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Clarett spilling the beans

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LloydSev said:
It wouldn't be as big of a deal if they didn't try to act like they are better because they knew something.. that's so Susan-esque.
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True, but Susan says she knows why Lydell is having a bad year......
She says the reason is...........................................................
 
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DiHard said:
before anyone else has a heart attack like 27......im just joshing with you all.....relax....its going to be a pain in the ass....but the sky is not falling.....


what i dont get....but i never get clarett....is why he would do this.....it will only serve to discredit his character again to the NFL.....he should have just stayed quiet, blew them away in workouts and been a third round draft choice.....now his character will be even further down the drain....

that kid has shit for brains....
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You s.o.b.!!!!! :wink2:
 
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Brutus1 said:
More importantly, how the hell can she hold on with only 1 hand ? We all know she's holding her camera in the other hand.
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LMFAO
icon10.gif
 
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Clarett claims cash, cars among benefits at OSU
By Tom Friend and Ryan Hockensmith
ESPN The Magazine

Ending six months of silence, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett has told ESPN The Magazine in this week's edition that he "took the fall" for the school during a 2003 NCAA investigation and that he's talking now because he wants to "clear his name" with National Football League owners and general managers.

Clarett says that while he was at Ohio State in 2002 and 2003 head coach Jim Tressel, as well as certain members of his staff and boosters, provided him with improper benefits. He says he covered up Tressel's improprieties during the NCAA investigation and afterward, Ohio State "blackballed'' him from the football program.

According to Clarett, Tressel arranged loaner cars for him and Tressel's brother, Dick, found him lucrative landscaping jobs that he did not even have to show up for. He says members of Tressel's staff also introduced him to boosters who'd slip him thousands of dollars, and the better he played, the more cash he'd receive. He says boosters eventually began inviting him into their homes or would meet him out in the community

"When you'd leave, [the booster] sets you straight," Clarett told The Magazine. "They say, 'You got any money in your pocket?' They make sure your money's straight."

Clarett also says he likely would have been ineligible for Ohio State's national title season of 2002 if the football staff had not "aligned'' him with an academic advisor whose goal was simply to keep him eligible. He says the academic advisor enrolled him in Independent Study courses and also put him with hand-picked teachers who would pass him whether he attended their classes or not. He says his advisor also introduced him to a tutor who prepared outlines and told him what to write for assignments.

Another former Ohio State player, linebacker Marco Cooper (2000-01; Spring 2002), corroborated many of Clarett's comments. Cooper, who was suspended from the team following two arrests for drug possession, says he also had bogus landscaping jobs, that a booster helped furnish his apartment, and that he was able to borrow cars from local Columbus dealerships in exchange for signed OSU memorabilia.

Another former Buckeyes player, current Maryland running back Sammy Maldonado, says he was placed in so many courses that did not put him on the road to graduation that only 17 of his 57 credits earned at Ohio State transferred to his new school.

Ohio State officials have declined to comment on many of the allegations. School President Karen Holbrook, Jim Tressel and Dick Tressel refused to respond through spokespersons, while Athletic Director Andy Geiger said he would not answer questions until after the magazine story appeared, if then.

Maurice Clarett
Maurice Clarett says he received improper benefits during his time at Ohio State.

"We went through a yearlong investigation of our academic programs, everything that [Clarett] has to allege,'' Geiger said. "He vowed to me that he would do something to try to get us and this may be what he's trying to do. So he's on his own.

"We dealt with this guy [Clarett] for 18 months. I just hope you've checked into the background and history of who you're dealing with.''

Clarett's former academic advisor and tutor also declined comment. The NCAA, which investigated Clarett for potential academic and financial irregularities in the summer of 2003, said it is against its policy to discuss the Clarett case.

Clarett, 21, who gained 1,237 yards and scored 18 touchdowns in 2002, his only collegiate season, says he was asked during the 2003 NCAA investigation whether he received a loaner car from Tressel, and, to protect the coach, he says, he answered no. He says when he was asked about other indiscretions, he answered, "I don't know" or "I don't remember," which was a violation of NCAA Rule 10.1, requiring forthright answers.

"What would have become of Ohio State if I said everything?'' Clarett told The Magazine. "Half the team would have been suspended, and it would have been worse for everybody. I was like, 'Why don't I just take it?'"

The school suspended him for the entire 2003 season, and when Clarett asked to be reinstated for 2004, he says the athletic department systematically "blackballed him" by taking away the teachers and tutors.

Clarett then tried applying for the 2004 NFL Draft, and was first ruled eligible and then ineligible, because he wasn't the requisite three years removed from high school. He says he was "depressed" by the court's ultimate decision to ban him, but is now working out in anticipation of the 2005 draft in April. He says he is hoping this winter to play in this winter's East-West Shrine game and the Senior Bowl, all-star invitationals that would be his first football games in two years.

Several pro executives say, as of now, the running back could go as low as the fourth or fifth round. Clarett contends he will change any negative perceptions at the NFL combine in February.

"I'm thinking, 'NFL GMs know college players take money,' " Clarett says. "It was nothing like I stole something. Nothing like I'm running from the law or I'm dragging a girl down the stairs. No domestic violence. No nothing. [But] I got to clear myself up now, because it's affecting the minds of the GMs."
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http://espn.go.com/ncf/s/2004/1109/1919059.html
 
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If i am troy smith I am quite nervous right now.....this is clearly not good for claretts homey......the best he can hope for is guilt by association and there is no end to the other side.....
 
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Can any of this be proved?

There was an old movie Called One on One. It had Robbie Benson,who was a basketball player.

