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."
All I am saying is when you were under investigation for extra practice we didn't wish your demise..crist we agreed with you guys that to be the best you have to put in the extra work!! Tressel screwed up big time...i think he will pay the piper and should,,,,,but lets not think UM is the poster university for doing things the right way...when you are dealing with 18-19-20 year old entiled individuals there will be issues....no school is immune......so keep on throwing stones my friends... man the season can't get here fast enough!
To be fair, overpracticing by a couple of hours and the rampant selling/trading of equipment, signatures, etc. you have at OSU are not even comparable. And with the Fab 5 punishments, I definitely heard people from OSU calling for the death penalty.
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<br>But I agree it is idiotic for any fanbase to act holier than thou with this stuff. My guess is every major program has skeletons in their closets, and will they range in severity I doubt OSU is the only school with kids trading memorabilia for money and gifts. The only school I'm looking forward to gloating over is Auburn just because of the level of abuse you saw with Newton.
man the season can't get here fast enough!
That's especially true this year, because for a number of your players the season won't get here until Week Six, and for your head coach it may never get here.
Oh, that train (the season) will arrive at the station on time, all right .... Tressel just might not be aboard when it starts heading down the tracks again.
Looks like he...
/puts on sunglasses
...won't be getting right on that.
Chris Spielman disagrees with you.
"[The Wolverines] stink, they're not very good. They don't play offense ... they can't run it consistently, they can't throw it consistently, they can't stop the run, they're not very good defending the pass, they're not very good covering kicks, they're not very good returning kicks," Spielman said. "I love seeing them beaten down, man. It's great,"
Suck it, JP.
To be fair, while not to the extent that OSU players have been, I remember some Michigan players in my years there driving some suspiciously nice cars. Braylon had some kind of giant SUV (excursion/escalade?) with tinted windows and rims that he almost ran me over with on Hill St.
It was a Michigan player, and not an Ohio State player, completely different circumstances man. (this is sarcasm for those without a sense of humor)
you can just end your sarcastic posts with a "/s" or "/sarcasm"
Braylon didn't come from a real underprivileged background. Stan Edwards has done pretty well in his post-Michigan days.
This is crazy-hard-hitting info to come from a student newspaper. These are two brave students. They'll land a job in journalism after they graduate.
Unless the death threats they've undoubtedly received are serious.
wow! ray small is absolutely getting hammered on twitter by former and current buckeye players, even buckeye NFL'ers are tearing into him! you can see some of it on ohio states 247sports front row board..i think even the glenville kids are gettin at him to and thats a brotherhood itself as well!
Former players trying to cover up the truth by saying that there lies.
I suppose Ray Small didn't have plans to visit Columbus ever again.....they hate to hear the truth down there.