Weslye Saunders ends Steve Spurrier’s run of good luck with the Tar Heel State

The state of North Carolina’s been pretty damn good to the Ol’ Ballcoach the last few years.  You see, while Steve Spurrier’s recruiting cupboard is mostly stocked from the fertile recruiting grounds of his own South Carolina, he does from time to time head north to raid the Tar Heel State.

While he’s supplemented his roster with North Carolinians (the count is 17 right now), he’s also had his win total padded at the expense of his northern neighbors.   In ‘07, the Gamecocks beat UNC in Columbia and won both ends of a home and home with NC State the last two seasons.

However, South Carolina’s latest link to North Carolina is one of a decidedly less positive nature.  It seems Gamecock tight end Weslye Saunders is good friends with Marvin Austin, the Tar Heel defensive tackle who’s the center of the NCAA investigation in Chapel Hill. Lo and behold, the NCAA is now showing Saunders some love as well.

Did Saunders accompany Austin on that now infamous trip to Miami back in May? As of right now that’s not clear, and if Spurrier knows anything, he’s not tipping his hand.  But in true Ballcoach fashion, he couldn’t resist taking a shot at another school when questioned about the Saunders probe:

“All I know is they had talked to him, and talked to some players at North Carolina. That’s all I know,” Spurrier said. “Whatever comes (of it), we’ll just have to wait and see. But I can assure that all of our players, our team, has been well-versed or taught about agents or people giving them gifts or money or whatever. … So if we have a player that accepts money, gifts from agents or whoever, they’ll be ineligible to play.

“We’re not going to look the other way like possibly Southern California did. We’re going to abide by the rules.”

Spurrier said he had no knowledge Saunders had broken any rules.

“I’m not accusing Weslye of anything. He may be innocent. He may just know those (North Carolina) guys,” Spurrier said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see how it all comes out.” (The State)

Of course, whenever something like this happens to a school, fans of its fiercest rival take to the streets and dance with joy.  But if I’m not Clemson, I wouldn’t be so quick to revel in South Carolina’s current misfortune.

In a previous post over the weekend I referenced that Austin’s troubles may be tied to his dealings with former Tar Heel teammate Kentwan Balmer, who currently plays defensive end for the 49ers.

It appears that the NCAA is focusing on whether or not Austin and teammate Greg Little (and possibly other North Carolina players) had improper contact with agents.  Since Gary Wichard is Balmer’s agent, suffice it to say that he might be the agent at the center of the probe.

Here’s a very big hypothetical, so follow along with me.  Let’s say Wichard is in the habit of getting his current stable of NFL clients to help him procure new clients.  The easiest way to do that would have them reach out to the prospective clients they know best: their old college teammates.

Maybe Wichard nudges guys like Balmer to go back to the alma mater and show NFL ready players like Austin a good time.  Then fancy trips to Miami are paid for, introductions are made, and so on and so forth.  Call it a form of networking that the NCAA doesn’t like one bit.

Another Wichard client happens to be Clemson product C.J. Spiller, who was drafted this past April by the Bills.   If I’m a Clemson fan, I gotta hope that Spiller hasn’t done anything along these lines with players on the current team.  It’s a huge a stretch, but who knows, maybe this is Wichard’s M.O.  Hey, I’m just speculating, but let’s be brutally honest, is it that much of a stretch to say an agent would stretch the rules to get what he wants?

With the NCAA on the rampage right now, stones are getting overturned everywhere.  Go ahead and laugh at your rivals if they happen to be one of the schools that’s already caught it on the chin.  But this is the biggest net I’ve ever seen the NCAA throw, so you’d better hope your team isn’t in queue to get its own probe.