Ex-Buckeye Tells All
Small told The Lantern on Wednesday he profited off of memorabilia while at Ohio State, adding that some student-athletes "don't even think about (NCAA) rules."
"I had sold my things but it was just for the money," Small said. "At that time in college, you're kind of struggling."
Small, who played receiver at OSU from 2006-2010, capitalized on the Buckeyes' success during his college career.
"We had four Big Ten rings," he said. "There was enough to go around."
Small said he sold the rings to cover typical costs of living.
"We have apartments, car notes," he said. "So you got things like that and you look around and you're like, ‘Well I got (four) of them, I can sell one or two and get some money to pay this rent."
The wheeling and dealing didn't stop with rings. The best deals came from car dealerships, Small said.
"It was definitely the deals on the cars. I don't see why it's a big deal," said Small, who identified Jack Maxton Chevrolet as the players' main resource.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on May 7 that OSU was investigating more than 50 transactions between OSU athletes and their families and Jack Maxton Chevrolet or Auto Direct.
Representatives for Jack Maxton Chevrolet did not return repeated requests for comment.
NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from benefiting from the sale of their merchandise. Small said he wasn't the only one.
"They have a lot (of dirt) on everybody," Small said, "cause everybody was doing it."
It is not whether this was done but for how long. With the NCAA denying USC's appeal, it would seem that they are winding up to swing the bat at OSU. If the NCAA does its homework, it looks like ineligble players have been playing for OSU for much of the last decade. It appears that Tressel didn't report anything last year because he didn't report anything the year before or the year before or the year before and so on. If Tressel reports it last year, then people start looking and digging - then they find out this has been going on a long long time.
has already been getting heat for his "commentary". I can't imagine this is going to help him any, dealing with the Buckeye faithful.
I know it's been posted about a million times here, but really, I mean it, it's astounding, how absolutely weird and pathetic and idiotic some of these Fans are defending what's going on at OSU. I feel bad for the honest/rational ones among that fanbase. Things are just going to get worse.
But I imagine that Herb, Mark, and the others who provided some sort of sensible commentary will, in about five years, look all the better in the eyes of their alma mater for speaking up and saying what is right when it didn't seem wise to do so. Tressel has run dirty programs wherever he's gone. It's just a shame it's taken so long to prove "the obvious".
I saw him pull into a gas station on campus, and I couldn't believe it. It wasn't just a 2 year old 300, it had tinted windows and 20 inch rims on it.
The OSU Compliance Department appears to be in no hurry to complete its Car-gate investigation, but that isn't stopping the Columbus Dispatch:
Internal audits of the OSU car-registration process have raised concerns.
Documents that the university released yesterday say that in 2006, an Ohio State internal-audit department review found that the car registration forms filled out by athletes were incomplete and sometimes inconsistent with the car registry maintained by University Transportation and Parking.
Last fall, the auditors reviewed car registrations of 152 athletes and observed vehicles driven by football players to spring practice. Auditors found that 44 athletes bought parking permits for, received parking tickets in, or were seen driving cars that weren't registered.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/26/osu-…
Somewhere, Brad Labadie is pointing and laughing.
Interesting, considering the Columbus Dispatch just this week was accused of cheating (e.g. plagiarism by their editorial cartoonist). The paper did their own "investigation" and found the whole thing "appears to be [only] a coincidence."
You don't see them breaking the rules. They take out a loan, do some odd jobs, save money during the summer period, etc. to make ends meet. No excuse for cheating. I smell buckeye nuts roasting on a open fire.
These guys are already given a full scholarship to attend university which many, many people don't get. They expect people to feel bad that they "need spending money"? So the hell does every university student. Get a damn job!
I could be mistaken, but I think there are actually rules against athletes having jobs, bizarre as it may seem. Does anybody know more about this?
Student athletes can be employed, though they are required to go through a layer of paperwork to ensure compliance (i.e. so they don't get paid for a no-show gig).
However, having worked a little in college, I can tell you that the $30,000 they pull in from a full ride puts them WAY ahead of the average student bussing tables at Ashleys. So my sympathy is limited.
