The NCAA reinstated USC WR Dwayne Jarrett today. His ineligibility stemmed from his receiving extra benefits for not paying his fair share of rent, in the amount of $3,866.00 a month, in an apartment shared with teammate Matt Leinart. Leinart's Dad, Bob, made up the difference. He will not miss any games this season and his only punishment is that he must pay $5352.00 to the charity of his choice.
I won't lie but I thought this was not going to go our way. I am extremely relived that Jarrett won't miss any games. I am stunned that the NCAA didn't take ANY punitive action in this case. I realize we don't know what was discussed behind closed doors but on the surface, from the beginning, this didn't look good. Couple that with the Reggie Bush situation and you could see the NCAA not being very charitable towards USC. We still don't have the full story on Bush but the NCAA could have used Jarrett as a hammer to get to the bottom of that one.
SC fans need to count themselves lucky that this situation did not turn into another Mike Williams debacle. We should count our lucky stars and be thankful that we got a favorable ruling. So let's leave it at that.
Here is the press release form the USC website.