Questionable Athletes and Their Families?

This story is a little off the Auburn path, but it is something that I have compained about for years now.  I guess it does have all school in mind and it at least has an SEC reference.  Blame it on the off season.

With the Tiger Prowl making such headlines, it shows that recruiting, even during the not so official recruiting period, is always in the forefront of the coaches’ minds.  Each school is looking to get that “leg up” on a player to make the school a winner on the field or court.   I have stated time and time again, that a seventeen or eighteen year old should not be able to hold a press conference just to say what school they will attend.  If they wanted to hold a presser to say that they have discovered cold fusion or the cure for cancer, I am all over that… but where he or she is going to school is ridiculous. 

Case in point Renardo Sidney of Jackson, Mississippi but moved to Southern California to better his basketball career.  Again, I have no issue with moving to play sports.  I changed High Schools for that very reason.  I changed High Schools across town… not across the country.  Sorry back to the point.  Renardo held a catered press conference in the high school gym, with about 100 friends and family on hand to watch him put a hat on his head, telling the world where he will attend school.  On February 22nd, Renardo pulled out a Southern Cal hat, and the number two ranked power forward in the country (according to Rivals) was supposed to be on his way. 

Fast forward to May 4th.  Mr. Sidney signed his letter of intent to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  Yes that is correct, after all the fanfare, and all the money spent to hold a catered presser, Renardo is not even going to USC.  Why you might ask?  Because USC rescinded the scholarship offer.  UCLA had done the same thing a few weeks before the original presser.  The scholarships were rescinded due to the potential for NCAA infractions.  Let it be known that no violations have been found, but the potential for the infractions scared away two high quality programs.  You are welcome to read the article from the LA Times here. 

I bring this up because we as Auburn Fans have been spoiled.  When Tuberville was around we did not even look at kids that had questionable morals.  Or if we did, I was not aware of it.  Now that Chizik is our head man, I hope that we continue to look for good kids that can help us win… not questionable ones that we know can help us win. 

This is not to say that Renardo Sidney or his family is to blame here.  To this point they have not been found guilty of anything.  But it sure shows how I would want Auburn to proceed if we had an athlete that could hurt us as a school.  I applaud you UCLA and USC.  And that pains me because USC is one school that I never pull for.  USC like almost every school including us at Auburn have done some things that are and were against NCAA rules, but the Trojans have done right by WarDamnZach on this one.

War Damn Eagle