I was a college athlete. The off season and summer are times to save money by working so you will have it during season.
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<br>It's not easy. It's not fun. But it is being an adult.
Not in any specific detail - but you are correct
They can work in the summer. Which, not coincidentally, is a topic OSU's Troy Smith is well versed.
Famed OU transfer Rhett Bomar was once "employed" with a summer job by a car dealership (!!), only he was conveniently not required to actually work. From Wikipedia:
On August 2, 2006, Bomar was dismissed from the team by OU head coach. It was reported that he was paid for work at Big Red Sports and Imports, a car dealership owned by a major University of Oklahoma donor, but that he did not complete the work, a violation of NCAA rules.
So student athletes can apparently hold jobs to earn extra cash. But this has probably been exploited numerous times to funnel cash to football players in shady, back-handed ways. Rhett Bomar got caught. I'm sure many others haven't.
... I think you owe Maurice Clarett an apology:
My Side (11/10/2004)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919246
Souls of the Departed Haunt Youngstown (11/12/2004)
Clarett created his own problems, and it's too bad, because when he started to talk about how corrupt tUOS, everyone ignored him, much like Canseco with steroids. But you know what, they were both more accurate than we wanted to imagine.
the sad reality is, because OSU football doesn't fall under repeat offender, their punishment will be much lighter than it should be, even with the shenanegans that went on in basketball.
Man these guys dont know when to shut up. Good for us! You can keep guys like Boren. Cry baby shit heads.
"The tattoo thing is whatever. It's not that big of a deal, but it's one of the dumb rules that the NCAA has," Jenkins told The Lantern on Wednesday. "I don't see what advantage getting free tattoos has to a university to be a violation, but it's whatever. It's in the rules, so it's whatever."
Yikes. I don't think I'll be referring to Malcolm Jenkins as a moral beacon anytime soon.
This actually reminded me, didn't Antonio Pittman inadvertently admit that OSU athletes have been receiving improper benefits for years? I want to say in the wake of the initial Tat-gate violations, he tweeted something along the lines of "I don't see what the big deal is, players have been getting hook ups since 2001" or something similar.
Antoniopittman: This osu tattoo stuff is silly. Cats been gettin hookups on tatts since back in 01
Is such an awesome quote, second only to "everyone murders".
I plan on using it if the IRS ever contacts me!
If he had just come clean about the pants sale and suspended the guys and told the NCAA, it seems likely none of this would be happening. Ah, karma.
That I always thought Tressel was a joke. This guy was given so many 2nd chances that I think Dantonio may have even shook his head a little. Tressel always let him come back.
LOL...You guys crack me up!!!!! I am not going to say Tressel shouldn't or isn't going to pay for what he did, believe me it pains mebeyond belief! If we cheated we should pay the price..I belive that and I am a diehard buckeye...but what is funny to me is that wolverine nation is hoping and praying of the destruction of buckeye football so you guys might be competitive again (notice how I didnt say beat us) Whatever is handed down by the NCAA Ohio State will still be Ohio State, we might be down for a few years but all we have to do is recruit OHIO.....UM will not be good without OHIO players....if you dont think kids growing up in OHIO want to play for the bucks you are in denial. All we(buckeye fans) heard about when RR was hired was about "slot ninja's" and BARWIS this or BARWIS that or he has been "BARWISSIZED"!! How did that work out for you guys??? Now we hear about HOKE..LOL...Dude is below a .500 head coach and your all over his nuts like he is Fielding Yost ...he has picked up some nice recruits but it will take a few years of that before UM is competive again... Now about the cars go over to the big house or whever the football team works out and look at their cars, SERIOUSLY do it, then talk! Whatever happenswith the NCAA OSU will still have a better recruiting ground than UM....I leave with words from the great Chris Spielman " michigan would be like Indiana without players from OHIO' lol....sleep tight knowing that!
Try them sometime, you may like it.
