http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi2308jan23,0,2811101.column Urban Meyer should pay if he broke recruiting rules Mike Bianchi | SPORTS COMMENTARY January 23, 2008 Now we know why Urban Meyer is such a great recruiter. Because he doesn't just offer scholarships to players. He apparently offers scholarships to their girlfriends, too. As you would expect, there's been much consternation on the recruiting message boards in recent days about Meyer's controversial and potentially illicit recruitment of star junior college wide receiver Carl Moore and -- here's the juicy part -- his girlfriend, Maranda Smith. There are reports that Moore likely wasn't going to attend UF unless Smith -- a gymnast who had competed for UCLA in 2006 but quit because of an injury -- came to Gainesville, too. Can you guess what happened next? That's right, Meyer reportedly contacted the girlfriend, he contacted UF gymnastics Coach Rhonda Faehn and -- voila! -- Moore and Smith are both on scholarship and already enrolled at UF. In fairness, Smith was one of the top high school gymnasts in the country and could have signed with other collegiate gymnastics teams. She even competed in a meet this past weekend when the No. 1-ranked Gators met No. 2-ranked Georgia. But let's be honest, shall we? This is college football recruiting we're talking about. Smith could have been Tony Siragusa in drag and probably would have been given a scholarship to UF. Moore, after all, is considered the No. 1 junior-college prospect in the country. He's a 6-foot-4, 220-pound wide receiver who runs a 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds. "A freak," according to Jamie Newberg, a national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. It's no wonder Meyer recruited Moore to be a UF football player. But the question everyone wants to know is: What business did Meyer have recruiting Moore's girlfriend to be a UF gymnast? Obviously, it wasn't because he was impressed with her back handspring. In fact, I'd love to hear Meyer's recruiting pitch to Smith. I'm betting it went something like this: Meyer: "Can you do a cartwheel?" Smith: "Yes." Meyer: "Say no more -- full ride!" What is it about gymnasts being involved in the football recruiting process? A few years ago, the NCAA investigated a relationship between Pompano Beach high school All-America defensive lineman Corey Simon and Georgia gymnast Leah Brown. Although the Bulldogs were eventually cleared, Simon got out of his Georgia scholarship and wound up at Florida State. Usually, the general rule of thumb is all is fair in love, war and college football recruiting, but not when there are concerns that Meyer may have broken some legitimate NCAA rules. Last week, in a story published in the Gainesville Sun, Smith said she talked with Meyer "every day back in November when he was recruiting Carl [Moore]. He kept asking how Carl was doing and [he] wanted me to come [to UF] and do gymnastics." If this is true, Meyer potentially broke two rules: (1) Coaches from one sport aren't usually authorized to recruit athletes from other sports and (2) For most of November, football coaches aren't allowed to phone potential recruits more than once a week. UF officials are looking into this matter and hoping Smith was simply exaggerating when she told the Sun that Meyer contacted her "every day." Maybe there was some exaggeration, but does anybody really doubt Meyer pushed the envelope right to edge and maybe over it? Meyer is consumed with recruiting. He contacts anybody and everybody whom he believes can give him an inside track with a star prospect. Don't forget, Meyer is pretty much the one who got text-messaging banned by the NCAA. "It doesn't surprise me that he [Meyer] would contact a recruit's girlfriend," Newberg says. "That's the recruiting business. When you're recruiting, you recruit mothers, fathers, grandmothers, girlfriends -- anybody who is close to the kid." One of the things that make Meyer such a phenomenal recruiter is that he works every angle. If it meant getting a star recruit, he'd promise the kid's father a spot on the UF golf team. If a stud recruit were really close to his grandmother, Meyer would offer granny a knitting scholarship ("What, no knitting team? We'll start one if your grandson becomes a Gator.") Meyer's zeal for recruiting is all well and good -- as long as it's being done within the rules. If it's not then somebody needs to have the guts to give UF's coaching prodigy a reprimand and a firm slap on the wrist. There's no question Urban Meyer is a great college football coach. He has the Gators once again poised to haul in one of the premier recruiting classes in the country. "We have Meyer's class in our top three," confirms Barton Simmons, a recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. But in what sport -- football or gymnastics? Mike Bianchi can be reached at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.
Here's a post I found on another forum. Has anyone seen this in Sports Illustrated? The Urban Meyer-Carl Moore-Carl Moore's girlfriend recruiting scandal/story just got a lot more interesting with the revelation that Tim Tebow may be involved. After the Heisman ceremony, Meyer reportedly called Moore to check in and, according to The Sacramento Bee, handed the phone to Tebow who said: "Carl!, I just won the Heisman! Come on down here, and let's win a national championship!" The NCAA, as you may have guessed, frowns on this sort of thing. FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.. My guess is nothing will cum from this. : ) And let me go ahead and say... Lighten up, It's just a game.
cornerback, I've been waiting to see how long it would take you to post this story, it's kind of your style. At most it's a secondary violation which that the Gators are investigating and the NCAA and SEC are being kept informed. However for your reading enjoyment, and information for other folks here on Skybox here's a few links. More Information About Smith and Moore Meyer at center of controversy From the above article here's a quote that Feldman ends the article with Is Urban Meyer a dirty recruiter? This idea is laughable...
I don't see it as too big of a deal. I find it a little interesting so I thought it worth mentioning. I find ita little telling about the Florida coach, that is all.
cornerback, there's a 2009 QB prospect in Miramar Florida, he's 6'3" and a good prospect. From a insider board that I can't link but think it's ok to quote I got this information. So he has a verbal offer from Georgia and he has worked out at his school for a Georgia coach. Does that sound all right to you?
It's my understanding Tailback that it's illegal for a college coach to work out a player at the players school. If my understanding is correct then that is a violation.
Tailback I'm trying to get more clarification, but it appears that to go to a juniors school at this point and work him out is a violation. So my question becomes this, assuming that is true and since you seem to think the other information you posted is telling on my coach then what is your opinion of your coach?
Well I can't find anything that makes me believe it's a violation. Speaking with a few UGA fans they pointed out that what the Florida coach did was premeditated. So that's a big difference isn't it? Now an asst. coach had some minor violations a few weeks back. One had to do with replying to a text message regagrding a question a recruit had. The other was minor also. Keep in mind, these were asst. coaches, not CMR. The Coach that you stated may have broke the rules must have been Bobo. So it has no reflection on CMR in my opinion.
Tailback, while I do not have the rule to quote, as neither do you about Meyer, I believe private workouts are illegal. It was Bobo who is one of your assistants right? If so and it's not a reflection on Richt then I guess you are telling me you don't expect for Richt to have control of his assistants? Actually you did exactly what I expected you would do, make excuses for the Georgia staff but allow no room for the Gator staff. While you did exactly what I expected, what I was hoping is that you would apply the same stand to both teams and you did not so I can't take your thoughts all that serious. Actually I don't expect anything to come of this for either staff, but you my friend have applied two different standards to the Gators and the Dawgs. One other thing, I don't expect anything to even be mentioned in the media about the Georgia violation but they will continue to hammer Meyer and the Gators. That probably has a lot to do with the success the Gators are having with recruiting this year and the last two years.