NCAA Looking At Bryce Brown

((HT: GoVolsXtra/Hooker))

Is Vols RB Bryce Brown ((pictured, thanks Adam Brimer/GoVolsXtra.com)) eligible or not...?

ESPN's Chris Low has up that Mike DeCesare, the NCAA's assistant director for amateurism certification, has talked to Brown in the last day or so.

Kiffin, after Tuesday's practice, said Brown is eligible but said he doesn’t know if Brown will be eligible for UT’s season opener against Western Kentucky on Sept. 5.

“They can rule whenever they want,” a visibly frustrated Kiffin said following practice.

At question is money raised for Brown and other players to attend football camps while Brown was a sophomore at Wichita (Kan.) East High School, Kiffin said. The investigation has been ongoing since at least February.

Tennessee’s recruitment of Brown is not part of the investigation, Kiffin said. Neither is the recruitment from any other school.

“I think it’s a gigantic distraction,” Kiffin said of the amateurism issue.

Thanks to our friends at WVLT-TV for Kiffy saying hello...
Business picks up at the 2:50 mark...


WVLT caught up with Brown's trainer, Brian Butler, after practice...
"Bryce never did one thing wrong during his recruitment," Butler told Sports Overtime's Daryl Hobby. "His parents were very particular about getting everything done right."

As for the investigation: "I have no idea what it's about," Butler said. "In February [the NCAA] wanted to make it about me. I don't know of any new investigation."

Butler says he never raised money for Brown. Instead, he claims he held fundraisers to allow all of his trainees at Potential Players -- Butler's organization -- to travel to various universities on what Butler claims were academic tours.

KAKE-TV in Wichita has a source that claims that Bryce has done nothing wrong and this is a continuation of the Brian Butler investigation from a couple of years ago.

((OSG is figuring that their source is, once again, Butler...))

The source saying that Brown and other area students took a summer tour to colleges and the NCAA may have an issue with that trip.

Joanna Chadwick of the Wichita Eagle newspaper fills in some more of the holes...

Brown was one of 10 players who went on a summer 2007 tour to college campuses in the southern part of the country. Butler billed it as an academic tour.

Players on that tour included Brown and his brother, Arthur, who is at Miami (Fla.); Rose Hill graduate Blaize Foltz, now at Texas Christian; Northwest graduate Chris Harper, who transferred from Oregon to Kansas State; and 2008 Top 11 selection Jaydan Bird, a Conway Springs graduate now at Oklahoma.

Foltz's father, Roger, said that he has not been contacted by the NCAA. Harper's parents did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

Butler said money was raised for that tour by hosting barbecues at Wal-Mart and Sam's, a fund-raiser at Texas Roadhouse, as well as money given by four donors whom Butler did not identify.

"I deemed it initially, and marketed it that way, as an academic tour," Butler said. "I know you can't get money donated when it has anything to do with athletics....

"Here's the thing that bothers me, I feel like this is strictly a shot at Bryce because no kid paid one penny."

Those of us at OSG HQ would like to remind Butler and those like him that you can't get anything past the NCAA. They're kinda like the EEOC. You're guilty until proven innocent and they'll take their own sweet time trying to figure out what they want to figure out... and call an "Academic Trip" what it is- a recruiting trip... on a fundraiser's nickel...

Nicely played...

We guess, by the time this is over, that Butler will get popped by the NCAA, Brown will be out for a game or two- which won't really matter- unless it's more than one.

UCLA is on the schedule...

Any of the other kids involved in Butler's "Academic trips" will also get a game here or there to sit and think about what they've done...

Ain't recruitin' grand...???