If the SEC and the NCAA want to cleanup the slime of recruiting, the organizations should focus less on oversigning and more on the recruiting sites and how they function as propaganda machines for the schools they cover.

The focus today will rightly be on whether Auburn cheated or not during a staged pep rally event for recruits; however, some focus should be on the alleged complicit way the Auburn Rivals.com site behaved in this matter.

The Auburn Rivals affiliate, Auburnsports.com, posted a video of the event at Toomer’s Corner, and then edited the video, according to numerous people who saw both videos. Fans who saw both copies posted at Rivals.com allege the parts removed from the video were the most damning, to wit, the recruits names being called out for the fans.

Independent media and more importantly regulators should ask, why the Auburn fan site edited the video AFTER the first questions were raised about the recruiting violations?

Did Auburn coaches contact the site asking for the editing? If not, what else prompted this? Was it the individual bias of the site’s publishers?

Either case is a threat to the editorial integrity of the entire Rivals.com brand. The model where team sites are run by essentially fans is good for grabbing cash from subscribers, but it is a horrible model for editorial independence. When these types of activities take place, the website is acting more as a booster and less as a media outlet.

Coaches already complain about the lack of integrity in these recruiting services. According to South Carolina coach Brad Lawing quoted in The State, “I can take a three-star and make him a four-star, and I can take a four-star and make him a three- or two-star with the contacts I have,” Lawing said. “That’s how ridiculous recruiting on the Internet is. I took Chris Culliver (USC safety) from a three- to a five-star in three weeks. All you’ve got to do is talk to the right people.”

Will the NCAA do the right thing and consider regulations against this type of inappropriate conduct? I’m not going to hold my breath, but something has to be done about this type of activity.

41 thoughts on “Getting beyond Auburn’s cheating”

  1. Cap….Still sounding a little Shaneish, I see. Well. Thats not really fair to Shane. He is getting more ubiased in his journalistic ventures, while you on the other hand are sounding like sour grapes. Its like you two have switched bodies. I dont fear too much though cap. In 6 months you will be saying how you defended Chizik and staff all along like you did when Shane was on his crusade.

    Anyhow, as much as you may try, Auburn will not be caught by players Chargers. Keep trying though little buddy. If you apply yourself, who knows.

  2. “The model where team sites are run by essentially fans is good for grabbing cash from subscribers, but it is a horrible model for editorial independence.”

    and what really amazes me is the gullible fans who throw their money away to these sites and sources. look, if you want a championship caliber program, you have to recruit blue chip classes.

    but hanging on every word of every high school kid is just plain stupid. and paying to do it is stupid x 10,000.

    why is it you rarely if ever see a report card on a sites rankings and how the recruits faired vs. that ranking?

    why? because there’s no money in that.

    then you have the fans, boosters and coaches who manipulate the system. this invites cheating.

    “Will the NCAA do the right thing and consider regulations against this type of inappropriate conduct? I’m not going to hold my breath, but something has to be done about this type of activity.”

    careful what you wish for there cap. you might get it. since when has the ncaa regulated anything in major college sports for the GOOD OF MAJOR COLLEGE SPORTS.

    most of these rules are dreamed up by bureaucrats who hail from small or mid-major schools who have anything but the best interest of big time college athletics in mind.

  3. Actually, the limited analysis that has been conducted of Rivals recruits, found that a five-star player is substantially more likely to be drafted into the NFL than a four-star or three-star player.

    I think for the most part, the people who scout players do a decent job; however, there will always be questions about how they do their work when these “sites” do suspicious things.

    And Ballplay, I have somewhat defended Chizik, but I have also said serious questions have been raised by his management style. For us to know for certain, his management skills must be evaluated during the next football season.

    However, the larger question is why are Auburn fans screaming about cheating when their own program is conducting these sketchy operations in recruting. Hmm, Maybe we know what is up—scream about Alabama so people aren’t looking at all the violations going on in Auburn?

