Report: Ex-Auburn players say they were paid

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Four former Auburn players have told HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" they received thousands of dollars while being recruited by or playing for the Tigers.

Stanley McClover, Troy Reddick, Chaz Ramsey and Raven Gray told HBO for an episode airing Wednesday night that they received cash payments — in book bags, envelopes and even handshakes. Ramsey played at Auburn most recently, in the 2007 season.

Tommy Tuberville, Auburn's coach during the recruitment of all four players, declined comment Wednesday. He is now the head coach at Texas Tech.

McClover said he "felt totally obligated" to play for the Tigers after getting money — he wasn't sure how much — in a book bag.

"I almost passed out. I literally almost passed out, I couldn't believe it was true," the former defensive end told HBO. "I felt like I owed them."

http://www.ajc.com/sports/report-ex-auburn-players-891744.html

[Condem]

1. Wow. I have to pick my fucking jaw off the floor.

You might as well kick me in the balls over this unforeseen disclosure. That's how surprised I am. What a fucking joke. The SEC cheat?!?!

[JonLP24]

2. Oops

[Redbear]

3. Why would all four players lie about it?

It's not just Auburn that's implicated in the story.

"McClover, who spent two years at Auburn before turning pro after the 2005 season, also said he received cash during "money handshakes" with LSU and Michigan State and received sexual favors during a visit to Ohio State."

[JonLP24]

4. No idea

You're probably right. I just try to be wary of these things when first reported.

But you got a point.

[madinmaryland]

5. Heh! The SEC makes Jim Tressel look like a jaywalker.

[JonLP24]

6. "received sexual favors during a visit to Ohio State."

[Condem]

7. What's wrong with that, Jon?!?!

It's the oldest profession in the book. Reads like a love story to me.

[madinmaryland]

8. That has happened everywhere, Jon.

[GaYellowDawg]

12. So "everyone does it" is an excuse for a Big Ten team, but not an SEC one.

Now I understand. :eyes: :wow: :eyes: :wow:

[era veteran]

10. That is called cheating if it is an organized thing.

No UK basketball player ever had to worry about girls. They crawl out of the woodwork to go out with these big time jocks. It is a bit twisted being a regular guy and seeing that. I have seen sports groupies since the Big Red Machine and they are a fact. Some schools, some in the SEC used to have a group of organized 'hospitality escorts' to show recruits 'around'. I don't think there are organized escorts anymore because there is no need.

I hope we are not going through a period of rampant cheating but there is so much money involved. The NCAA is much to blame with so many rules that it impossible to know them all. They should throw out their entire rule book and start over with the premise of Doing the right thing. Doing the right thing could involve giving the player some living money. If a kid comes to school from a poor family what is he or she supposed to do for spending money? They can't work a part time job because their sport is a full time job and there is that pesky thing of holding down 12 credit hours. Setting the system up for failure. Common sense should guide the NCAA but a Byzantine bureaucracy and a book of rules that constantly grows has gotten in the way for many years.

Time to recall the NCAA. Maybe move back to Shawnee Mission. Big city ruined them.

[GaYellowDawg]

11. Oh, I think not.

I'll certainly stipulate that Auburn is an outlaw school. I wish the conference would get rid of them. They're not worse than Jim Tressel and Ohio State, though.

[Elwood P Dowd]

9. Thrown together hit job.

You call this journalism? Dozens of former Auburn players were contacted for the story, some say over 100, and they find four from the 2003-2007 period who had major issues during their time there. Dozens of players have come out publicly and said these four clowns are liars. One of the four flunked a drug test and was flunking in school. He was asked to leave. Another one was turned down for a GA job and has been mad for almost two years about it. A third one left early for the NFL and drank and partied away 1.2 million bucks before finally being cut in 2009. He is now broke and brags to a former teammate that he is getting $20,000 to trash Auburn on HBO. The last one gets injured and takes Auburn to court for his injury. The judge basically laughs and throws it out. As talk show host Paul Finebaum said, "HBO couldn't have found four more lowlifes and pond scum than these".

HBO absolutely refused to air interviews with dozens of players who said no one was getting any money from coaches or boosters. They only wanted players who said negative things about Auburn. You call this journalism? If these nothing players were getting all this money, why weren't stars like Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, and Jason Campbell getting any? Why did Oakland Raiders linebacker Quinten Groves call them liars? Why did other reputable players who are now NFL players or high school coaches say to a man these guys were not telling the truth? Here is a list of the players that have so far denied what these losers have said........



