Jarrett gets reinstated

[RootWind]

USC receiver Dwayne Jarrett will not miss a game for failing to pay full rent on an apartment he shared with Matt Leinart after the NCAA on Wednesday reinstated the All-American's eligibility.

Jarrett was declared ineligible earlier this summer when the NCAA determined he received an extra benefit because Leinart's father paid the balance of the rent on an apartment that cost $3,866 a month.

Jarrett paid $650 a month toward the rent and did not pay any utilities.

Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, completed his eligibility at the school last season and was taken 10th by the Arizona Cardinals in this year's NFL draft.

"Mr. Jarrett made a mistake, and we believe that had he known he was required to pay his full share of the rent for the apartment, he would not have chosen to live there," Jennifer Strawley, NCAA director of membership services and student-athlete reinstatement, said in a statement.

"Reinstatement is a delicate balance of addressing the benefit or competitive advantage gained with student-athlete well being. In this instance, requiring some level of repayment was a fair and reasonable outcome given the specific facts."

The NCAA ruled that Jarrett must pay $5,352 to a charity of his choice for extra benefits that included discounted rent on the apartment.

The NCAA is requiring him to give to charity the full value of his $960 monthly housing stipend, minus what he already paid in rent, plus half the cost of utilities for the time he lived in the apartment.

His total benefit while he lived in the apartment for 13 months was calculated to be $18,001.

"I'm glad this is finally behind me," Jarrett said. "I felt all along that this would be resolved as it has been. I believe the conditions of the reinstatement imposed by the NCAA are fair.

"I'm now looking forward to continuing our preparations for the 2006 season and our opener at Arkansas."

Jarrett earlier said that, because he was paying part of the rent, he did not realize he was violating NCAA rules.

USC coach Pete Carroll had anticipated the NCAA's decision to reinstate Jarrett.

"We've felt comfortable throughout this process that the outcome would be like this," Carroll said. "I'm happy that the NCAA recognized the uniqueness of this situation."

Well isn't that a dandy. Rhett Bomar should have said he didn't know he wasn't suppose to be paid that much, and all he would have had to do was pay the money back :pinch:

[L3thal Veteran]

Bunch of crooks. The NCAA needs to stop favoring certain athletes in certain schools and give everyone equal punishment.

[Doli]

Well looks like the charity he picks will be the winners... but i wonder if USC will raise his monthly stippen to pay for it.

[method]

This isn't similar to the Rhett Bomar situation. He intentionally wrote down that he worked 40 hours instead of the few hours he worked. Also the Ncaa has ruled on the Rhett Bomar case yet. He was kicked off by his coach. Going by similar past cases this will be considered a secondary violation.

[BroChaos Veteran]

i think this is crap as well. any other athlete, any other school, he woulda been gone.

[method]

Do you really think that if a player was staying with his teammate and having that player's parents pay part of the rent, he would have been suspended or kicked out of school?

[Doli]

USC is a private school they can almost do anything they want. This is a problem with the NCAA because you cant take gifts/extra benefits while your college sports. If he didnt play sports in the NCAA and this happened well then it happened no rules broken by USC rules, they are just a school. It can be a problem with the school if the NCAA starts cutting scholarships to that school like they did for Sacramento State for having bad athlete-to-graduate rates.

[method]

The NCAA has already started doing this.

You are so right dolimite35, this arrangement happens all the time on college campus with regular students, but when athletes do it everyone jumps up on their moral soapbox.