  4. So let me get this straight, Ballplay. People like yourself and Julio have been making comments suggesting Bama is about to be caught cheating in Gadsden or something like that. Then Auburn has this recruit rally at Toomers that is questionable by the NCAA rules. Cap brings it to our attention and you say he is acting like Shane. Are you not worried that there may be some truth to it? The Sistrunk kid was calling out Saban and things like that. He had better hope Auburns offensive line improves by leaps and bounds by the time he gets to carry the ball. Saban didn’t even offer the kid, and he is saying Saban is S.O.L. and he can’t wait to play Bama. Sounds like he has some sour grapes to me. But if Auburn is breaking the rules, the NCAA should investigate. It would be funny as hell for Auburn to get in trouble over this after what you guys have been doing.

  5. “something has to be done” – Better think about that Cap. Obama’s Socialism is creeping on you.

  6. “something has to be done” – Better think about that Cap. Obama’s Socialism is creeping on you.

    You know it! I’m waiting on my Capstonereport.com bailout from dear leader! Once I get it, and I’m thinking of asking for $100,000,000 because of some risky options strategies pursued by the investment banking division, then I’m going to move the Capstonereport.com’s main office to China.

  7. Dude, here is the heart of my comments. If its true, then its a secondary violation, wich means NOTHING….Personally , I couldnt care less if it were true. NOTHING will come of it. PERIOD. A secondary violation is like getting a written warning for speeding. It doesnt mean a thing. YOU GUYS HAVE HAD SEVERAL IN THE PAST THREE YEARS.

    Now on the flip side. What if the Gadsden thing is true ? Yall had better hope it isnt. Because if it is you wont be playing any football. They will give you guys the death penalty. I personally hope that dont happen. But it very well could IF ITS TRUE…..This is akin to comparing a dude who got an overdue fee for a late DVD at blockbuster to Jeffery Dahmer.

    If it takes a secondary violation to land a kid like Seastrunk, Ill take it every time.

  8. What IF some of all the rumors about Auburn are true or were true?

    What if…we could play that game all day. What IF the NCAA views these violations as not secondary, but willful violations of NCAA policy?

    Willful violations aren’t secondary. In fact, if this were willful violation, wouldn’t that give rise to a host of moer serious charges like a failure to monitor or lack of institutional control?

    We can all play the What if game. What we know right now is that Auburn likely has committed violations, and all we know about Gadsden is a bunch of Internet rumors spread by Auburn fans.

  9. That is right Ballplay. There is a big difference in talking about FACTS and talking speculation. We know for a FACT Auburn is looking into possible rules violations. I repeat, not a rumor.

    Show me some proof about the Gadsden allegations.

    But Auburn is showing a pattern of desperate moves in recruiting. How far are they willing to go? We all know for a FACT how far Pat Dye went, and he is back in business at Auburn again. You are the one who should be worried about what is going on at your school. Seastrunk ought to be a good fit for your classless program. Can’t wait to see his ass mowed down in the backfield if he ever makes it to Auburn.

    And save all of the “I hope you guys don’t get the death penalty” talk. That is BS. You can see it in your words that you hope the worst when it comes to Bama. You just need to hope Chizik isn’t listening to Pat Dye. F**K the Auburn ‘family.’ I hope Auburn loses every game this year.

  10. O.K. Lets look at facts…Fact is , you are about to get sanctions from the NCAA for cheating. Fact is , Auburn will not get sanctions for these supposed secondary NCAA violations. Those are the facts. I think I would be worrying about fact nember one if I were an Alabama fan.. Instead of number two.

  11. uat is about to go back on probation and they are whining about the auburn tigers. the gun is cocked and pointed at the head of shorty saban. my have times has changed.the dead bear kept auburn on probation for years but thats over for ever. its time for the uat scumbag fans to whine for a while.

  12. we know right now is that Auburn likely has committed violations,

    How do you know that. Is it because someone said they watched a video earlier? Is it becaause a UA beat reporter told you? Were you there to see it? You do not know anything. You are either speculating or wishful thinking. And before you go on a blah blah trip of ALL AU fans screaming about Gadsden, stop. I could care less. I am one AU fan that will always wait to see what the results from the investigation are becasue I can’t control any of it and neither can any other posters on this site or any other site.

