John Bond, the former Mississippi St. player who set off the whole Cam Newton NCAA investigation college football media wildfire by talking to ESPN and the New York Times, has straight up denied the claim that Florida Gators coach Urban Meyer encouraged him to go public with Kenny Rogers’ wrongdoing.
Meyer’s involvement had been rumored since the story broke, and pay site Auburn Undercover published a story purporting to connect all the dots between Bond, Meyer, and Mississippi St. coach Dan Mullen, a former Meyer assistant:
Bond was on a three-way telephone call with Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen and Meyer to discuss the situation. Both Mullen and Bond said that they believed the matter was closed. They had done what they were supposed to do, passed it on to the league office, and nothing else needed to be said.
But Meyer strongly disagreed, saying it needed to be public and that he was going to call The New York Times. Meyer and Pete Thamel, the reporter who wrote the story for The New York Times, are close friends.
[…]
Meyer, Bond has said privately, “is behind the whole thing.”
Earlier tonight Bond went on Atlanta’s Buck and Kincade Show, where he was asked about the Meyer connection:
No, I did it myself. When I got a phone call from the guy, I went straight to our athletic director. Now, what happened to it and how it grew legs after that? I don’t know. I know we handled it right on our end and that was my first concern.
Thus the most intriguing tale of SEC espionage since whatever Houston Nutt cooked up yesterday morning comes to a wimp of a close. There’s still plenty about Newton, Newton’s father, and Rogers that needs to be concluded upon, but unless Bond’s being paid to protect Meyer (A NEW RIDICULOUS CONSPIRACY APPEARS!) this particular branch of the storyline has given forth all the fruit it has, and disappointing fruit at that, from a drama standpoint at least, which is how all fruit is graded.