Notre Dame: Demetrius Jackson lands in NCAA corruption report
Should Notre Dame be concerned about Demetrius Jackson landing in a recent report alleging that he violated NCAA rules? Or is this a non-story?
Notre Dame sports can’t seem to stay out of the news for the wrong reasons. This time, they find themselves possibly getting caught up in a scandal that might reach across Division I athletics.
A report by Yahoo sports indicates that at least 25 basketball players may have received impermissible benefits or had illegal contact with the sports agency ASM while still amateurs.
Among active players, that list includes Duke freshman Wendell Carter, who is alleged to have met illegally with Christian Dawkins — an associate of former NBA agent Andrew Miller. But that list also includes a lot of former players, including current Dallas Mavericks rookie Dennis Smith, Jr.
Turns out, that list also implicates Notre Dame’s Demetrius Jackson as someone who may have violated NCAA rules.
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Jackson was one of 10 players specifically named in the report, which tied the current Philadelphia 76ers/Delaware 87ers guard to Dawkins and ASM.
Mike Brey, however, has maintained that Jackson did nothing wrong and that he never specifically met with Dawkins or received any benefits from him.
According to Brey, Jackson’ foster family, David and Beth Whitfield, met with ASM Sports representatives as part of the process of helping Jackson choose an agent during his junior season.
However, they did not, as Brey tells it, meet with Jackson directly, whether in any discussions about joining ASM or any meal that they paid for.
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If that’s all, then it’s unlikely that Jackson and Notre Dame will face any punishment. But having its name attached to this report certainly doesn’t help the university’s image after the football team just had to vacate wins from its 2012 and 2013 seasons.
And if it comes out that there’s more to this story, we shouldn’t really be surprised. There’s got to be a lot that goes on under the table in Division I sports, even at Notre Dame.
We might finally be getting close to scratching the surface of just how much of a scam top-notch college athletics can be.