Auburn football is under attack and they don’t plan to go quietly. Yesterday we reported on the shocking report from Selena Roberts of Roopstigo.com, that detail salacious allegations from former Tigers safety Mike McNeil that detail payments, grade changing, racism, drug abuse, and disregard for rules that made Auburn’s 2010 team look like SMU before the death penalty.
A day after the report was released, the four players interviewed in the piece and former Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp all denied the allegations, and the players denied their quotes in the piece.
When he was reached by phone Wednesday , former defensive tackle Mike Blanc told the Opelika-Auburn News, “None of that stuff in there that she said I said is true. None of it’s true.”
Blanc responded hours after the report was released with this tweet, “Man this article is outrageous and isn’t true. The media will do anything for a juicy story.”
In the report, Blanc is quoted several times discussing various rules violations. Blanc spoke about grade changes in the report.
Blanc was one of three former Tigers who verified that up to nine Auburn players who should have missed that game were allowed to play.
“We thought we would be without Mike Dyer because he said he was one of them, but Auburn found a way to make those dudes eligible,” Blanc was quoted as saying in the Roopstigo.com story.
Wednesday Blanc was in full denial mode.
“Maybe they got those quotes from other players and they used me as a source,” Blanc told the Opelika-Auburn News. “But those quotes in there by me are not true.”
Selena Roberts who is an Auburn grad stands by her story and the information reported.
“Mike Blanc displayed a lot of courage and conviction when we spoke,” she said in an email. “I’m sure he felt the backlash from the Auburn community today for being that brave.”
Former Tigers safety Neiko Thorpe also says he was misquoted in the report.
“While I spoke to Selena Roberts about Mike I have just read her article & not only am I misquoted but my words are very out of context,” Thorpe tweeted. “We didn’t talk about NCAA violations or recruiting. I’m proud 2 have played at Auburn & the opportunities it gave me.”
Roberts report also spoke and alleges that Auburn police would harass and profile certain players.
“We were targeted by police,” former defensive end Antoine Carter said in the article. “You’d get harassed. They would pull you over for nothing as a way to keep track of you.”
Auburn police chief Tommy Dawson disputed those claims, and stated he was disappointed in the piece.
“As far as players being harassed, if a player commits a traffic violation, they’re going to get pulled over,” Dawson told the Opelika-Auburn News on Wednesday evening, referring to McNeil’s account in the website article that he was pulled over for a traffic-light violation. “I think one part of (the article) said, it’s not illegal to turn right on red. Well, it is illegal to turn right on red at some intersections in Auburn due to limited sight distance. So if he got pulled over for turning right on red and got a ticket, then that’s what should have happened. We enforce the traffic laws fairly, and we have to do that to protect our citizens.”
“I have never cared what a football coach over there wanted or how he felt we should do our job,” Dawson said. “They don’t tell us how to police. And we police the best we can to protect the citizens of Auburn, especially our students. I’m not trying to be ugly, but I really don’t care what the football coach thinks about us enforcing the law. We do it like we should.”