Now I know the word "paragraphs" frustrates you because you don't understand what it means. It's ok, just take a deep breath, find a dictionary, and start your path to learning how to correctly implement them (it's ok, you can look up "implement" while you have the dictionary open).
we are hoping for some freak accident to occur that will harm OSU. All we want is an even playing field and punishment for whatever violations have occurred. Hell, some on here don't even want you guys to be punished because it will "hurt the rivalry." Last I checked, breaking serious rules to gain a meaningful advantage in recruiting over the course of a decade or whatever has "hurt the rivalry."
Have you ever considered that maybe you won't recruit Ohio as well as you do now if players aren't allowed to get sweetheart deals on cars and sell rings for $$$ and get free tattoos?
Tressel is a good recruiter but it's pretty hard to say he is a better recruiter than John Cooper. Some of you are acting like Tressel made Purdue a powerhouse. Cooper was recruiting top talent throughout the 90's. Tressel's recruiting didn't lopside the rivalry, many of Cooper's teams were more talented than Michigan, he managed to lose to them anyway.
Over a 13 year period, Michigan held a 10-2-1 advantage over your beloved Buckeyes. We were Michigan and never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd have a 10 year stretch like the one we're on. The tables can turn quickly, my friend. Ask ANY football progam. Success is fleeting.
There's some douchenozzle that coaches an hour or so away from here. He once uttered the words "Pride comes before the fall." Not coicidentally, he's spawned from the loins of the Vest.
Sleep tight knowing that the man you revere as a father figure to your players is a lying sleaze. And that the institution that you worship and that granted you your degree is a bastion of lying, cheating, and rule breaking. It's a shame that the paper that grants you your self-worth....isn't worth the paper itself.
just way over the top flaming. Totally uncalled for. You're better than that.
Wolverine nation isn't the only group taking pleasure in this. Most of the SEC is loving it, and they don't seem to have a hard time beating you.
Stop trolling, get the sand out of your vagina, and take your impending punishment like a man. This is coming from a woman.
I like your style, Miss.
Is that the university administration has brilliantly screwed up after the disclosure by coach Tressel. I wonder if president Gee is still hoping Tressel doesn't fire him. This tail wagging the dog feature of the story is really what us setting off the Michigan fan base. It is extremely embarrassing to the Ohio university. The Ohio program has severe gangrene and cancer. It's time to lop off the limb and cut out the cancer. Then move on. Until that time, the program will be the buck of all jokes.
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You just joined the board and chose the name Fire Lloyd Carr 3 years after he retired AND spell ill-will "I'll will"
Dude. Come on.
I phone auto correct. Thanks for checking my spelling. I am forever indebted to you.
UM will not be good without OHIO players
And OSU wouldn't have its one MNC in the past 20 years without a Michigan kid at QB (Krenzel). You also didn't seem to complain when guys like Gholston were tearing it up.
Just grow a pair and accept that OSU is going to be punished for breaking the rules. It happens - UM suffered through it with the Fab 5, but they recovered. And at that point in history, UM basketball was at/near the same level as OSU football over a similar time span.
And Oklahoma would be Tulsa without players from Texas. Who gives a shit, Oklahoma and Michigan aren't talent rich states so they have to recruit Texas and Ohio respectively.
drip even better! Just hang in there, Tress.
I know that in some way this also makes the league look bad, but no one can tell me this isn't very good for Michigan.
WOW..CUT OUT MY COMMENTS.....LOOSERS!
Your mom is looser.
Well look at that, Buckeye intelligence is already rubbing off on me :-/
try to make your comment "louder" by using ALL CAPS, and then can't spell the word "loser".
I'm giving you "flamebait" because there's no "Douche" option.
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click on the comment to make it visible. Or just change the moderation threshold at the top of the page.
Get on that ASAP. Happy Easter!
The problem is that the students used school issued material to help pay for their expenses. Majority of the athletes were doing it and tressel knew about it the whole time and refused to say anything. He KNEW they were cheating and using it to their advantage. Pryor had the opportunity to get any car he wanted and he took full advantage of that. They took advantage of their coach covering up for them... Now punishment needs to be made.