Did Percy Harvin Help Take Down USC Football?

(This is cross-posted, somewhat, from SBNation Minnesota.  If you're not already visiting SBNation Minnesota a ton of times every day. . .well, you ought to be, so there.)

There's an interesting little tidbit from the good folks at Sports by Brooks concerning the USC football probe.  (Hat tip to the folks at Pro Football Talk for highlighting the article.)  Turns out that back in 2005, Bush was tasked with entertaining and hanging out with the #1 high school football player in the country when he came to Southern Cal for a recruiting visit.  However, rather than do that, Bush decided that it was more important to hang out with an agent by the name of Lloyd Lake. . .you know, the sorts of people that college athletes aren't supposed to have contact with. . .rather than fulfill his commitment to said recruit and his football program.

Bush was to host a recruit after the Oct. 29, 2005 USC-Washington State game considered the nation’s the top high school prospect.

McNair made repeated attempts to contact Reggie Bush in regards to the top recruit’s official visit. But Bush, on a post-game outing with family and friends, including (Lloyd) Lake and (Michael) Michaels (Lake's associate), left the recruit waiting in his hotel room while they ate dinner. The recruit would later verify that timeline.

Among the numerous calls McNair placed to Bush and the recruit that night, three were to a 619 area code that was not Bush’s number. That number, cited from McNair’s USC phone records, belonged to Lake.

The NCAA assistant director of enforcement, Richard Johanningmeier immediately questioned McNair’s credibility when he denied knowing Lake or having any recollection of whose phone number he’d called that night.

Well, it turns out that the recruit, in this case, was a kid by the name of Percy Harvin.  He made a recruiting trip all the way to the west coast, only to have the former Mr. Kim Kardashian blow him off.

Just think. . .had Reggie Bush done what he was asked to do, and what he said he was going to do, it's entirely possible that the entire investigation into USC football may never have been launched.  It also kind of puts Bush's comments about how what happened to Trojan football was "the closest thing to death without dying."  Doesn't appear he was terribly concerned then, and I'm guessing that he's really not terribly concerned now.

But if Harvin did play a role in all this, regardless of how large or small, then kudos to him.