Jeffrey Lee of AuburnSports.com has been back at the keyboard today and he’s posted information — again — stating that eventual Alabama signee Brent Calloway was taken to Florida by a Tide supporter before signing day.
Darren Woodruff is the fan in question and we already brought you some comments from him earlier today. He has reportedly been a friend to Calloway since the young man moved to Russellville, Alabama in the ninth grade. That’s a key point, because if Woodruff is simply a family friend and is not an Alabama “booster,” then there’s not a lot of line-crossing here.
The latest:
According to Woodruff’s long time friend John Stancil, Woodruff picked Calloway up in Tuscaloosa on Sunday (Jan. 30) and drove the top recruit to Florida before returning to Russellville Tuesday night, the night before National Signing Day.
Stancil said Woodruff claims he took Calloway to Florida at the request of Calloway’s adoptive father Harland “Peaches” Winston. Woodruff, who Stancil considers a “big Alabama fan,” is the president of Petro Chemical Energy in Muscle Shoals.
According to Stancil, Woodruff rented a two-room suite in Pensacola where Woodruff and Calloway spent Sunday and Monday nights. Woodruff told Stancil about the trip during a phone conversation.
“(Woodruff) told me Peaches asked him to take Brent out of town… that Brent needed to go somewhere to think about stuff,” said Stancil. “He took Brent down there (to Pensacola) and brought him back to Peaches’ house Tuesday night.”
Yada, yada, yada.
The piece goes on for days and days, but I’ll cut to the chase:
1. Prior to the trip to Florida, Calloway had decided not to go visit Alabama pre-signing day and was planning to sign with Auburn instead.
2. Calloway’s high school coach — Doug Goodwin — says that Calloway told Nick Saban and Bama assistant Jeremy Pruitt that he was going to Auburn.
3. Calloway then allegedly texted Goodwin to tell him that his father was making him visit Alabama on that final weekend before signing day. “… But I’m not changing my mind… I am 100-percent sure (about signing with Auburn).”
4. Goodwin did not talk to Calloway again before signing day.
5. Calloway did not attend school on Monday or Tuesday of the next week because he was supposedly in Pensacola with Woodruff.
Okay, so Calloway was taken away to Pensacola and brainwashed/convinced to flip on Auburn and sign with Alabama. Maybe it had something to do with Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra and the Queen of Hearts, too (for you fans of old movies).
But again if Woodruff is a longtime friend of Calloway and is not an Alabama grad or booster, there’s not a lot of illegal activity going on there. Fishy? Yes. Against NCAA rules, not necessarily. And that’s if these stories are even true in the first place.
At any rate, that’s the latest from Scott Moore… I’m sorry… I mean Jeffrey Lee. We’ll see if the NCAA decides to start snooping around. Heaven knows they’ve had no problem snooping around Bama’s program on many, many previous occasions.
On a sidenote, last summer those of us down South spent a lot of time talking about who should be targeted for possible SEC expansion. Well, as Auburn and Alabama continue to trade paint, let me be the first to suggest that maybe the league would be better off moving in a different direction altogether. Since it’s clear that some AU and UA supporters are flat-out determined to destroy one another’s programs, if/when that happens, the SEC might be better off with Texas A&M and Oklahoma in tow than a pair of scandal-ridden, mud-covered probationites.
(For those who don’t get sarcasm, no, we’re not serious about the SEC dumping Alabama and Auburn. But we are getting very tired of having to cover the junk that goes back and forth between the two programs.)
UPDATE — SportsByBrooks.com, naturally, has posted yet another piece on this Auburn-Alabama war. The site went back to 2008 and a story written in The Florence (Alabama) Times-Daily.
In the piece, Calloway is quoted as saying that he was changing schools — from Florence to Russellville — because he “just felt like Russellville had a better (college) recruiting program than Florence.”
Now, TideSports.com wrote this weekend that Alabama had decided nothing illegal happened between Woodruff and Calloway because: “Woodruff said he has known Calloway since he was a freshman at Russellville, a year in which Calloway came into Winston’s care and also sat out of football — long before anyone could predict he would be a highly-recruited Division I athlete.”
Ah, but as SportsByBrooks.com points out, Calloway obviously thought he’d become a prospect. In fact, he was apparently playing on Florence High School’s varsity squad as an eighth grader and he started immediately as a sophomore — after a transfer year — at Russellville.
