|
This is most likely a result of recruiting practices being used by Fat Phil at Tennessee (and possibly other "dirty" Southern schools). There was a story in the Miami Herald(?) a few months ago about Tenn. using "independent third parties" to influence recruits from South Florida to go to school in Knoxville. Around the same time there was also a story on D. Morley (the CB from Miami) who had just decommitted from Florida, and was leaning towards Tenn. When asked about his college choices, one of the things he mentioned was going somewhere where that's big time and where he will be taken care of. One can speculate that he wasn't talking about being helped with homesickness. There was also a related article that said the reason Miami didn't offer him was because he was hanging around the wrong people (the aforementioned "street agents") and looking for some kind of payout from the school he would attend.
A "street agent" is someone who channels money to recruits without declaring his connection to a school. That way the buying school can never be directly tied to a recruit. This is probably how renegade schools have adapted in the post-Albert Means/Alabama/Tennessee era.
Interesting that Miami's Coker is now the person raising the subject of "street agents" while Fat Phil is suddenly in on an unusual amount of recruits, especially from South Florida (Kenny Phillips is now seriously considering Tenn. as well), and is completely silent about all this.
|