"Bag Men"

Southpaw13

Southpaw13

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I got into a conversation with a friend of mine that's a UGA fan and general college football fan... it was his opinion that all P5 schools have bag men, and that it's a widespread part of the game today.

I told him I would highly doubt GT is buying players, not because we are "better than that", but because we haven't brought in a single top 100 player in Johnson's tenure. I'm sure it's happened in the past, maybe with Cremins or Hewitt or Gailey or O'Leary... but I just don't buy that we're handing kids cash to come to GT.

I know we've joked with the slogan "Be your own bag man" and get a serious education at GT that can set these kids up for life... but I'd love to hear from everyone else if you think this is something that is as widespread as my friend believes.
 
GT_05

GT_05

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Southpaw13 said:
I got into a conversation with a friend of mine that's a UGA fan and general college football fan... it was his opinion that all P5 schools have bag men, and that it's a widespread part of the game today.

I told him I would highly doubt GT is buying players, not because we are "better than that", but because we haven't brought in a single top 100 player in Johnson's tenure. I'm sure it's happened in the past, maybe with Cremins or Hewitt or Gailey or O'Leary... but I just don't buy that we're handing kids cash to come to GT.

I know we've joked with the slogan "Be your own bag man" and get a serious education at GT that can set these kids up for life... but I'd love to hear from everyone else if you think this is something that is as widespread as my friend believes.
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Several years ago, I stopped watching the NFL because of the showboats, the unsavory players, and the excessive money. I know there are some really good guys that have played or currently play in the NFL, like Warrick Dunn, but the bad seems to outweigh the good and nobody on the planet is worth what some of these guys get paid. Of course, almost all of these guys played college ball and their bad attitudes didn't show until they turned pro, i.e. Ryan Leaf, Johnny Manziel etc. Money and/or fame changed them for the worst, it appears.

I hope that this "bag men" topic is "fake news" or, at least, not widespread. If it does happen, I hope all involved are exposed. Large cash payouts and buying players would ruin college ball, in my opinion. I might would be okay with players getting a small stipend if all NCAA D-1 schools could agree on a like amount, but that's an entirely different topic.

I guess if this bagmen nonsense were to ever be exposed as widespread or at my alma mater, I would have a lot more free time in the fall and more money year-round.




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Whiskey_Clear

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
A very disturbing, although not surprising, article. I guess we know for sure now how Hershel got that brand new Trans-Am he said his daddy (or some relative) bought.
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I have heard he was also getting paid by a shoe company while still playing at UGA. Dude was probably the best RB of the modern era but for damn sure has some screws loose. I wouldn't be able to trust anything he might say on the topic himself.

Haven't read the article and I know some programs have been and some almost certainly still are dirty (*cough*Bama*cough*LSU*cough*UGA). I think if it was truly widespread we would hear more allegations come out. Heck, any player paid that didn't make it in the NFL could have a huge payout coming through blackmail alone. I just think we'd see more proof of this stuff if it was widespread.

Then again the more I think about SEC programs the more I think maybe it is widespread :ROFLMAO:
 
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YJMD

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GT_05 said:
Of course, almost all of these guys played college ball and their bad attitudes didn't show until they turned pro, i.e. Ryan Leaf, Johnny Manziel etc. Money and/or fame changed them for the worst, it appears.
Click to expand...

Really? Both guys were known as arrogant showboaters before being drafted. The NFL and money adds access to more things, and very few if any can make it on talent alone in the league.
 
tech_wreck47

tech_wreck47

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GT_05 said:
Several years ago, I stopped watching the NFL because of the showboats, the unsavory players, and the excessive money. I know there are some really good guys that have played or currently play in the NFL, like Warrick Dunn, but the bad seems to outweigh the good and nobody on the planet is worth what some of these guys get paid. Of course, almost all of these guys played college ball and their bad attitudes didn't show until they turned pro, i.e. Ryan Leaf, Johnny Manziel etc. Money and/or fame changed them for the worst, it appears.

I hope that this "bag men" topic is "fake news" or, at least, not widespread. If it does happen, I hope all involved are exposed. Large cash payouts and buying players would ruin college ball, in my opinion. I might would be okay with players getting a small stipend if all NCAA D-1 schools could agree on a like amount, but that's an entirely different topic.

I guess if this bagmen nonsense were to ever be exposed as widespread or at my alma mater, I would have a lot more free time in the fall and more money year-round.




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People have been getting money for a while and it's widespread imo. I could be wrong though. And idk about the others but Jonny was getting in trouble well before the NFL. Also the NFL isn't what you are making it to be imo. I can name a ton of teams that are very classy. The guys that are acting crazy in the NFL had that in the before the NFL, it didn't just randomly happen after college. There are also not as many pro teams as college so you might hear about it more in the NFL because everyone eyes are on you unlike college (over 100 programs). JMO. I love college and the NFL.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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Whiskey_Clear said:
I have heard he was also getting paid by a shoe company while still playing at UGA. Dude was probably the best RB of the modern era but for damn sure has some screws loose. I wouldn't be able to trust anything he might say on the topic himself.

Haven't read the article and I know some programs have been and some almost certainly still are dirty (*cough*Bama*cough*LSU*cough*UGA). I think if it was truly widespread we would hear more allegations come out. Heck, any player paid that didn't make it in the NFL could have a huge payout coming through blackmail alone. I just think we'd see more proof of this stuff if it was widespread.