  13. brandii, show me one post where I have said the first thing about Gadsden. I don’t know anything about it, and don’t care anything about it unless and until the NCAA conducts an investigation into something about Gadsden.

    As to you bammers crying about secondary violations possibly committed by AU, you guys are freakin’ hilarious. Your coach has racked up more than his fair share of secondary violations, as have all schools in the SEC (besides Vandy, and maybe they have as well.) Cappy, go ahead and dream on about this stuff being “willful” and therefore serious, but nobody’s getting tagged with anything more than a secondary violation for introducing a recruit in front of 100 people. I don’t care if it was “willful”. For God sakes, Kiffen called Bryce Brown out by name on a nationally sydicated radio show and it was only secondary. Kinda hard to argue that he “accidentally” called the guy out by his name. Somebody feel free to prove me wrong, but I’d be willing to bet that the Bama FB program has a lot more secondary violations in the past 3 years than AU does. And we ain’t even talking about Textbookgate.

  14. Julio, my “willful” conversation was the hypothetical to counter Ballplay’s hypothetical about Gadsden, etc. I don’t know or care—other than how enjoyable it is for Auburn fans to be hoisted with their own petard.

    As for Alabama’s secondary violations, you are probably right—was Tuberville even recruiting for the last three years?

    I think the largest issue out of this isn’t the violations—which likely were secondary in nature, but the corruption on the part of Auburn fan sites. These sites must be declared boosters by the NCAA if they continue to operate in the present manner.

    I’d LOVE to see how that helps subscriptions. 🙂

  15. Why doesn’t someone talk about that the video has a student calling out the names of the recruits and not anyone on the coaching staff? How about a little truth in that it is not an NCAA violation that a student calls out names of visitors on the campus. The more interesting story is how many recuits will stick with their commitment to Alabama after they are put on probation.

  16. So what are they gonna do to Bama. Probably nothing.
    What are they gonna do with Auburn…. Probably nothing.

  17. It will be okay Julia, Auburn isn’t going to get in trouble over it or anything. But Bama is not doing the things Auburn is doing. You will never see Bama renting a limo and rolling trees with toilet paper, thank goodness. Ya’ll have the cheesy recruiting tactics title all to yourself.

    But show me where Bama has reported more secondary violations than Auburn, and maybe I will believe you. Auburn is the desperate one, not Bama. Saban has no problem with recruiting, but Auburn has since Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa. This is why Auburn is doing these things, and obviously not really thinking them through. How long will it take before they go too far across the line? Since they have the full support of Pat Dye again, my guess is probably not much longer.

  18. Ou issues are insignificant compared to Bamas. Your history of rouge boosters is legendary. Its just a matter of time before someone gets caught doing something like ………uhhhhhhh ,,,,for instance,,,,, buying a Charger.

    Purely hypothetical.

    Then what happens ? There is a for rent sign on Bryant Denny.

  19. Oh Ballplay, you can’t stand for us to point and laugh when Auburn does stupid things. No one is worried about Auburn message board rumors. We all know Auburn fans are legendary with their conspiracies. It is really the only thing that has been consistent in Auburns history. You are just carrying on that proud Auburn tradition of pointing the fingers at Bama when your school leads the SEC in probation.

  20. WHat you dont get is the fact that your laughing at nothing. Isnt tommorrow when the axe falls?

  21. There will be no falling axe. There will be no penalties against the football program at all. The track team was the instigator and the major do’er in textbookgate. Barners, keep on playin’ with your weiners and having those wet dreams! The NZAA will consider what everyone already knows – that Nick Saban is now controling the Bama athletic program, and Nick Saban won’t put up with 1 second of bulls**t! Textbookgate did not begin under his watch, but he nipped it in the bud!

  22. Let’s see, Aub is riding all their coaches around doing a circle jerk in a limo and having big pus gatherings and throwing butt wipe paper into a dying tree at a dying program and they have netted ZERO recruits out of it, while Bama is presently in top three so far with a five star number 1 db to commit Thursday. Keep up the good work Aub and as always KEEP IT DOWN HOME CUZ!

