Kenny Rogers, the man at the center of accusations surrounding Cam Newton's recruitment last year, spoke on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM in Dallas tonight, trying to clear his name.
Rogers' former MSU teammate John Bond told ESPN.com Thursday that an ex-teammate -- which ESPN identified through unnamed sources as Rogers -- asked for $180,000 from Mississippi State to sign Newton last year when he was coming out of Blinn (Texas) Community College.
Rogers said he has not seen or spoken to Bond in at least 20 years.
Rogers said he has never had a school pay him money for a player. Asked if he ever had contact with Auburn, he said: "No. No. No. None at all. None at all."
Here's the full radio transcript of what Rogers said:
(Have you ever received money for a recruit)
"Heck no. I've never done that. A school has never paid me for a kid. An alumnus has never paid me for a kid. Period. Point blank. That why when all this stuff was coming out like this, it was crazy. No. 1 it's crazy to me because they're making me seem like I was the person that called John and talked about it, but I hadn't talked to John in over 20 years. Now I'm asking for money on behalf of my own school. That's just kind of ... I don't know. That's just kind of crazy.
(On working for Elite Football Preparations, where parents can help him place students to better situations)
"Exactly. It's Elite Football Preparations. I help find schools for kids. Most of my kids are junior college kids. Some will go D-I, some I-AA, but most of them are junior college kids.
(Why do you think your name came up?)
"I have no idea where my name came up in this. I was at the game, I had been talking to Mr. Newton, because he had been asking about Mississippi State. And I was telling him. He was asking about the culture of Mississippi State because that's a small town. We would just talk back and forth about Mississippi State. ... But I have no idea. I'm just assuming because I was there with him and I was talking with him. I had never met Dan Mullen before. So when I was there that night, actually Mr. Newton introduced me to Dan. So that was my first time meeting coach Mullen in person. So I have no idea how my name jumped out there."
(Any contact with Auburn?)
"No. No. No. None at all. None at all."
(Any idea of what former teammate of Bond's it might have been?)
"No. I don't even want to go there. Noooo. Hell no."
(Anything you want to say about this situation to get off your chest?)
"I help kids get in school. The only thing I was doing is just like every other kid. Cam Newton left Florida, I would try to get in touch with that kid. When I see a name go across the screen, I try to get in touch with that kid to see if he has any opportunities to see if I can help him. That's pretty much it. That's how I do things with the kids. The parents will call me and say, 'Well, I've got a kid.' OK. I get some film. I look at the film to see what I can do. I let them know what level I think they can play on and then we go from there."These last few days (exhales), that's hard to explain. Especially in the state of Alabama, because that's where I'm from. So that really hurt me. That hurt me bad right there."
20 comments:
let's get a 1980s MSU roster and figure out who called Bond. Obviously, it wasn't Rogers. ;-)
curiouser and curiouser.
Boy if this does source w/ Meyer and it's completely made up . . . ?? What then? Yikes.
Of course, I'm all for stringing up the bad actor agents. But maybe this Rogers dude is an unwitting pawn in some other action. Question is, what? CONSPIRACIES!
As if it was not already, this is now officially an epic CLUSTER F--K!
WDE! "ALL IN!"
Aroma del a raton
did John Bond say it was Rogers? I thought he just said a "former teammate" and that ESPN decided it was Rogers.
I'm almost more inclined to believe Rogers than ESPN.
my question above is in regard to this comment in AB's post...
"John Bond told ESPN.com Thursday that Rogers asked for $180,000 from Mississippi State"
John Bond said a former teammate.
ESPN, through sources, said it was Rogers.
Bond clarified today on radio that there were "two people" in between, which I assume means intermediaries.
thanks, AB. I appreciate the clarification.
So Rogers was telling the truth that he didn't talk to Bond. Very clever.
There has to be some central agent figure involved. If not, the NCAA investigation would be over by now, right? But with this I'm starting to think it might not be Rogers. His story matches up with Cecil's that they just talked about Mississippi State, and it matches with Bond's that the haven't talked in 20+ years.
Andy, are you in any position to be candid for a moment, and tell us what you think about all this?
This is ridiculous. The more I hear about this, the more I feel like Mississippi State realizes they screwed up somewhere and their "self-reporting" to the NCAA was an attempt to cover themselves.
What would you do if you were trying to violate a major rule by paying a player to come to your school and he spurns you for another school in the conference? You'd panic because you would be afraid the truth would come out. So you come up with a story that goes like this: "he said that she said that he said that this less than reputable character said that we could buy this player. But no sir....we didn't do that. We just continued to recruit him until the bitter end despite our full knowledge that he was after big money the whole time which would make him ineligible and ruin our season."
Give me a break. Take them down and leave Auburn alone.
Who knows who can be believed, but if this is technically old news brought to the public just now and no one finds a money trail then what does the NCAA do with a bunch of hearsay? Sad thing is this akin to campaign mudslinging when it comes to Cam's Heisman hopes. Auburn is going to need to do some PR work.
Jason:
I agree in spirit, but from what I've read today it sounds like GC, JJ and Cam have said about all the NCAA will allow them(or anyone at AU)to say, which of course sux!
WDE!
I hope Rogers is telling the truth, but realistically, in this situation a guy who was lying might say the same thing as a guy who was telling the truth. What a mess. I just hope it's cleared up fast.
Rogers is a documented sleezeball. If he is lying about this, it is just one of many lies, including passing himself off as a representative of the NFL Player's Association.
I was watching Urban Meyer on TV at the UGA/UF game last week. The guy looks sick. I wouldn't be surprised at him going off the deep end over anything.
The shame of this is that a lot of what has been put out there can't be undone. Like was stated above, it's like slinging mud in a political campaign. Once done, it's done.
Wouldn't the NCAA already have talked with Rogers about these alleged violations? So he shouldn't have been completely blindsided when all this surfaced...
I don't know; he could easily be lying, but seems like a lot of people are going on public record and nothing is meshing with other accounts. Someone is lying and I have a feeling its not just one person.
Do a search for C.A.R.D and see filings today by NFLPA on mr rogers who was today implicated with another agent that he is runner for were charged today for several wrongdoings with athletes. Do you think he lives in tx, CAM goes to JC in texas, Rogers played for MSU and has ties to Alabama (he lived in Vestavia) check it out.
If I were running the investigation, I would start with Bond. Is he truthful? Can anything he said be confirmed? Tight down his time lime and make sure evrything matchs. Etc.
Huge question... did Bond contact ESPN? They didn't say in their original article. If so, the guy is protecting himself and framing the story. ESPN knows the original source of the story and has yet to give insight into it. This is a complete joke.
I think we all need to create a list of who or what school would benefit the most by derailing Auburn as they come down the home stretch. I'm not trying to say anything false about any school, but 3 come to mind Bama, UF and MSU. Someone from one of these schools has intentionally stirred the pot with ill intent. Common sense and logic will find the culprit.
does anyone understand how Rogers is paid to set kids up with schools? I'm following that aspect of his job.
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