He had a bogus landscaping job, and boosters giving him money.
I bet MOC watched that recently
 
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This was in the Columbus Dispatch today:

Is another storm brewing?
Maurice Clarett is talking, this time to ESPN, and Ohio State expects more controversy
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
BOB HUNTER



FILE PHOTOS
Controversy followed Maurice Clarett at Ohio State, where he was suspended for the 2003 season.





He’s baaaack.

Well, at least we think he is. And adapting that line from Poltergeist to former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett tends to bring the same kind of chilling reaction from OSU officials and fans as it did in old horror movies.

Clarett apparently broke his public silence to participate in an investigative story about Ohio State athletics by ESPN the Magazine and the ESPN television show Outside the Lines. The network sent reporters to town to ask questions in the places where OSU athletes work and play.

What ESPN has is anybody’s guess at this point, but its digging has been unsettling enough to university officials that athletics director Andy Geiger plans to brief reporters on the topic today at coach Jim Tressel’s weekly media luncheon.

‘‘They’re poking around," Geiger said. ‘‘Going to car dealers, going to stores. . . . They showed up at our academic support center and wanted to interview some people, wanted to interview the president of the university about independent study. They’ve been saying, ‘We just want to give you guys a chance to defend yourself,’ but the stuff they talked to them about was all covered by the NCAA during the Clarett investigation. They have all these innuendos and loose ends and those kinds of things, and they’re doing their best to poke around about it. I want to make people aware of it."

And how does Geiger feel about all of this?

‘‘To never be able to escape accusations from somebody who has already set some sort of record for an inability to get it right is very frustrating. But that’s where we are," he said.

In fact, no one knows precisely where OSU is with all this, even though it has been almost two years since Clarett last appeared in an Ohio State football game. Geiger flew to New York last February to meet with ESPN officials and persuaded them not to air a similar piece, so at least some of that material is presumably contained in the new story.

Geiger suspended Clarett for the 2003 season for allegedly receiving thousands of dollars of illegal benefits and repeatedly misleading investigators, a suspension that ultimately led him to sue the NFL for early inclusion in the draft. Because Clarett lost, he has had plenty of time to cultivate his anger and presumably change his mind about talking to ESPN. He repeatedly has refused requests for interviews from The Dispatch.

Network officials recently asked Geiger to appear on Outside the Lines to discuss their story, but he turned them down. He said he doesn’t know if and when the piece will appear, though he guessed during OSU-Michigan week.

‘‘We refuted most of it (the first time)," Geiger said. ‘‘We went over it all with them and talked to them. They thought they had all this goopy stuff, and very little of it holds water. They realized it and they stopped. If they have new stuff, we’ll have to deal with it. And if they don’t, we’ll have to take the hit, one more blow to the innocent."

Clarett’s cousin, Vince Marrow, said the difference may be that Clarett wouldn’t give the magazine what it wanted the last time, but he might have this time. Whatever he gave, it figures to damage OSU only if he deals in specifics rather than generalities.

Clarett repeatedly tried to lie his way out of trouble with the police, school officials and the NCAA, so he doesn’t exactly lead the league in credibility. And he supposedly blames Geiger and Heather Lyke Catalano, OSU’s assistant athletics director for compliance services, for his troubles. But if Clarett can cite specific instances when OSU officials or coaches broke NCAA rules, his comments could still do a lot of damage, not only to the school but to his former teammates.

Presumably, the national championship the team won in 2002 could be jeopardized, although how isn’t clear. It was presented by the Bowl Championship Series, not the NCAA.

‘‘We’re talking about a guy with 17 instances of violating NCAA Bylaw 10," Geiger said. ‘‘That’s the one about not telling (investigators) the truth."

True or false, the big question is whether Clarett offered ESPN the kind of specifics that would cause the NCAA to take another look. Even Pinocchio might get another look if he played on a team that won a national championship.

‘‘It’s frustrating because we did an exhaustive investigation of this," Geiger said. ‘‘It’s unbelievable we can’t seem to get out of this pattern. . . . This could go on for rest of our lives."


Bob Hunter is a sports colum nist for The Dispatch
.


[email protected]
 
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what pisses me off is Douchebag Clarrett's story to look better for the NFL (Bullshit, if that was the case he'd have talked 9 months ago) is bigger fucking news than sex/rape accusations in Oklahoma. Un-fucking-believable!!!
 
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Clarett, Maldonado and Marco Cooper...

If anyone outside of the Buckeye nation knew how ridiculous a trio that is, Tom Friend and Ryan Hockensmith would be strung up. Could they possibly have found any former players who were more bitter and willing to take a shot at the program than these three? I think it would be difficult.

Too bad that the truth about these three players wouldn't do much to help condemn us, which is all this article tries to do. Also too bad is the simple fact that the moment this article was put on the front page of ESPN, we're instantly guilty of everything it says, and more, in the public eye.

What's insane, is that there's nothing new here. Just Clarett endorsing the story. It's already been investigated, it's already been cleared. That point too is lost in the article.

Friend and Hockensmith represent the worst "journalism" has to offer. This is a profession that makes ambulance chasing lawyers, pederast priests, back alley quacks and user car salespeople look like ethical people.

Time for all of us to get pulled through the mud again. And this time it's Clarett's doing. I came out of it last time wishing the kid well, appreciating his contribution to the team, giving us a title trophy, etc. Sure, a little bitter about how bad it all went, certainly disappointed, but largely wishing him well, and hoping he would have a great pro career.

How I feel now, I'll keep to myself, because it's best left unsaid. But suffice it to say, I feel differently than before.
 
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Tell you guys what, as much as I think MoC is just trying to pull the spot light back on him.. this doesn't sound good AT ALL...

I still think most of it will turn out unfounded, or not related to the university, but seeing Cooper (again great track record there) and Sammy M all having similar comments doesn't look good.
 
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