LEE ZIEMBA -- 2010 All American & projected 2011 NFL draft pick
RYAN PUGH
COLE CUBELIC -- Sports talk show host
QUENTIN GROVES -- Linebacker Oakland Raiders
JONATHAN PALMER
RONNIE BROWN -- RB Miami Dolphins
JERIS MCINTYRE
TRAVIS WILLIAMS -- College coach
JUNIOR ROSEGREEN
KODI BURNS
ZAC GILBERT
KODY BLISS
ANTOINE CARTER
KARIBI DEDE -- High school coach
ZACH GILBERT
JERRAUD POWERS -- Cornerback Indianapolis Colts
WALTER MCFADDEN -- Cornerback Oakland Raiders
T.J JACKSON -- High school coach
WILL HERRING -- Linebacker Seattle Seahawks
JEREMY INGLE -- Came from upper-middle class family. Says he had the nicest car & he was a walk-on--said they were all broke
KENNY IRONS
DAVID IRONS -- Cornerback Atlanta Falcons now out with injuries
TAKEO SPIKES -- Linebacker San Francisco 49ers

Here is an interview with McGlover's high school and Auburn teammate.......

While at Auburn, Stanley McClover claims to have gone "to a booster that I knew" and asked for money to buy an old used car. The money, according to McClover, was delivered to him the following day in a book bag.

Junior Rosegreen, a former high school and college teammate of McClover said this:

"Stanley bought that car with Pell Grant money he had saved up. I know that for a fact. I was there when he did it."

- Rosegreen reiterated today what he said earlier this month in an interview……….

"Stanley is bitter with everybody because he blew $1.2 million at the strip club. He went to the strip club three times a week. He was making it rain with 20-, 10-, 5- and 1-dollar bills and now he's broke. He shouldn’t get mad at Coach (Tommy) Tuberville, Coach (Eddie) Gran and the Auburn Family because he blew his money."

- Rosegreen on whether or not HBO compensated McClover for the interview:

“He called me after (HBO) first contacted him and left a message. I then called him back and he told me that Auburn screwed him over and didn’t do anything for him. He said he was going to bash them. He said he was going to put something out there saying they paid him. I said, ‘What are you going to put out there on them?’ He said, ‘I’m going to put it out there that they paid me.’ I said, ‘Stanley, you know they didn’t pay you.’ He said, ‘Well, I’m going to put it out there anyways.’

“HBO gave him $20,000. He told (Dillard) Coach Herman Lovett that HBO paid him $20,000 for the interview."

HBO continues to deny that it compensates anyone for interviews. Lovett could not be reached for comment.

[RT Atlanta]

13. Well stated Elwood...

Where are the facts? Which coaches/boosters? No names mentioned, but just innuendo. 4 players, only one of whom (McClover) saw significant playing time. Why would 4 spotty players get paid when the "stars" of the team didnt see a dime? That makes no "business sense" if you presume folks are being paid.

If there's proof, the parties should come forward. Otherwise, it is another in a long line of smear jobs against my school.

Here's what Lee Ziemba (AU offensive lineman), likely to be taken very high in the upcoming draft, has recently tweeted about the players in the HBO special:

"Was recruited by the same folks as the hbo star bums, walked out the same locker room doors as them after games...never a dime"

Here's more (though no one will care to read it) on the "other side" of the story (taken from this link: http://www.warblogle.com/2011/03/30/football/a-collaboration-of-truth/)

Kody Bliss, Punter (2003-06)

1. What were your first thoughts when you initially heard about Stanley talking with HBO (before last night)?

I want to say that I had heard rumblings of HBO reaching out to former players about a month ago. It seems that they've tried to find anyone that might have an axe to grind

2. So when you heard what Stanley was originally reported as saying, that he got paid by an assistant, did any of that ring a bell or make sense?

I was there for four years and never saw anything that shouldn't be happening. No pay for play. No debit card slush funds. None of the crap that you read online.

3. You tweeted that HBO went after two of the dumbest people you've ever met...care to elaborate?

I think you can infer the details... The fact that I don't know who one of the guys is that HBO got for this interview shows you the lengths that they went to to try to make this story happen. Chaz was a natural pick because he blames the school for him messing up his back. I dealt with the same trainers and never had a problem.

4. What was the overall team feeling about that?

I wasn't there when his stuff was going on so I don't know too much. I do know that its tough when a sport is taken away from you against your will... I tore my quad in a workout with the Eagles my second year out of college and it never healed right. It was a tough time. You spend you're whole life up until that point training for one thing and then it's gone.

5. Do you have any more examples, like you tweeted Stanley borrowing your truck, that would prove otherwise about any of them having extra money?

