Was Sidney Radioactive?

You be the judge...

Sidney, a 6-foot-11 power forward, visited Mississippi State last weekend and a source close to the family said the Sidneys and USC had agreed upon "a mutual parting of the ways." The source spoke on the condition of anonymity, having not received clearance from the family to be quoted publicly about the matter.

The split was confirmed about a week after it was learned that Sidney had achieved a passing SAT score, which, when factored in with grades in 16 core classes, is how an athlete acquires eligibility. The USC coaching staff had expected Sidney to officially sign soon after.

However, the source close to the Sidney family said school officials expressed concern about signing the player while an NCAA investigation into former USC stars Reggie Bush, a Heisman Trophy winner in football, and O.J. Mayo, a first-round NBA pick last year, was still open.

Sidney's father, Renardo Sr., "didn't want his son to be the scapegoat for those allegations," the source said without elaborating why that could happen. "Neither side wanted an impending investigation hanging over them."

A source familiar with the USC athletic program not permitted to publicly discuss recruiting details confirmed that the university is no longer interested in signing Sidney but did not say why.

Let the posturing begin...

We have all read the rumors that there may have been some issues that made both USC and ucla skittish in the recruitment of Sidney.

This article pretty much confirms it. USC is on high alert with the NCAA combining the Bush and Mayo investigations so why take any chances. I am ambivalent either way. There have been questions about Sidney's drive and desire to get into playing shape. There were the rumors of his Academic struggles as well as his dads gig with Reebok. But SC also needed a big man

Who knows what the truth is, SC is probably better off in the long run but in the short term what looked like a promising recruiting class now looks run of the mill. Without a big man in the middle, SC will be where they were last season probably worse so with Taj not coming back.

Everything happens for a reason...