Al-Betar’s relationship with Richardson and dozens of other Alabama football players over the years.

Which must be why just last month Saban said of Al-Betar’s T-Town Menswear store in Tuscaloosa, where Richardson can be seen in dozens of Facebook photos signing personalized Alabama memorabilia that was later prominently displayed inside T-Town Menswear and possibly sold online, inside the store and at least one mall kiosk owned by Al-Betar, that he saw no reason to ban Alabama players from visiting Al-Betar’s store.

“You know, I guess I could ban our players from the place but until somebody can sorta convince me that somebody is doing something wrong - which I haven’t been convinced of yet - I don’t know if that’s fair to our players.”

Since Saban doesn’t think it’s advisable to prevent current Alabama players from visiting Al-Betar’s store, it isn’t unreasonable for many folks to think that Saban and Alabama also previously approved of Al-Betar joining Richardson and other Alabama football players at dinner on multiple occasions - along with Al-Betar accompanying Richardson, his mother and the Bama football star’s two young daughters at another Tuscaloosa establishment on a separate occasion.

You see, NCAA rules - as Saban, Alabama Compliance Director Mike Ward and the crack team of NCAA rules enforcement staffers overseen by ever-vigilant NCAA President Mark Emmert will tell you - exist for a very good reason.

Yeah.

Brooks can be reached on Twitter, Facebook and directly at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

EXCLUSIVE: Cal’s 2010 football recruiting class was so impressive that it earned Golden Bear assistant coach Tosh Lupoi Rivals.com’s “National Recruiter of the Year” award.

(Report: Cal offered “mentor” a job after delivering recruits to Lupoi)

Lupoi’s award was due in large part to signing three top prospects from the Greensboro, North Carolina area that year: Keenan Allen, Chris McCain and Gabe King. Current starting Cal quarterback Zach Maynard, a former Greensboro-area high school standout, also joined the squad at the same time thanks to his transfer from the University of Buffalo. (Maynard transferred to Cal expressly to join half-brother Allen.)

So how did Lupoi pull off such a coup?

Speculation has centered on Cal’s relationship to former, well-traveled Greensboro high school assistant football coach Otis Yelverton, who also served as a “mentor” to the aformentioned four players. Cal has confirmed that Yelverton, who has twice filed for bankruptcy since 2003 and was served two Federal Tax Liens totaling over $10,000 in 2007, personally escorted all four players to Berkeley for unofficial visits to the school.

Beyond those trips, Yelverton’s role in Cal’s recruitment of the Greensboro-area players, like the source of funds for his cross-country excursions with the four prospective student-athletes, is unknown.

What isn’t a mystery though is the role Northern Guilford High School coach Johnny Roscoe played in his former players, Keenan Allen and Chris McCain, signing with Cal.

None.

When Allen and McCain signed with Cal on Feb. 3, 2010, representing the heart of a class that earned him college football recruiting’s highest honor, Lupoi had never spoken to Roscoe.

Perhaps that’s why the crown jewel of Cal’s prized recruiting class, N. Guilford’s Allen, was barred from holding a press conference at his own school to announce the news. A press conference presided over by Yelverton, who had previously been “released” from his duties as a “non-faculty” assistant coach at N. Guilford.

Allen’s decision to choose Cal was a controversial one, to say the least. Long-committed to Alabama, Allen flipped to Cal at the last moment. Allen’s recruitment by Nick Saban was so high profile that the TUSCALOOSA NEWS covered the Greensboro press conference in which Allen mystified much of the college football world with his Cal announcement.

Though in its coverage of the Yelverton-led presser, the Alabama newspaper reported what may have been the reason Allen, McCain and King (and Maynard) chose Lupoi’s Cal:

A source at a school involved with Allen’s recruitment said coaches heard that Yelverton had been offered a job at Cal for steering the player ranked No. 5 overall in the nation by Rivals.com, and that Allen’s parents would be moving to California to stay close to their son.

Before Allen announced his decision, his mother, Dorie Lang, was asked whether the family will move to be close to the player.

“I don’t know that yet,” she said.

Beyond that, Team Allen would say little to The Tuscaloosa News. Angered that Lang had been asked about a possible move, Yelverton complained to the manager of the bar and grill and the News’ correspondent was asked to leave before the signing ceremony began.

Outside Coyote’s Dueling Piano Bar, Allen’s father declined to answer questions.

“I’m real protective of my family,” Scott Lang said. “These last three, four days have been very stressful for us and now we’re going to go home and relax.

“There’s so much more to this whole thing than people realize. I’m just not comfortable with a lot of it.”

The on-the-record discomfort expressed by Allen’s father about his son’s last-second switch to Cal, along with the fact that Lupoi never spoke to Allen’s high school coach throughout the recruitment process - and Allen being forbidden from holding a signing day press conference at his own high school - make Cal head coach Jeff Tedford’s supposed hardline stance on the “fringes of recruiting” in a recent interview indisputably ironic.

