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Weekend Hot Clicks: Recruit Signs Fake Letter in Bizarre Situation With Ole Miss

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Guilty

In early August 2018, Wake Forest assistant basketball coach Jamill Jones was sitting in his car in Queens when a 35-year-old man, Sandor Szabo, banged on his window looking for his Uber ride after a wedding. Jones got out of his car, followed Szabo to the sidewalk, punched him, and fled the scene. Szabo fell to the pavement, hit his head and lost consciousness. He died three days later.

Two days after Szabo died, Jones, a former VCU and FGCU assistant who was entering his second season on Danny Manning’s Wake Forest staff, surrendered but pleaded not guilty.

Last week, 18 months after the fatal blow, a Queens jury found Jones guilty of misdemeanor assault, setting him up for a potential one-year prison sentence during next month’s hearing.

Detraveon Brown

This National Signing Day story got surprisingly little attention: On Wednesday, now a relatively calm signing day thanks to the early signing period, Detraveon Brown, a three-star receiver from Shreveport, La., signed with Ole Miss during a ceremony. Shortly thereafter, when asked about Brown’s signing, Ole Miss said, “We do not have official paperwork with him, so I’m afraid we cannot comment at this time.”

This isn’t new. We’ve seen fake recruits, fake offers, fake everything in recruiting. Still, it was bizarre.

Three weeks before signing, Brown tweeted, “Extremely Blessed too Receive an offer from Ole miss.”

From 247Sports:

“Ole Miss confirmed to KTAL/KMSS on Wednesday afternoon that no scholarship had been extended to Brown and that the school has no paperwork on him. According to the report, Brown decided to sign the fake letter for Ole Miss despite having a legitimate Division I offer on the table.

“When signing his 'letter,' Brown said the coaching staff was a big fan and he was ready to suit up for Ole Miss and excited to represent the Rebels.

“Rather than being left out in the cold by Ole Miss, it's clear that Brown knew he did not have an offer from the Rebels. Earlier this week, he told 247Sports' Yancy Porter that Ole Miss had pulled a previous offer.”

On Thursday, Brown released a statement, implying he was misled:

David Shaw

David Shaw has never considered returning to the NFL and has never interviewed for another job during his 10 seasons as Stanford head coach, he said on this week’s High Motor podcast. He also talked about recruiting—why some programs aren’t honest in their recruiting—and if he’s happy with the direction of the Pac-12.

Sailor Saturday

Odds & Ends

Breaking down the 10 best candidates for college basketball National Coach of the Year … NFL Mock Draft 3.0: Miami trades up for Tua … Aggregate of dozens of Bracketology projections … Predictions for the Oscars … Final NFL Power Rankings of the season ... If you haven’t seen this yet … Former Big Ten ref dishes on coaches and more in a fantastic tell-all … Panthers will host the prom for a school destroyed by a tornado.

Harvard Smarts

“Absolutely, 100% Goaltend!”

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