The inference: Anyone could have guessed that Calloway, the ninth grader who’d transferred to find a better “recruiting program,” would develop into a top prospect by his 12th grade year. Anyone, including Woodruff, who got to know him as a freshman.
But like so many of the allegations tossed at Cam Newton, there’s more smoke than fire in that inference. If Alabama is going to land in trouble, everything comes down to Woodruff’s relationship with Calloway and his adoptive father, Winston. If the NCAA nails the Tide, it will be because they believe Woodruff connected with — and provided benefits for — Calloway because he was a top prospect.
So far we have the Alabama Rivals site spinning the situation to appear as though Bama’s innocent. Example: Woodruff befriended Calloway “long before anyone could predict he would be a highly-recruited Division I athlete.”
We have the Auburn Rivals site spinning things in order to smear Bama. Example: “In an extremely efficient investigation, the University of Alabam’s compliance department, within 36 hours after the allegations were first made public Thursday, found no violations in Calloway’s recruitment.”
And now we have SportsByBrooks.com sorta/kinda suggesting that Woodruff’s relationship with Calloway was based on the kid’s athletic prowess and nothing else.
But the evidence is circumstantial. The same word we used so often regarding Newton’s case.
The bottom line remains the bottom line: If the NCAA thinks Woodruff connected with Calloway as a booster and not as a pal of his adoptive father Winston, then Bama could be in hot water. If they don’t, then Woodruff’s not broken any rules.
But this thing continues to go on and on. On and on. On and on.
And, yes, the whole mess is as annoying as this:
Since when did all these 50 year old white men become such good friends with all these 16..18 year old black boys? Not being racist at all just think if people really wanted to know the truth it is not hard to see !!! Better to keep the blinder on...
John,
Your boy Brooks has a story up about this topic. You may find it interesting, as it focuses on if in fact Woodruff is a long time friend of Calloway' s or only a football based connection.
Ringo...
He's not MY boy. I just link to him when he accuses SEC schools of cheating. As I do with other major sites.
John
Ringo, I just read that. It makes sense. It's not really a "pre-existing" relationship with Calloway. It's with Peaches. I doubt anything will ever come out of this as it will be near impossible to prove that Calloway was "swayed" to Bama. But even if something happens, Bama won't be in trouble. Alabama has no connection with the guy other than the fact that he is a fan. The worst that could happen is Calloway deemed ineligible to play at Alabama and have to transfer schools.
John, I am an avid Auburn fan. I go to school at Auburn, and my dad and grandfather went to school here. I'm sure that you know this, but not all Auburn fans are as obsessed with Alabama as Lee, and not all Bama fans are obsessed with Auburn as Moore. I would hate to see Alabama get the death penalty, just as most Bama fans would hate it for Auburn. Both are great school with many great people. The only thing I hate about Alabama is their sports programs (which is how a rivalry should be), but I would never wish anything bad towards the school or programs there. The only problem is that the ugly fans are the ones who talk smack all day on message boards, and the good ones (which are the majority of us) go on with their lives and don't worry about commenting to dumb people.
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that their are sane ones out here who have read all of your posts and know that you are just an fan/writer who reports BOTH sides of the story for any school (unlike Nick or McLagman).
Thanks for the great articles and keep them up!
War Eagle!
Drew
Drew...
Thanks, that's why I try to say things like "since it's clear that SOME AU and UA fans." I wrote Friday that I believe the majority of Alabama and Auburn fans are normal folks and are sick to death of this stuff. Unfortunately, those who aren't "normal," are some of the most ABnormal in all the sporting world.
I lived in Columbus, Ohio but the OSU-Michigan mudslinging doesn't rival the Bama-Auburn mudslinging.
Thanks for reading,
John
That is so sad but also correct. The bad ones or non-normal ones are pretty crazy, such as Updyke. Also, what some of these "Auburn people" say just blows my mind sometimes, and it is embarrassing. Growing up as a kid in Mobile and Birmingham it was a fun rivalry, and face-to-face it really is most of the time.
But I can also give you instances where, at Iron Bowl games in Auburn, Bama fans have trashed our campus, graffitied the stadium, and tried to start fights with my friends, family and I. What Shadow doesn't realize is that both schools have the "nasty" brought out of them. It's just an intense, and most of the times very awesome rivalry. There are just those few people who can't get it through their skull that both teams/fans have the same issues and they think that there's no way that the schools can be equal. People like Shadow think that Alabama MUST be better than Auburn, and people like McLagman think that Alabama fans are the reason Birmingham is run down and doesn't have pro teams.
