Running back and former Heisman Trophy candidate Todd Gurley could return to the Georgia Bulldogs sooner rather than later. It’s hard to say given the arbitrariness and capriciousness of the NCAA. The University of Georgia sent out a very boring statement filled with a lot of legalese and corporatespeak this morning regarding the Todd Gurley matter.
There are however, three main takeaways from it:
1. Todd Gurley did his public mea culpa and declared his intentions to return to college football: “I take full responsibility for the mistakes I made, and I can’t thank the University, my coaches, and teammates enough for supporting me throughout this process. I’m looking forward to getting back on the field with my teammates.”
The statement attributed to Gurley ends the rumors that he’ll just leave school on focus on working out for the NFL Draft. He had practiced with the team last week, and up until this happened had never been in any kind of trouble before.
2. Georgia has completed their internal investigation and now turn it over to the NCAA.
3. UGA has filed the necessary paperwork with the NCAA and is hoping for a quick reinstatement.
So that’s the news portion of this post, taking an op-ed standpoint, I don’t think this whole “scandal” will affect the draft stock of Todd Gurley too much. A.J. Green is the best reference point. Look at how excellent his NFL career has been. At this point, no one cares about these guys signing autographs for money except Mark Emmert and his ilk. No one is on the side of the NCAA, and everyone thinks that adult autograph seekers are the skimmings of the gene pool.
The best summation possible:
Caller on Finebaum: “The only thing creepier than memorabilia guys is guys who report on memorabilia guys. This Darren Rovell guy…”
— Pete Roussel (@coachingsearch) October 17, 2014
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2