  23. Talk about rumor mills try TiderInsider.com. As far as CGC goes, those “cheesy” recruiting tactics are about recruits coming in and having fun and not having an egotistical 5″3 midget stare down his nose at them. There is a reason all of your best recruiting coaches left chico, it is called having to work with a “a$$hole” tyrant. Why else would Kevin Steele be so snippy about CN$. Another coach went to Clemson to get away from the little Napoleon dynamite.

    As far as running on the Bama defense, a WAC team was pretty successful doing that against all your “blue chippers” in that mudhole stomping you call a game. And Utah almost got beat at the beginning of the year by a miserable Michigan team.

    I quote cappy “When these types of activities take place, the website is acting more as a booster and less as a media outlet”. How pathetic, Rivals is pretty much operated by Alabama fans, so how is this site not biased towards AL…let me give you a hint, they are. Last year when Saban raked in a top recruiting class, that is all Rivals, Tom Luginbill, and Finescum talked about. Not to mention Shane laughing at every nerdy, egotistical, cynical remark Finescum made. You had no problem with it then.

    As I said before, the ingenious nature of Luper, Taylor, Malzahn, and Chizik is showing and you guys only wish you thought of these ideas. CNS went to the Talladega 500 to impress recruits and 100,000 toothless, mullet AL fans, is starring in a new movie (maybe it is a new episode of Fantasy Island), and has the A day game on ESPN. I give the guy props to some extent, that is innovative. I just wish you guys could at least admit that recently you are getting your balls handed to you on the recruiting trail and AU has some innovative ideas too.

    The fox said, “Those grapes probably are sour anyways”. Jealousy breeds hate.

    BLOW TIDE!

  24. Bamahater, I’m so, so happy you’re such a fanatical Bamahater! It’ll make it that much sweeter thinking about how miserable you and the other assholes like you are during the next 10 years or so of beatdowns you got coming! As for Utah, after the first quarter their running game barely got past the line of scrimage. And the team that barely whipped Michigan put a stomppin’ on Oregon St. who put a stomppin’ on USC! Go figure dumbass. Anyway Utah uses CUM’s spread, not Malt Liquor’s. Different world dude. Malt Liquor couldn’t beat the worst team in the SEC last year. Go Hawgs! And you’re just showing the typical inbred West Alabama mentality jumpin’ on CNS like that. He has a proven method of success. If his staff won’t buy into the the process then good riddance to ’em – just like the players! But the truth is dumbass, the coaches you mentioned have been following CNS from school to school and to the Dolphins ever since he first coached at Toledo. And 3/4 of his current staff has done the same! They all come when he calls! Yeah, they must really hate him! Kind of shoots holes in your dumbass opinions doesn’t it, moron? Don’t come over here spouting your irrational hate for all things Bama simply because you’re life’s a disaster and your sister’s your mama and your daddy’s wife is your mother-in-law and your daddy’s your father-in-law too. Get’s confusin’ does’nt it? RTR!

  25. Hey Bamahate, when Auburn starts winning with all these uber recruits ol chezits raking in, then start bragging. I don’t see it yet. Auburn hasn’t done crap yet, but just barely getting started with a 5-19 coach. They are not matching the progress of Bama at all. You are such a loser.

  26. EG White,
    Is this conversation degenerated into a “Goodfellas” movie where I can see how many times I can “dumbass” and “moron”. Ooooohhhhh! I guess when faced with some facts about coaching, recruiting, and cheating we start to come unraveled and resort to bashing. That is fine, but I really dont care what you think. We will see on the field. You probably will win this year, however, do be so confident 10 yrs down the road (like we did 6 years in a row to you), because money intices coachs (ie Notre Dame job and the NFL) and you now have strong competition with recruiting from both TN and AU. The future is not as bright as you might think for the mullet nation. Ponder this for awhile, NCAA violations (Philip Fulmer still working for TN without coaching responsibility), what do you think he is doing?

    BLOW TIDE!

  27. EG White,

    “Don’t come over here spouting your irrational hate for all things Bama simply because you’re life’s a disaster and your sister’s your mama and your daddy’s wife is your mother-in-law and your daddy’s your father-in-law too. Get’s confusin’ does’nt it?” Come on, dude, you are killing me.