Hopefully some of the people that come and read these comments will see this and stop and think before they post. They get on these message boards and just feel untouchable.
Thanks again John, and I'm glad you see it this way too.
john you sure didn't have much problem posting Cam story after Cam story did you? I never once heard you exasperated with all the negative coverage on Cam which still till this day has not had once scintilla of evidence against him or Auburn in his recruitment, why the sudden change of heart, maybe because it is Bammer this time being attacked!
nick...
That's right. We posted them. And I also posted numerous posts stating that there was not a bit of evidence against him. You might want to learn to read before posting.
I also questioned Scott Moore's attacks on Auburn just as I currently question Jeffery Lee's attacks on Alabama.
You know there's one thing that I'm more tired of than these off-field stories... fans who continue to read what they WANT to read and not what I write.
John
Where were your stories about all the AU players, Brown, Williams, Dansby etc who were on the web, twitter or the radio claiming that they were never paid and described the antics by HBO producers, where we you questioning the tactics of HBO, that it took them all of thier efforts to try and get mutliple players to say they were paid but did not get what they wanted to hear, until they got four sad souls, some with vendettas, such as Ramsey(injury lawsuit) and Reddick( turned down for GA job) to say they got paid, where was your outrage at these unsubtantiated allegations being published and the methods to get these? I never saw one word from you on these, nor have I seen one thing about Ramsey and McClover refusing to etiher name names with the NCAA(McClover) or meet with the NCAA at all( ramsey) saying they don't want legal problems, based on McClovers own interview with Cruz internet radio and Ramseys dad posting on line, where is your outrage at these flimsy claims, What legal problems could they have it they are telling the truth why no questions or commentary from you? Show me where you have commented and I will stand corrected,
I don't care if you defend Auburn or not, my point is simple, show the same level of exasperation you have shown in your note on the Calloway story with other same crap that has been alleged to AU or simply don't say anything at all, at least admit that you did not right a single blog with the same level of antipathy that you did yesterday, where the level of mudsligning is not even close. That is a fact and you can hide all you want saying by atttacking me as a complaining on how unfair the media has been to AU blah, blah, blah. The simple fact of the matter is when you write such a blog with such fervor that you never once wrote in a similar manner when mud has been slung at AU for the last six months, you don't have a leg to stand on, go back and read what you wrote the the BC story and I dare you to find anything you have written that comes close to the same level on anything dealing with AU!!!
nick...
If you read this site and think it's anti-Auburn, no amount of postings from me will change your mind. And I think I waste enough time each day bringing you information from across the conference... in one spot... for free. So I'll not waste any more trying to convince someone who feels his favorite school is being attacked by the media.
I've taken a beating for defending Auburn. Excuse me if I'm a little weary of the Tiger fans who cry that we've been UNfair to them.
John
Where was your commentary that the stories you posted about Cam being brought up on academic fraud charges at Fla, that he was going to be kicked out of school were absoute fantasy, I read this site every day and saw not one commentary from you that these were totally fraudulent charges, you simply posted those here and made no such commentary. I did see commentary about Moore, but my god, who would not comment on such a lunatic, that did not take much to make a comment about him, it was obvious to any intelligent person he was a fraud anb a liar with an agenda, as he stated he had one to bring Auburn down.
Now we are going to hear claims of Hair Pulling, Spitting, and Flicking Boogers at one another. When is this crap going to end, when someone puts an eye out?"
Look - There is a TON of smoke coming out of Lee County, Alabama. This is yet another deflection scheme brought on by the Auburn Press Corp Spin Machine to deflect the numerous allegations out there regarding Auburn University. Until this pops, there will be continued flinging by both parties.
God Save the Queen...
As a BAMA fan, I wish *U would just go away. The envy and resulting nastiness has become so tiresome I would like to never hear about them again. Beating them just causes them to be nasty and losing to them brings out the worst. This has gotten ugly because they believe they have finally won something and still they have no respect. It is easier to blame The University of Alabama's fans than it is to own their responsibility for the contempt many feel towards their program.
I just want to enjoy the good times and success of BAMA sports without their constant sniping in the homeboy press here in Alabama.
