Jon Vilma (Sorta) Responds to Hurricanes’ Hooker Scandal

Another year, another college football program under scrutiny for allegedly violating NCAA rules. This time, it’s the University of Miami and this time, the accusations are super scandalous and have the potential to take down one of the NCAA’s most storied programs. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Sports, a former Miami booster claims he showered current and former “U” players with lavish gifts, trips, and yes of course, women. Nevin Shapiro says some players were even offered “bounties” to take out star players on opposing teams. He calls out current Saints player Jon Vilma as one of the college students who attempted to benefit from these so-called “bounties” by going after then Florida State QB Chris Rix. Shapiro is quoted as saying,

“Watch the tape of those games. You’ll see so many big hits on him. Guys were all going after that $5,000 in cash. [Jon] Vilma tried to kill him – just crushed him – a couple of times trying to get that $5,000. And he almost got it, too.”

Vilma has been largely mum since the story broke late Tuesday. He said via Twitter “Thank u guys for your continued support, I kno its so easy to jump to conclusions but please remember this is a 1 sided story #highroad”

And here is Vilma’s response to inquiries from New Orleans online newspaper nola.com”

“I’m not really worried about that right now. You have a guy that’s in jail. Whatever his motive is right now, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t care. You know, I’m gonna move forward and keep working with the Saints.”

The Yahoo! article includes picture of Shapiro mixing it up with top players like Chicago Bears receiver Devin Hester and Tampa Bay tight end Kellen Winslow. Some former players have already stepped forward confirming some of Shapiro’s claims. And the NCAA is investigating the extent to which Shapiro’s accusations are true. Beyond looking into players and schools, I think it’s fine time the NCAA do some soul searching about its own programs, rules and restrictions and how flaws within the system can lead to these sorts of abuses. Needless to say, this scandal is u-g-l-y, no matter how you slice it.