    How long did this take you to make up (which pertains to nothing about AU or AL rivalry). Did you trace this from your own family tree and write it down? I am not an Alabama fan and these things apply only to card carrying TiderInsider, trailer park, mullet, never stepped in a classroom, redneck AL fans. By the way FEMA is selling $5 trailers if you are interested.

    I actually went to AU, graduated, went beyond in graduate school, graduated again, so I actually have a reason I cheer for AU. Did you graduate Athens community college and been a Roll Tider all your life cause daddy was? Have you actually stepped in a UAT classroom? Are you connected to the UAT other than buying football tickets? If so, then great, but if not get a life.

    BLOW TIDE!

  28. EG White,
    Another fact I guess you are getting confused about. West Alabama? Isnt UAT in West Alabama? Does that mean most West Alabamians hate the Tide. I thought it should have been the opposite.

    And Malt Liquor. I guess that is a code word for Malzahn. Surprise he wasnt coaching at AK last year. He coached at Tulsa and made a mid major college with a once mediocre football team go to a bowl game and dismantle Ball St. Agreeably, Ball St is Ball St., however, dont be prejudgmental before our offense has taken the field this year. Last I checked, your offensive line lost the two best starters and your quarterback this year is about as green as lime jello. So dont be so high and mighty, narcissism kills.

  29. Yeah I did mean East Alabama, as In East Alabama Male College. I guess they did teach you how to use a compass in AU graduate school, or how else would you have found your way out of the forest? Goody for you. Now that you have all that Barner education you should be about ready to start your graduate courses at Lurlene Wallace Community College. LMFAO!!! What competition in recruiting pinhead? We’ve already taken the top 2 in Tennessee out from under UcheaT’s nose in Memphis! As for you inbreds, all your shenanigans and you haven’t bagged a single commitment since you started it. Guess you don’t realize it’s only June. Athletes like Seastrunk have 7 months left to visit real schools. They’re just using you for free entertainment during a booring spring. When’s the last time the Barn bagged a 5*? Hell, I don’t think you even have a 4* for 2010 yet! Oh well, that’s enough talking to a box of rocks. Got important things to do. Need to flush another Barner down the toilet? RTR!

  30. Bamahate, you failed to mention that while the number two ranked team in the nation ran on our defense that the same defense held the mighty tigahs to ZERO bwahahahahah, and speaking of Luginbill, wasn’t he at the planned Big pus gathering at Toomer’s? Yet another NCAA violation to report for a member of the media to be at a recruit visit. We sure do hate all those great recruiters couldn’t work with the tyrant anymore,hell it is killing us, we are only third in the nation presently while another five star db will be committing Thurs. while the ingenious super duper Luper and Trooper have netted ZERO at of their stunts, getting our balls handed to us, what a joke, you are a typical delusional inbred barner. You are right however, Aub will not beat us this year, so look for Bama to repeat our nine in a row record at least. Remember money does entice great coaches, so great schools will come after the best like Saban, the national coach of the year, but yall don’t have to worry about anyone but Aub going after the national joke of the year Chiznick. And our qb may be green, as a matter of fact, he looked quite terrible racking that last six on Aub’s embarrasing arse last year, let’s see what was that score again? Oh yeah 36-0. Does Aub know which one of those outstanding QB’s yall will be choosing from yet? bwahahahahahahahahahahahahah

  31. Bamaman,

    I dont need to remind you how we have stomped a mudhole in you in 2005 and 2006 when Tre Smith (our 4th string tailback) glazed your ass like a donut and Brodie was sacked by everybody except Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreet.

    36-0, revel in it for now cause when things get back to normal all the redneck nation will be in mourning.

  32. Bamahate, my little Bama obsessed friend, winning by no more than a touchdown and maybe a field goal in 05 and 06 is not even considered stirring the water, 36-0 is called stomping a mudhole. Things are back to normal, Bama competing for the SEC and going to a BCS bowl yearly, owning the state and most of the country in recruiting, embarrassing Aub 36-0 while they fight for fourth in the west, yeah I would say things are pretty much back to normal

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