How desperate is Auburn for a quarterback? Desperate enough to simply ignore self-imposed penalties while recruiting Hueytown High School star Jaboo Winston because of previous impermissible contact?
The NCAA's contact period started Sunday, the day Auburn blitzed Winston, who appears to be reconsidering his Florida State commitment and is getting a full-court press from Alabama as well. Coaches are allowed up to six off-campus visits per player between Nov. 27 and Jan. 28, with no more than one per week.
Yet Auburn told the SEC in October 2010 that part of its punishment would be not visiting Winston during this period. That was in addition to keeping assistants Tommy Thigpen and Taylor off the road for 45 days and Auburn having no contact with Winston for two months during 2010.
"Under the SEC minimum penalties, we have imposed a 60-day period (30 days for each violation) of no off-campus contact beginning with the off-campus contact period in November 2011," Auburn attorney William King wrote to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "Therefore, the football staff will not be able to make off-campus contact with (Winston) until late January 2012."
Will the SEC and NCAA look the other way on this violation just like they did the $cam Newtow deal? The boogers think the NCAA rules do not apply to them. This is a self-imposed penalty that they intentionally ignored. It looks to me like they just turned a secondary violation into a major violation.
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