[Anhil8tor]

Jason Cole of the Miami Herald confirms many of the details first reported on Sunday by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports regarding Reggie Bush and the apparently free teepee in which his family was residing during the 2005 season.

New tidbits from Cole include a revelation that Bush has hired lawyer David Cornwell to handle the matter. Cornwell has basically stonewalled Cole's efforts to get answers regarding the situation.

Cole also addresses the primary question regarding this situation: What does it all mean to Bush, and to USC?

Citing NCAA bylaw 12.3.1 and an NCAA rules guide for student-athletes, Cole suggests that Bush might have been ineligible for the entire 2005 season.

The controlling language, based on our own review of the NCAA bylaws, seems to come from Rule 12.3.1.2(b):

12.3.1.2 Benefits from Prospective Agents. An individual shall be ineligible per Bylaw 12.3.1 if he or she (or his or her relatives or friends) accepts transportation or other benefits from:

(a) Any person who represents any individual in the marketing of his or her athletics ability. The receipt of such expenses constitutes compensation based on athletics skill and is an extra benefit not available to the student body in general; or

(b) An agent, even if the agent has indicated that he or she has no interest in representing the student-athlete in the marketing of his or her athletics ability or reputation and does not represent individuals in the student-athlete's sport.

As Dante suggested in the April 23 PFT PodCast, Bush likely will be screwed on this one if his family did not pay a fair rental price during their stay in the house owned by Michael Michaels, an aspiring sports marketing agent. Cole indicates that, even if market value was tendered to Michaels, there still could be problems for Reggie due to the fact that the NCAA frowns on relationships between athletes and agents.

The consequences of a violation are still unclear. If this situation had come to light during the season, Bush automatically would have been ruled ineligible -- and USC would have been required to petition for his reinstatement. Even if Bush's family had paid over to Michaels the full value of the benefits received (if any), Bush might have missed a game, or more.

Now that the season has been finished, what happens? It's a question that we and others will be considering very carefully over the coming days and weeks.

Meanwhile, Vince Young might want to start working on a belated Heisman pose.

[LongHorn]

Young was robbed out of the heisman this year. This is further proof he deserves it. I hope he is practicing his heisman stance right now.

[Anhil8tor]

Young was robbed out of the heisman this year. This is further proof he deserves it. I hope he is practicing his heisman stance right now.

He lost the heisman because of bush's one huge game against Fresno State..

CARAVANTES ADMITS THAT MICHAELS WAS TRYING TO SCORE HIM SOME BUSH

The San Diego Union-Tribune has now chimed in on the major scandal that unfolded in its own backyard, and that two journalists from other locales broke before the paper of record for the city of San Diego.

Agent David Caravantes tells the Union-Tribune that the owner of the house in which the Bush family lived (possibly for free) was trying to get Caravantes included in the pool of potential representatives for Bush.

"They were trying to get me in front of [Bush] during the interview process, which I was never a part of,” Caravantes said. "They didn't try to recruit him for me. They thought it would be a good idea to have everything in San Diego. I think their concept was that they were going to deal with marketing, and they [needed] an agent.

"If things worked out, we were going to try to put something together [to become business partners]. But everything was in waiting to see if they landed (Bush) to do the marketing. Nothing came of it."

Though Caravantes claims that "[t]hey didn't try to recruit him for me," the rest of his quote indicates that that's precisely what they were doing.

And the "they" here is the owner of the house, known both as "Michael Chief Michaels" and "Michael Pettiford," and Lloyd Lake, who currently is in federal prison. According to the Union-Tribune, "Michaels was arrested under his Pettiford name in October 1999 on felony charges of making terrorist threats and discharging a firearm in a negligent manner in an incident involving current Sycuan Tribal Chairman Daniel Tucker," but the charges were dropped in 2000 due to lack of evidence.

Caravantes' statements suggest that there is no relationship between himself and New Era. This conflicts with the information that our tech guy Sean found on Sunday, which indicates that offensive lineman Jabari Levey of South Carolina is represented by New Era Sports & Entertainment -- and David Caravantes.

The strangest thing about the article in the Union-Tribune is that the paper apparently has known about this issue for a while. So we wonder whether the U-T ever would have said word one about this matter if its hands hadn't been forced by other journalists.

After all, the U-T will be angling for access to its native son as he launches his NFL career. And there's nothing like exercising a little editorial restraint in order to unlock a stream of inside information regarding Bush and his journey in pro football.

[Anhil8tor]

IF REGGIE IS INELIGIBLE, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE HEISMAN?

A great question that several readers have raised in the wake of the jarring revelation that the family of former USC tailback Reggie Bush apparently was living for free in a house owned by a guy who wanted to handle Reggie's marketing work is what happens to Bush's Heisman trophy if the NCAA ultimately finds that Reggie was ineligible for the 2005 season?

Our best guess is that Bush would lose the trophy, and that it would go to Texas quarterback Vince Young, who finished second in the voting.

And though we're not suggesting that Bush eventually will have to turn over the biggest individual prize awarded in college sports, this thing easily could spin out of control -- especially since the Yahoo! Sports story has been picked up by the AP and will get a lot more play on Monday as the national talking heads begin to focus on the story.

It's not exactly the kind of attention that the Bush family was hoping to receive five days before the draft, but none of them should be surprised by the fact that their apparent decision to accept a benefit from someone who wanted to represent Reggie has been exposed.

Meanwhile, look for other journalists with more resources that us to dig deeper into the relationship between the owner of the house, Michael Michaels, and agent David Caravantes. As we explained earlier on Sunday, it appears that Michaels and Caravantes are working together in the representation of South Carolina tackle Jabari Levey. Since Caravantes is certified by the NFLPA, he might be hearing (as soon as Monday) from the union regarding his role, if any, in the acquisition of the house.

Also, the fact that Caravantes used to practice with Joel Segal -- who now represents Bush -- could prompt the NFLPA to take a look-see at whether there was any connection between Segal and the house owned by Michaels.

This one is a mess, folks. And we think it's gonna get a lot messier, quickly.

[Anhil8tor]

Though we can't yet find anything about this on the 'Net, the Heisman Trophy Trust is looking at the situation involving 2005 award winner Reggie Bush, and the highest honor on the NCAA totem pole could ultimately be stripped.

In a Monday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Joe Schad of ESPN.com reports that the Heisman committee is meeting to discuss what could or should happen. Schad says that the Heisman ballot specifically says that the winner must be in complete compliance with all relevant NCAA bylaws.

Schad also told Patrick that attorney David Cornwell says that the Bush family will "cooperate fully" with any Pac-10 or NCAA investigation.

[BIRD33]

No way they strip the heisman.The NCAA doesnt fuck around so I can see them taking scholarships away from USC.