Agent Josh Luchs admits widespread payments to college football players

In an extensive confessional where he outlines paying college football players for the past two decades, NFL agent Josh Luchs details for Sports Illustrated what he did to try to land recruits.

It's a sordid tale.

Luchs names several names, including his former partnership and a lost legal battle with embattled agent Gary Wichard that led to his own NFLPA suspension and a $25,000 fine.

Several players corroborated Luchs' admissions with a few denials.

He talks about his fast-and-loose collaboration with deceased former NFL agent Harold "Doc" Daniels, including a money-fueled unsuccessful pursuit of former NFL bust Ryan Leaf.

He accuses ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. of being in cahoots with Wichard.

Kiper denied any wrongdoing.

Luchs also talks about the ties between Wichard and former Oklahoma coach and North Carolina assistant John Blake, who has resigned from UNC amidst serious allegations about him accepting money from Wichard and steering players to the California agent.

"When I was with Gary, John worked hand in hand with us, and Gary called him his “partner.” John was the defensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys when they won Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX, and the head coach at Oklahoma from ‘96 through ‘98. He was one of the best recruiters I’d ever seen. He was just electric, and I leveraged him to get clients whenever I could. In ‘02 two of the biggest clients we got were due, in large part, to John."

Among the players mentioned in the piece as accepting money or extra benefits: Leaf, Jonathan Ogden, Kanavis McGhee, Sean LaChapelle, Chris Mims, Chuck Webb, Kenyon Coleman, Jamir Miller, Tony Banks, Joel Steed, Rob Waldrop, Travis Claridge and R. Jay Soward.

Luchs also says that New York Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes was taking money from an agent while he was at Ohio State. Holmes denied taking money from any agent while in college.

So, why is Luchs talking?

"People should know how the agent business really works, how widespread the inducements to players are and how players have their hands out," Luchs said in the SI piece. "It isn't just the big, bad agents making them take money. People think the NFLPA is monitoring agents, but it is mostly powerless. People should also be aware of all that an agent does for his clients. Catering to their needs can be an all-consuming job. Recently, my nine-year-old daughter got an iTouch, and she has figured out how to get on the Internet. My six-year-old is not far behind. At some point, they are going to Google their daddy's name, and before this story they would have found only page after page of stuff saying how I was suspended.

" I was a good agent and I took care of my players. I don't want my career to be defined by that suspension. Now, maybe, when my daughters Google me, they will see that I worked hard to give them a good life. And for those people who will call me a cheater for paying players and breaking NCAA rules, or who will think I am a snitch for telling how the agent business works, well, I'll just say what so many players said to me over the years: Sorry, I gotta do what is best for me and my family."

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