I remember when we were freshmen living at Sewell Hall. Since the dining room wasn't open on weekends we would get a stipend kind of thing for $27 to eat off of. One week that didn't go through and Stanley along with the rest of us had to scavenge for cheap food.

Also, when we were freshmen some of the top players complained about their friends at other schools getting cash and cars to sign and getting nothing to go to AU.

6. What do these guys have to gain from saying they were paid?

The only one that makes sense about dogging Auburn is Chaz because he blames Auburn for his situation... Maybe Raven because I have no clue who he is. But Reddick and Stanley have to be getting something. Monetary or what have you.

- Jeris McIntyre, Wide Receiver (2000-03)

1. Were you ever given any money by coaches, boosters, or people standing outside the stadium after the games while you were at Auburn?

No never. Never even heard of anything like that while I was at Auburn so that is all new to me. After the game we sign autographs, took pictures, and spent time with our family.

2. What is your response to the story that HBO is doing tonight?


I really don't even have a response to all this craziness.

- Karibi Dede, Linebacker (2002-05)

1. Were you ever given any money by coaches, boosters, or people standing outside the stadium after the games while you were at Auburn?

No.

2. Were you aware of any other players being given money by coaches, boosters, or people standing outside the stadium after the games while you were at Auburn?

No. Really only family waits out there. Even fans respect that immediate area and give you that time with your family. After you get further away, then the fans are closer, but they kinda help us out with event staff to give us room to see our families.

3. What is your response to the story that HBO is doing tonight?

I don't know Chaz or Raven, I can care less about what they say. I know Stanley and Troy. Troy is my dog. I'm not a judgmental person. I may joke on twitter, but maybe one day in life I will just ask Troy straight up. Stanley is my homie too, but I cant say I was so close enough to him that I would know why or what his thought process in this was, so I may never ask and just let it be what it is.

I don't have any personal hard feelings towards them. I just hate that all this is coming up because I know what I did at Auburn and it was all about hard work and it's just messed up. True or false it just blows my mind that anyone would stain something I put a significant part of my life into. Everyone is looking for what's motivating those guys. I am and I'm not. It's just not that big of a deal to me.

4. I'll ask again, did you know anything about any of these players or other players being paid while at Auburn?

Me, Troy, and my brother hung out the whole time at the bowl game in Orlando. Shoot, I hung out with Troy all the time. I say there's no way in hell he got money. But I cant speak for another person. Only Troy and whoever he implicated and God know, and I'm not one to judge.

Stanley didn't ever do anything that would have shown me he had money, but again only those guys and the guys implicated know.

5. Do you have any examples that would prove that they wouldn't have any more money than any other guys on the team?

No, I mean those guys borrowed money from other guys on the team just like every guy did. We were college kids, we were all broke. They never volunteered to pick up any tabs or nothing special, no fancy jewelry or cars so I mean we were all just college kids.

6. It seems like all of these guys have some sort of problem with Auburn or how they have directed their lives after Auburn. Do you think this is why they would be making those claims? They are looking for someone else to blame?

Well, I'm not going to speak on that other than to say that there are players that come through every school, some graduate, some don't, some leave believing in the creed and some are like "screw that place." I'm not saying that this is the motivation, I'm just saying that's how it is.

7. It seems that there may be some jealousy among these former players. Do you think they resent that Auburn won a National Championship this year, and they want to bring them down because they have some problem with their history with the program?

Hell no. Those guys bailed. They could give a damn what auburn did or didn't do. I mean at the end of the day I'll have to see the program, but they ain't jealous. Bitter or disgruntled with former coaches, I have no idea, but I would be surprised if they spent all that much time watching AU play.

8. Any last thoughts on these guys, this story, or any of the other negative stories thrown at Auburn this year? Do you feel any shame for going to Auburn if any of these claims are in any way true?

I'd never feel shame for getting my bachelor's and master's degrees while on a football scholarship. Do all these stories take away from what I've always known auburn to be about, sure. But this is big time college football, it doesn't come without controversy. I hope that those guys are okay in life and that when all this is over they move on. I'm sure Auburn will.

- Quentin Groves, Defensive End (2003-07)

Groves went on WJOX today and had this to say. When I asked him about this whole situation, Groves simply told me this:

I was never given money, I never saw a coach give a player money... I just think they are bitter at the school for the choices they made in life.

We'll see what happens, but I definitely trust these types of guys over those that are just mad at how their lives turned out.

[Capt. America]

14. Clearly, Tressel was behind this..