Welcome to the new hysteria of college athletics, called: "Did you sign that, how much did you make, and can you provide documentation because the beleaguered NCAA?"
Understandably, it's of major interest that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel is being investigated for possibly profiting from items he allegedly signed for a sports memorabilia broker. There is now a second report by ESPN with an East Coast broker claiming he paid Manziel $7,500 for signing approximately 300 mini- and full-sized helmets at a function in New Haven, Conn., in January. Manziel is the Heisman Trophy winner of a highly ranked team, so the chance that the NCAA might strip him of eligibility obviously has major ramifications.
But now this thing is spinning out of control. There are reports that the same broker with Manziel-autopgraphed items listed on eBay also has memorabilia allegedly signed by several other college football stars, including South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney. FromFansided.com, via Reddit:
An interesting discovery has been made after looking in to the eBay listings of one of the autograph brokers connected to Johnny Manziel. The broker, who has his listings under the name “the_hub_collectibles" has multiple items from a number of top college football stars.
There are currently 19 signed Manziel items listed under the account, but another star SEC player has the same amount of signed items listed. South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney has signed multiple helmets and footballs that are being sold by the broker.
This prompted South Carolina associate athletics director Chris Rogers to release a statement: "We have investigated things that have been on eBay with him and student-athletes before. In the situations I can say we looked into, there was no further for us to go, and we determined there was no violation."
Wait. There are more brush fires. Hello, Georgia.
If you look on eBay, you will find items that allegedly have been signed by Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray and running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall. (I stopped searching there. You're welcome to plug in more names.) I'm guessing coaches and athletic department officials all over the country are scrambling to make sure their players didn't do anything to endanger their eligibility.
For the record: I think student-athletes should be allowed to profit off their name. Certainly, schools, conferences and the NCAA have no problem doing it. But it is against the rules. The problem here is that: 1) There's no way of knowing whether the autographs are legitimate; 2) It's more than likely that most items were signed for fans, who then turned around and put them on the market; 3) Even if the player did profit from his signature, good luck proving it. The NCAA needs some kind of evidence, but the enforcement staff is leaking oil and isn't well equipped to find evidence these days.
Chip Towers, our all-knowing, all-seeing Athens correspondent, will have a blog posted later on Georgia's view of this matter. But here are some comments he pulled from Dogs coach Mark Richt: "We have people in the building who are monitoring things. We have (players) who are friendly. If they're at the grocery store and somebody says they have a picture and asks them if they'd mind signing this, our guys I'm sure sign it. . . . They know they can't do anything for money. But the normal civility of a guy who has some celebrity in his life, most people will stop and take a picture or sign something for someone."
Most players are probably not making anything. But it does seem the Manziel story has risen to a higher level.
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