There seem to be a lot of stories floating around about college football players getting illegal benefits these days. There is a new one from Yahoo and it’s a big one. According to the report, University of Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker, University of Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray, Tennessee defensive end Maurice Couch, Mississippi State University defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and Mississippi State wideout Chad Bumphis all received benefits from an agent that was funneled to them through Alabama Crimson Tide defensive end Luther Davis. The report alleges that agents uses Luther Davis as a middle man between them and players that were likely to be NFL draft picks.
From the report:
All told, the records show agents and financial advisers moved at least $45,550 to Davis between September 2011 and December 2012. During that same timeframe, records also show at least $12,700 in cash, airfare, living expenses or other receipts moving from Davis to the five players. In addition to that amount, Yahoo Sports also obtained a line-item invoice of 49 transactions from February 2013 that Davis emailed to Fluker’s onetime financial adviser Hodge Brahmbhatt. Within the email, Davis listed $33,755 in expenditures under the subject line “D.J. Fluker Invoice.”
If all this turns out to be true then all these players would be in violation of the same NCAA bylaw that causes Reggie Bush and USC so much trouble including forcing them to vacate win and a National Championship.
There is a lot of evidence here including text messages. bank records, and receipts. This could especially be a problem for Alabama considering they won the 2012 National Championship with Fluker. Also of note, Tennessee and Mississippi State are on probation currently until 2015 so things could get worse for them too. As always this probably all started with these agents not being paid back.