UA and BAMA fans have nothing to do with the poo being flung at *U. The press is quite a varied group, Rivals, Yahoo, Fox, NYT, etc. BAMA does not run the NCAA investigation either. Auburn fans and paid writers are grasping and gasping at anything that will divert attention from the huge scandals down there in attempts to smear Alabama. Yes, that was scandals, with an "s." We are entertained observers in the drama unfolding as years of questionable behavior in recruiting are finally being brought to the light of day. We can do nothing to help or hurt *U as the investigation uncovers the truth. It is *U who brought this down on the plains and all the finger pointing in Lee County will not change that.
Shadow...
I mentioned specifically in this piece Scott Moore -- Bama fan who made accusations about Cam Newton -- and Jeffery Lee -- Auburn fan who made accusations about Alabama.
If HBO or the New York Times digs something up, fine. But the fan-tossed accusations are what tire me. And I made that very clear in the piece by referring to Moore and Lee.
John
I recall Scott Moore wanted to air the tapes that belong to another individual who is pointing the finger at Auburn, someone from another state. Scott Moore says he has been asked not to air those tapes to avoid interfering with ongoing investigations by federal and NCAA organizations. When this happens he will be vindicated as he was attempting to provide the media to make the facts available to the public. He did not quote falsehoods and spout them without doing his homework as it appears Jeffrey Lee has a habit of doing. If the situation with the tapes Mr. Moore has promised does not come down as I expect, and his statement on the tapes is false, I will humbly apologize. That situation is yet to play out but Jeffrey's statements about cars and mortgages have already been proven to be false.
On a side note, shutting down Bama would be tough love, but the greatest thing to ever happen to the state of Alabama. Once upon a time, Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same. Now Atlanta has the NFL, NBA, MLB, the Chick Fil A kickoff game, the Chick Fil A bowl, Delta, Coke, CNN, and on and on. Atlanta is a world class city, and I doubt anyone loves UGA any less for it. Birmingham sucks. We have crime (my Grandad was stabbed and shot at in Homewood), traffic and all the problems of a big city, but none of the upside. The one thing we had to be proud of was the SEC Championship Game. Then the idiot Alabama good ole boy network ran it like a Bama home game, which sucked balls, and the rest of the league took it away from us and gave it to Atlanta. You know why Atlanta succeeds and Birmingham fails? Atlanta isn't hindered and held back by dumbass Alabama fans. The only problem with Auburn is it's located in the state of Alabama. Anywhere else, Auburn is normal. There is a reason Alabama is the 49th state in every category... Bama fans. They hold the whole state back. But at least they had a 9-3 football season. Whoopee. Alabama sucks and Bama fans deserve it.
Does anyone know who else Peaches has taken in? Athletes or not? Is it an altruistic gesture when he takes a kid in? If they are athletes, where have they gone to college? For me, it would have been inconceivable to move to another city and stay with a different family as a high school kid. Can someone clearly explain what Peaches does? I'd also like to know what BC could potentially "mess up" by going to Auburn.
Kids move all the time. The freshman star on Carolina's women's soccer team last year moved from Indianapolis to Broughton High School in Raleigh, because she wanted to make sure she got noticed by top programs, and she especially wanted to get noticed by Carolina.
Some high school programs have generations of boosters who make sure the school hires quality coaches and maintains top facilities. Some high school facilities and stadiums can be embarrassing, frankly. On the other extreme, some schools have coaches who are willing to put up with coaching a few years until they get tenure. The variability can be staggering.
Adoption's a long and expensive process. You get checked 9 ways to Sunday by multiple agencies. I looked into adopting in Alabama - we would have had to be foster home for several years before even qualifying. Yes, people can beat the system, but it's rare. I would think long and hard (and require real proof) before questioning the motives of anyone who opens their home and wallet to so many strangers.
Oh, stop with the "getting tired" stuff. You know as well as I do that this stuff is free blogging for the whole offseason.
@GulfCoastTider...
Yeah, at 5pm I'm thrilled to have to run back to my laptop to post this crap. Tha-rilled.
I'd thank you not to tell me how I feel. Anyone who reads this site knows I have no problem sharing exactly how I feel about things... even when those feelings will be unpopular.
John
Well, John did you get your feeling hurt. Your always writing about how SEC fans feel. Just like today when you told me how I feld about Coach Martin. Go Vols
adam...
Feelings hurt? No, I'm tired of covering this crap. That was the point.
And I'm pretty sure I said how the "majority" or "most" fans would feel. Always try to write a qualifier when talking about fan reaction, even though I assume any intelligent person would realize that no writer would claim that ALL fans would view any subject in 100% the same way.
John
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