There have been a number of confusing accusations in recent days about Georgia Tech and their recruitment of Sebastian Telfair. According to a new book, Telfair was offered $250,000 by a booster to attend Tech.
Even in the shady world of big-time college athletics, $250K is a huge amount of money for a recruit. Considering the amount, that the claim came from an anonymous source about an unnamed booster, it’s a bit of a dubious charge. On top of that, Telfair says it’s not true.
In fairness, I wouldn’t expect Telfair to admit it if it were true. More likely, Telfair or one of his boys made up or greatly exaggerated the story to sound bigtime. Since Telfair actually committed to Memphis instead of G Tech before skipping college altogether, either the Tigers offered an even better offer (unlikely) or it’s a bunch of crap.
I’m glad that Tech seems to be taking the charges seriously, but I don’t think there’s really anything here.
Update: Now Telfair says it did happen at Georgia Tech, but he never took it seriously and thinks it may have been a joke. While the amount is ridiculous, it’s a pretty crappy joke. I wonder if anything else will come of this.