re: "Xavier Thomas grew up a South Carolina fan. He’s off to a strong start at Clemson"

these kids aint here to play school

lets be real here.

That wouldn’t surprise me if it were true

It's only a matter of time before they get popped

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It's only a matter of time before they get popped

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They should have been popped already and would have been had they not granted an unconditional release to Belk.

I dunno if it's just a matter of time or not because Newspring has been shut down and they're doing it from so many angles and they've been doing it so long they have it down to a.science.

They absolutely own most of Florida. Now think about that. They've got FSU, UF, Miami, UCF and USF trying to bust them and they can't ... what they are doing up here and in Georgia is nothing compared to what they are doing in Florida.

But, and this is a big but, if their money men are ever exposed that'll be their downfall just like last time. It's always the money men that spill the beans.

so how come we can't do what they do?

or is it because the competition is just that much better in the SEC, that we are doing that, we just have to compete with UGA, Florida, Bama, Auburn, LSU etc, while on the other hand they're just up against FSU because the rest of their conference goes all in on Hoops.

Several things are in play.

Clemson has it down to a science. Tennessee used to have it down to a science back then as well ... and those two used to battle-it-out on the cheating circuit.

I was at a wedding in Charleston some twenty years ago, or more. It was the wedding of Courtney Leavett's brother Chip. Courtney and his Dad were there as well of course.

Chip was working for a radio station down there at the time. Citadel Broadcasting (not related to the school) pretty much owned the market down there back then.

Anyways, so we're sitting there talking, and I was in the recruiting business at the time so I had some questions about some rumors I had heard here and there.

Courtney was a Gamecock punter and kicker, the #1 kicker in the country out of HS, Germantown HS in Memphis. Brad Scott's highest rated recruit during his tenure. Courtney was later made famous for having his jaw broken by a bounty hit put on him during a Clemson game while he was walking off the field ... but that's another story and Tommy West denied the bounty accusations. Someone should have been arrested quite honestly. Trooper Del, now passed, made a fake bounty post on a board on their kicker ... and the FBI actually invesigated. But Clemson's player got away with it.

Anyways, back to the wedding.

So I'm sitting there talking to Courtney and Buzz (Buzz was the Dad, he was a stock broker in Memphis) and I asked Courtney about all the different recruiting trips he took because he took his five to some great places.

Notre Dame was the one I was most interested-in and Courtney said it was probably his favorite because when he visited he loved all the old tradition and trophies and Touchdown Jesus, etc. He said when they took him to the locker all the lockers had jerseys, in numbered order, lined up with the names on the back of the jersey's of those Irish players who were All American who had worn those numbers ... and his #7 had been worn by quite a few All-Americans.

So anyway, we finally get around to his Tennessee visit. So he took his Tennessee visit and he was told to be downstairs at this upscale hotel restaurant where he was staying, and within minutes of him being seated this guy comes and sits down across from him and talks to him for a little while ... then, oddly, says he has to go but he is leaving this package (or briefcase, I can't remember) for Courtney. So Courtney eats his steak, takes the package, or briefcase, and goes back to his room.

When he gets to his room he opens the door and there is this drop dead gorgeous smoke show sitting on the bed waiting for him. I think he said she had red hair and that was important for some reason but don't quote me on that .... so he doesn't tell all the details about what happened after that but he does say, when I asked what was in the package, that the package had money in it ... but he deflects on how much.

I think he alluded to leaving the money and going home the next morning but he wasn't clear on that. He deflected but I don't think he took the money if I remember correctly.

In the end, he didn't visit Clemson, but he had friends that did and he said they were as bad or worse than Tennessee.

That's what we're facing.

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When he gets to his room he opens the door and there is this drop dead gorgeous smoke show sitting on the bed waiting for him.

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It’s a shame he can’t tell the NCAA what happened

Why can’t he?

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So why don’t we do that?

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Read “Meet the Bagman” on SB Nation.

All schools cheat, it’s just that some are much, much better at it.

The bagmen aren’t well known rich guy boosters, it’s a group of passionate fans who have have the ability to spend $10,000-$20,000 on recruits every year. It’s their hobby and they were probably trained to do it by a father/mentor who did it 20 years ago.

Some schools have a culture of doing it for years and that culture breeds more bagmen. We, USC, have bagmen, I’m sure, but our culture of doing it isn’t as heavy and thick as it is in the upstate. Clem is likely way better at it and therefore does a lot more of it.

In addition to “Meet the Bagman”, watch the doc on YouTube “Foul Play, Paid in Mississippi”. It’s by the same author as “Bagman”.

Read and watch those two things. It made me realize that hoping for the NCAA to catch cheating at a place like Clem is foolish. Very unlikely to happen. The bagmen, everywhere, know the tricks to keep the payments untraceable and because of the way the NCAA works, the recruits will never talk because it just gets them in trouble. Then on top of that, the NCAA is a Keystone cop organization. Look at the FBI’s investigation into college basketball. They did that without any NCAA involvement because the NCAA likely would have been more hurtful than helpful to the investigation.