LSU is investigating "possible violations" involving the football team, Athletic Director Joe...

LSU is investigating "possible violations" involving the football team, Athletic Director Joe Alleva confirmed Monday.

The investigation primarily involves one assistant football coach and one current student athlete who has not played in a game this season, Alleva said in an e-mail response to The Advocate late Monday.

An LSU official with knowledge of the investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity said the coach in question is wide receivers coach D.J. McCarthy, who came to Baton Rouge from UCLA in February 2007.

The Advocate: Alleva confirms investigation of possible violations involving LSU football team

This one honestly sounds like nothing to me, other than the possibility that if its bad enough it could get McCarthy canned. On the other hand, though, a handful of our guys getting free textbooks struck me as the biggest non-issue ever, so you never really know when it comes to NCAA rules violations.

For what it's worth, all of the rumblings I read seem to think it relates to DT Akiem Hicks, a JUCO player LSU signed out of Sacramento in their 2009 class. He hasn't played this year because of a knee injury, but a lot of people seem to think it might have really been because LSU was aware of some possible issues, and it seems like many of them expect McCarthy is fired in the coming days. If nothing else, McCarthy was in fact the lead recruiter for Hicks to come to LSU. It may be something, but perhaps not. Again, who really knows when it comes to the NCAA?

about 2 years ago outsidethesidelines 11 comments 0 recs |

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A well known LSU board

Is hinting that it’s a former LSU signee gone to Auburn. That doesn’t add up since it’s said to be a current LSU player, so it’s still all a mystery to me.

Fumbles. It was always Fumbles

by DocFumbles on Nov 30, 2009 10:37 PM CST reply actions

Well...

… there have been a lot of rumblings, notwithstanding this, regarding the relationship between McCarty and DeAngelo Benton. Those rumblings pre-date this news. And clearly this is not referencing Benton because it is regarding a current LSU student-athlete.

In any event, when Benton signed with LSU originally in 2007 he was recruited by Josh Henson (who has since gone on to Missouri). In 2008 and 2009, though, I would imagine that McCarthy would have handled that recruitment, so that is probably the link between the two.

"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman

by outsidethesidelines on Nov 30, 2009 10:42 PM CST up reply actions

I actually hate in for LSU

if this is all there is. I know why the NCAA is against Bama, but what did LSU do to get “special” consideration?

And until something happens to USC (ha!) the NCAA needs to leave everyone else alone.

I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.

by 5026 on Nov 30, 2009 10:54 PM CST reply actions

February 200?

Damn, he’s been there a long time.

Anyway, to something more substantive, I agree that this sounds like basically nothing, but that’s not to keep the NCAA from pursuing it anyway.

by billycthulhu on Nov 30, 2009 11:07 PM CST reply actions

Back then...

February was at the end of the year. With a leap year, you just tack on an extra day at the end of the calendar. We just kept the tradition with the month thanks to good ol’ Gregory.

Roll Tide! Beat the Gators!!!

by BamaDixi on Dec 1, 2009 12:41 AM CST up reply actions

Here is my issue...

If this is just some typical NCAA nit-pick junk, no big deal either way. Things like that are going to happen from time to time, and if it’s a situation like that, big whoop.

On the other hand, if McCarthy did commit some sort of a violation that played a significant role in getting Hicks to sign — whether it be it or financial or otherwise — then I’ve got some major issues here because if he did that, then it’s clearly not just about Hicks.

Notice players he also personally recruited from last year’s LSU signing class:

Reuben Randle, five-star wide receiver (signed with LSU)
Michael Ford, five-star tailback (signed with LSU)
Chris Davenport, five-star defensive tackle (signed with LSU)
Andre Debose, five-star wide receiver (signed with Florida)
Ray Ray Armstrong, five-star safety (signed with Miami)

He also personally recruited two of the most highly-recruited signees of the 2008 class, Chancey Aghayere and Karnell Hatcher.

Maybe I’m just being a ridiculous cynic, but my thought is that if — and again it’s just an if at this stage — McCarthy did something major in order to induce Hicks to sign, I imagine he did something similar to get these other kids to sign too. After all, many of these kids were much more highly sought-after recruits than Hicks, so it only holds logically.

"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman

by outsidethesidelines on Nov 30, 2009 11:18 PM CST reply actions

Ford and Davenport were all LSU from the beginning..

It’s like one of those blind items in entertainment news. We’re given some hints and have to piece it together. It’s someone who didn’t play this year (scratch Randle off the list). It’s someone recruited by McCarthy. If you accept the conjecture that Ford and Davenport were LSU locks from the beginning of their junior years, it probably won’t be them. That pretty much leaves Hicks, and it’s always been curious that he hasn’t been playing. He was a JUCO transfer at a position of great need, as our DT depth was critically low this year. His knee injury reportedly wasn’t that bad, and word got around that he just wasn’t going to play for whatever reason, and probably wouldn’t be back in 2010. I guess now we can figure out why, assuming it’s him. Also, McCarthy has been rumored to be on his way out all season.

Father. Husband. Lawyer. Nerd.

And The Valley Shook

by Richard Pittman on Dec 1, 2009 7:15 AM CST up reply actions

I don’t think Hicks will be an issue. The issue will be the light that the Hicks stuff shines on McCarthy’s other recruiting efforts. If he’s not squeaky clean (and I’m not suggesting that he isn’t) it could be big trouble.

I'm wrong all the time.

by PeteHoliday on Dec 1, 2009 10:27 AM CST up reply actions

I think you are right...

Even if the Hicks stuff turns out to be bad, I think you wash your hands of it and make them fall on the grenade. Hicks never played in 2009, won’t return next year, and you fire McCarthy. You keep it isolated to that and it all goes away.

Like you said, though, the real question is what does this say about McCarthy’s other recruiting efforts. The NCAA may never look that deeply into it, who knows? I honestly doubt that they will. Regardless of what they do, though, there is no way in the world you will ever be able to convince me that if McCarthy gave some sort of a major illegal inducement to get Akiem Hicks to sign that he wouldn’t (and didn’t) do the exact same thing for a guy like Reuben freakin’ Randle.

"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman

by outsidethesidelines on Dec 1, 2009 10:39 AM CST up reply actions

I agree...

I agree on Ford and Davenport. To me both of those kids were going to LSU regardless, and honestly it would have been dumb for them to break the rules in order to induce them to sign. Again, they were probably Bayou Bengals from birth.

Hicks, though, would be a completely different story. As you mentioned he was at a need position, he was from an area that McCarthy would have had a lot of contacts, and he was being recruited to come play 2,000 miles away. That seems like the perfect case to bend the rules to try to get a kid.

One way or the other, I don’t think there is any doubt whatsoever that the player in question is Hicks. It’s not Ford or Davenport, nor could it be Randle because he has played this year. And aside from those four, the only two guys that McCarthy recruited was Bennie Logan and Morris Claiborne, both of which were in-state guys and neither of which were highly-touted. It has to be Hicks.

"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman

by outsidethesidelines on Dec 1, 2009 10:34 AM CST up reply actions