Did the Huskies commit another recruiting violation?

Published 12:53 pm Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Washington has already had to report a secondary violation for simulating a game-day environment for recruits, and now an L.A. Times article touches on what could be another violation for new head football coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff.

The story, which is about the Huskies’ attempt to lure one top prospect in from Jordan High School in Southern California, James Boyd, by also targeting his less highly touted teammate, Delvon Purvis, makes reference to a meeting between coaches and recruits that also included a junior teammate of the two recruits.

One part of the story describes a scene in which UW coaches met with the athletes and their high school coach at the Watts Coffee House last week:

“Holt sat at the head of the table with junior receiver Deshawn Beck to his left, then Boyd, Sarkisian, Jordan Coach Elijah Asante opposite Holt, and, circling back around, the reporter and senior receiver Delvon Purvis — who, by the time Boyd officially signs an NCAA letter of intent one week from today, might become the most influential person at the meeting.”

College coaches are not allowed to have off-campus contact with high school juniors until after July 1 of their junior year.

According to the story, the high school coach, Elijah Asante, brought Beck (the junior) along to see what the recruiting process was like. It sounds as if UW coaches did not know Beck was coming with Asante. An e-mail from the L.A /Times reporter, Ben Bolch, said that UW coaches were aware of who Beck was once he did arrive, but that they didn’t engage him.

John Morris, the UW’s compliance director, said this morning that the article had been brought to his attention, but that he had not yet reviewed the matter. He did confirm, however, that off-campus contact with juniors is prohibited.

Here’s how the NCAA defines “contact”

“A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospect or the prospect’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. Any such face-to-face encounter that is prearranged (e.g., positions himself/herself in a location where contact is possible) or that takes place on the grounds of the prospect’s educational institution or at the site of organized competition or practice involving the prospect or the prospect’s high school, preparatory school, two-year college or all-star team shall be considered a contact, regardless of whether any conversation occurs. However, an institutional staff member or athletics representative who is approached by a prospect or the prospect’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) at any location shall not use a contact, provided the encounter was not prearranged and the staff member or athletics representative does not engage in any dialogue in excess of a greeting and takes appropriate steps to immediately terminate the encounter.”

That the coaches apparently didn’t know Beck was coming should work in their favor, however the phrase “takes appropriate steps to immediately terminate the encounter” could be an issue.

I’ll check back in as I hear more on this.