On March 4, 2011, Dan Rubenstein and Ty Hildenbrandt of SolidVerbal.com asked Tedford during a podcast for the website:

“I want to call them characters in the nicest possible way that we’ve been seeing this offseason on the fringes of recruiting.  How do you and your staff address those types of situations?”

Tedford:

“We haven’t run across that. We typically deal with the player, the coaches and their families so we really don’t get involved in any of the other stuff.

“Obviously everyone uses recruiting services but that’s just to gather data and not depend on what they have to say or what their opinions are or anything like that. It’s really solely collection the information that you need on where the prospects are so you can have a pretty good idea on where to go recruit.

“But as far as people being involved, we haven’t really run into that. We’re really just focused on what important to the kid and go through the school and his coaches.”

The year before Cal and Tedford paid $5,000 to the NCAA-targeted Willie Lyles for his “recruiting services” - and three weeks before top Texas high school prospect Lache Seastrunk made a Lyles-escorted recruiting visit to the same Cal-Berkeley campus Yelverton escorted eventual, Lupoi-signed recruits to  - Tedford said the following at Cal’s 2009 signing day press conference:

“It’s a little unsettling because sometimes they go underground and you can’t get hold of them. You don’t know what’s happening, so you just continue to try. With not being able to text now, now you just have to call and you get an answering machine. So you’re really at their mercy. It’s a helpless feeling when you don’t know the information. You can’t counterpoint something you don’t know about, so that’s some of it. But it’s so competitive. No one’s going to give up. Everybody is going to always continue to battle right down to the end. Obviously, the people we are recruiting against are very good programs and very competitive that way.”

Is it unreasonable to think that at least part of the reason Tedford’s Cal paid Lyles $5,000 was to ensure a unique level of access to Seastrunk and other Texas recruits associated with Lyles?

And that the some manner of compensation may have been directed to Yelverton on an informal, undocumented and perhaps tacit basis for similar access to prospective student-athletes?

Brooks can be reached on Twitter, Facebook and directly at sportsbybrooks@gmail.com

In an April 27, 2011, interview with Aaron Wilson of NationalFootballPost.com, Julio Jones talked about his football future after leaving the Alabama football program.

Wilson’s last question to Jones: “What’s your goal off the field?”

“I want to be financially stable, first of all. I don’t want to be one of those guys that’s broke after they leave the league. I want to take care of my mom. She has done so much for me and my brother growing up. She works at KFC. Before that, she worked at Church’s Chicken for a long time. It’s time for her to take a break.”

After noting the low-paying jobs of his mother, is it unreasonable to wonder how Jones was able to obtain the use - ownership or otherwise - of a tricked-out, custom-painted Yukon Denali with spinning rims seen in a 2010 ESPN documentary about the Alabama football team?

Even if Jones didn’t buy the vehicle, is it unreasonable to observe that he was provided use of the vehicle and/or an overly favorable loan or sale price for the SUV because of his football playing ability at Alabama?

And from the events of the past nine months, it appears Jones’ mother may have kept her accountant a smidge busier had her son discovered the wonderment of body ink - like a certain quarterback once known to reside in Columbus.

Here’s a photo - uploaded to Facebook on February 11, 2011 - of current Alabama star running back Trent Richardson, his two baby daughters and Richardson’s mother Katrina taken by disassociated Alabama booster and Tuscaloosa suit store owner Tom Al-Betar:

The photo was taken February 9, 2011 with the following Facebook caption provided by the disgraced UA supporter Al-Betar:

“Trent and he’s Momm and kids at dinner two days ago having fun with my boy.”

Al-Betar, who earlier this year confirmed to the TUSCALOOSA NEWS that he sells Alabama football memorabilia inside his suit store, also had a photo on his Facebook account showing Richardson and his mother in T-Town Menswear on New Year’s Day, 2010 - before Alabama’s national championship game against Texas. Read more…

Three weeks ago this now-deleted Facebook photo of Trent Richardson having dinner with officially disassociated Alabama booster and Tuscaloosa suit store owner Tom Al-Betar at a Japanese steakhouse in Tuscaloosa surfaced on the site outkickthecoverage.com:

(Evidence of  disgraced booster’s relationship to Bama stars piling up)

Now a new photo of Richardson and T-Town Menwear Owner Al-Betar has come to light, with the two pictured at another dinner at a Japanese steakhouse in Tuscaloosa on a different occasion:

With this new, photo-documented revelation, the NCAA rules violation scandal rendering  Julio Jones and Mark Ingram retroactively ineligible and Nico Johnson and Richardson currently ineligible seems only to be picking up steam.

Brooks is on Twitter and Facebook