The Jackson Clarion-Ledger obtained copies of most of the allegations currently leveled by the NCAA at Ole Miss. They aren’t incredibly interesting, salacious or serious. A sampling:
“After the repairs were made, [name redacted] attempted to return the loaner vehicle to the dealership but claims he was informed by the dealership that a loaner car return could only be made by the individual who had arranged the loaner; here, [name redacted],” read the report, which added player’s father set up the player’s loaner car and lived three hours from Ole Miss.
So, a guy kept a loaner car longer than he was supposed to? I’m not sure I believe the idea that he couldn’t find a way to return it for three months, and it may be an impermissible benefit, but it appears to be for only one player, hardly a lack of institutional control or anything big.
Another one where coaches called recruits when they weren’t supposed to:
Ole Miss football coaches committed several pocket dials to recruits as described in three separate self-reports.
Pocket dials with iPhones are difficult but not impossible. Again, assuming the violations were willful, three phone calls won’t amount to much.
I don’t want to make light of intentional rule breaking, if that’s what we have here, but I was under the impression the Ole Miss NCAA violations were a much bigger deal. These just don’t seem like it, to wit:
Photos of a football player appeared on social media postings belonging to a for-profit company called Timeless Generation owned by his brother and two friends. The player wasn’t compensated and the fact he played football at Ole Miss wasn’t highlighted in the postings.
If I’m an Ole Miss fan, I’m breathing easier knowing the recent uptick in recruiting isn’t the product of some blatant disregard for the rules.