Then again the more I think about SEC programs the more I think maybe it is widespread :ROFLMAO:
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Read the article and you will see just how transparent those dealings are. There is very little chance of anybody actually getting caught, and there has so far been no indication of any blackmail attempts.
 
GT_05

GT_05

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YJMD said:
Really? Both guys were known as arrogant showboaters before being drafted. The NFL and money adds access to more things, and very few if any can make it on talent alone in the league.
Click to expand...

Yes, really. Fill in the blanks with your own names if you don't like my choices but they were nowhere near the problems in college compared to when they were in the NFL.


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northgajacket

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
A very disturbing, although not surprising, article. I guess we know for sure now how Hershel got that brand new Trans-Am he said his daddy (or some relative) bought.
Click to expand...

Didn't uga wind up under investigation by the NCAA a few years after Herschel played? IIRC a transfer from uga to Tech (Tyrone Sorrells) helped with the investigation.
 

Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau

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GT_05 said:
Several years ago, I stopped watching the NFL because of the showboats, the unsavory players, and the excessive money. I know there are some really good guys that have played or currently play in the NFL, like Warrick Dunn, but the bad seems to outweigh the good and nobody on the planet is worth what some of these guys get paid. Of course, almost all of these guys played college ball and their bad attitudes didn't show until they turned pro, i.e. Ryan Leaf, Johnny Manziel etc. Money and/or fame changed them for the worst, it appears.

I hope that this "bag men" topic is "fake news" or, at least, not widespread. If it does happen, I hope all involved are exposed. Large cash payouts and buying players would ruin college ball, in my opinion. I might would be okay with players getting a small stipend if all NCAA D-1 schools could agree on a like amount, but that's an entirely different topic.

I guess if this bagmen nonsense were to ever be exposed as widespread or at my alma mater, I would have a lot more free time in the fall and more money year-round.




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Click to expand...

I think it is widespread and has been going on forever. College football has been money driven for 75 years or more. All you have to do is consider how in the hell did Robert Nkemdiche ever "decide" to go to Ole Miss instead of a dozen better and more logical programs. Artis Gilmore had a part time job at a booster's company for $40/hr back in the sixties--and he never was at the job. The degree of the corruption may vary from year to year and from school to school, but it certainly exists. And I think it exists EVERYWHERE to a certain extent, even on North Avenue. The difference is we are offering two glorified steaks and rings at the Varsity, and the booster in Louisville is offering a Lexus SUV and $25,000 in cash, and a stripper.
 
northgajacket

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Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau said:
I think it is widespread and has been going on forever. College football has been money driven for 75 years or more. All you have to do is consider how in the hell did Robert Nkemdiche ever "decide" to go to Ole Miss instead of a dozen better and more logical programs. Artis Gilmore had a part time job at a booster's company for $40/hr back in the sixties--and he never was at the job. The degree of the corruption may vary from year to year and from school to school, but it certainly exists. And I think it exists EVERYWHERE to a certain extent, even on North Avenue. The difference is we are offering two glorified steaks and rings at the Varsity, and the booster in Louisville is offering a Lexus SUV and $25,000 in cash, and a stripper.
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Playing Devil's advocate in regards to Nkemdiche going to Ole Miss, his older brother was already playing there and he said that he wanted to play with him ( Do I believe that his recruitment was "pure" ? NO.)
 
northgajacket

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GTpdm said:
The Trans-Am incident didn't involve $325 worth of shoes, so it came in below the NCAA's radar.
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That and uga was one of the top teams at the time so instead the NCAA probably went after a smaller program that doesn't bring in the revenue to Indianapolis ( Kansas City at the time.)
 
Cam

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I think we do some shady stuff because, by every account I've heard, it's necessary to keep up in today's recruiting world. One of my favorite comments I saw on Reddit regarding this topic was when Ole Miss was getting investigated and someone said something like, "We were all doing 15 over the speed limit, but Ole Miss was going 40 over." They did a horrible job of covering their tracks as they'd have the #1 ranked WR in a class followed by the #45 ranked WR (one was paid for, one wasn't). Now they're getting burned for it. I've also heard some say that our 2007 recruiting class had a little bit of money changing hands as well. Now, I think we don't do it nearly as much/often as most of the schools in our region for two reasons: we generally recruit high character kids and we've been on probation the last 7 years. However, we're now off probation as of a month ago. So, if we land a 5* next year you might see a couple eyebrows getting raised.
 
tech_wreck47

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northgajacket said:
Playing Devil's advocate in regards to Nkemdiche going to Ole Miss, his older brother was already playing there and he said that he wanted to play with him ( Do I believe that his recruitment was "pure" ? NO.)
Click to expand...
This, plus other schools would have been offering him money as well which would have evened the playing field back up.
 
gtstinger776

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Not a regular poster, but thought this was interesting enough to contribute:

A subtle theme the author mentioned but didn't highlight: a lot of these bag-men have cash rich revenue streams (think agriculture). That, combined with the poverty issues in the rural south have to be big advantages to the SEC system.

It's great 1 in 6 GT grads are millionaires. But when half of which are well-paid W2 employees and the other half are small business owners for professional services companies, you are left with a lot of IRS traceable wealth.
 
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