Oregon football faces questions over recruiting
Oregon officials confirmed Thursday that the school paid about $28,000 to a pair of recruiting services last spring, but said the payments and services the school received were within NCAA rules and were OK'd by the school's compliance department.
The university's disclosure came after Yahoo! Sports said Thursday that Oregon paid $25,000 to Will Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston. Lyles has a mentoring relationship with Ducks running back Lache Seastrunk.
ESPN.com said the NCAA is probing Seastrunk's recruitment, although Oregon spokesman Dave Williford told USA TODAY on Thursday night that the school has had no contact from the NCAA or the Pacific-10 offices regarding the matter.
The Yahoo story also said Oregon paid $3,745 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics. Flenory told Yahoo he also ran a recruiting service that provided Oregon with information about potential recruits, but the company no longer operates because of a change in NCAA rules. Neither of the payments was out of the ordinary, the school said in a statement released Thursday night.
"The athletics department paid for services rendered by a pair of scouting services that were processed through the athletics department business office to Complete Scouting Services and New Level Athletics," the statement said. "This is no different than services purchased by a number of colleges and universities throughout the country.
"This is something we remain confident is within the acceptable guidelines allowed by the NCAA and occurred with the knowledge of the department's compliance office."
Williford told USA TODAY: "This went through the school's business office, and if we were trying to hide payments, we wouldn't do that."
In the weeks leading up to the Bowl Championship Series title game against the Ducks, Auburn dealt with a probe of issues surrounding quarterback Cam Newton's recruiting by Mississippi State when Newton was coming out of junior college last winter. He was cleared to play by the NCAA and led Auburn to the national title with a 22-19 victory against the Ducks. He has since left the Tigers and entered his name in next month's NFL draft.
Seastrunk is a redshirt freshman at Oregon. He is from Temple, Texas, and was one of the nation's leading recruits after the 2009 season.
ESPN.com also said the NCAA is examining Lyles' relationship with Ducks star tailback LaMichael James, who led the nation in rushing last year and was a Heisman Trophy finalist. James is a rising junior from Texarkana, Texas.
ESPN.com said that in December, Lyles was James' guest at the ESPNU Home Depot College Football Awards Show in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and Lyles described himself as James' trainer and adviser.
See photos of: Bowl Championship Series, NCAA, University of Oregon
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