Former Tiger Ricky Blanton in trouble with NCAA...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/10/sports/s122003D95.DTL

 

Shame.. this guy was one of the heroes of my youth.. Blanton was one of my favorite players.

 

Yeah and several fans wanted him as an assistant or head coach at LSU.

He was also one of my favorite players at LSU. He was unselfish and a total team player.

 

I loved to watch RB play. He just had heart. Anybody know where he is and what he's doing now ?

 

I hope he wasn't planning a long career in college coaching. He's a leper now as far as NCAA programs will be concerned.

 

Well the bottom line is, Ricky had a major lapse of integrity. He chose to be a part of something he knew to be illegal and will pay the price for it. I know Nicholls doesn't have very good facilities and is probably playing at a level above its capabilities, but that doesn't excuse a lack of integrity. NSU doesn't have the resources to consistently compete and that spurns the likelihood of cheating to keep up.
The craziest thing is that somehow the Nicholls Athletic Director still has a job. This guy is a moron that has wrecked a once decent program. Now Nicholls is at a cross roads as far as remaining a Division I school or dropping athletics or dropping to a lower level.

 

I don't buy this story for a minute. Since when does Nicholls have things like "lesson assignments" and "exams???"

 

Blanton is a class act. I will need more proof before I convict him.

 

Being taken down to 60 schollies in football??? Wow, thats pretty severe. The NCAA definitely plays favorites when it comes to handing out punishment. Bama was guilty of 11 MAJOR NCAA violations and had a reduction of 15 schollies, yet Nicholls State gets 25 schollies taken away. Oh well.

 

I thought the article said they would normally have 63 and that many of the schools don't even give out that many.