This is a great read from Travis Haney. Go here for the full blog entry. It will be very interesting to see if Barry can resist responding.
The perception will always be he did something wrong, yes. Because he did something(s) wrong. Outside of the NCAA stuff, he lied to his coach (more than once) and was also suspended in January.
Those are wrong things. As Steve Spurrier likes to say, we all have track records and we cannot escape the record of our actions. Even if Weslye didn’t take a thing from an agent, he’s created this perception for himself. He doesn’t need me, or anyone else, to “vilify” him. This is his own prison.
Great reward and responsibility go hand in hand. I’m held to a standard of behavior. So is Weslye. So is everyone. Just don’t be all shocked and appalled when you get called for doing silly things that include public reprimand by your authority (Spurrier, in this case).
Heck, I heard this week the players had to vote in January whether to keep Saunders, a senior, on the team. Track record. You’re allowed to slowly make up ground on your track record (see: Garcia, Stephen), but not when you pull stunts like Saunders did Saturday, lying on top of lying.
Also, J.P. Giglio has an article out highlighting a potential conflict of interest in regards to the NCAA investigation of UNC’s football program:
An NCAA investigator asked South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders about his friendship with North Carolina senior defensive tackle Marvin Austin, his online interaction with Austin via the social media site Twitter and a trip to Washington, D.C., according to Saunders’ father.
Barry Saunders, a metro columnist for The News & Observer, said Wednesday that the NCAA’s assistant director in charge of agents’ activities, Marcus Wilson, interviewed his son twice this summer. Wilson, a former University of North Carolina football player, is one of seven members of the NCAA’s enforcement staff who works in the area of Agent, Gambling and Amateur Activities.
This conflict of interest has already been discussed by Statefansnation here, here, and even potentially here.