State Legislature To Possibly Investigate Ole Miss Involvement With Nation’s Top Recruit

Dillon Cheverere12 years ago

Robert Nkemdiche is the nation’s top football recruit, making his Letter of Intent signature highly desirable for every program in the land. He also resides in the heart of SEC territory, where recruiting has developed a sort of “sleeves rolled up” style reputation, to put it mildly.

Ole Miss, who has ascended to the top of the blue chip’s list of schools (and where his older brother currently attends), could be the latest program to find itself on the chopping block due to some alleged illegal recruiting tactics, namely in trying to secure Nkemdiche’s signature by finding employment for his father. The Mississippi State Legislature has stepped in.

From Outkick The Coverage:

Ole Miss’s sudden surge to the top of Nkemdiche’s list has left tongues wagging in the Magnolia State and even has the Mississippi legislature looking into his recruitment. In particular, a detailed email complaint has been lodged with the Mississippi State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) that one reason Nkemdiche may attend Ole Miss is because his father, Sunday Nkemdiche, a doctor in the state of Georgia, has been promised a job at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) in Jackson, Mississippi. (The reason the legislature would be involved in any way? The facility is a state hospital funded by taxpayer dollars).

The details are pretty murky from there, including the withdrawal of Sunday Nkemdiche’s (who wants to bet he’s the only Sunday Nmkemenemedikidiche on the planet?) application and alleged promise by Dr. Richard L. Summers, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine to employ him after Robert’s National Signing Day pledge to the Rebel Black Bears.

According to the email allegation sent to the legislature, the reason Nkemdiche withrew his application in the spring of 2012 was because he’d been promised a job in the summer or fall of 2013, after his son had already enrolled at Ole Miss.

Summers denied that allegation. “I don’t have any jobs presently open so I can’t promise him anything. I did tell him (when he withdrew his application) that if something came open he’d be welcome to apply again.” Summers said that he’s since applied for another grant studying African-American heart failure, but is uncertain whether or not he will receive the grant since grant applications are highly competitive. “If he was available,” Summers said, “he would be a great fit. He’s extremely well-qualified for the job.”

My take: nothing will come of this. The broom that sweeps the SEC dirt under the rug of compliance is the biggest and best in the business. That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t some shady shit going on here.

Follow the below link for more details.

[via Outkick The Coverage]

Image via ESPN