http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/07/source_friend_and_false_preten.htmlAs his mother lay dying in her Birmingham home, Marcell Dareus couldn't cope. He had to get away.
It was the middle of May. Spring classes at the University of Alabama were over. Summer classes and football conditioning didn't start until early June.
Along came an invitation from a friend to fly to Miami. The chance to hang out in South Beach sounded good, so off Dareus went to chill in the sun, sand and warm water.
Little did the star Alabama defensive end know what kind of hot water he was about to get into, according to sources close to the Dareus family.
Alabama officials are investigating the trip in the wake of reports that the visit included a stop at an agent-related party. Contact with an agent can jeopardize a player's eligibility. Dareus has not been questioned by the NCAA, a source close to his family said.
Dareus attended the party but claims he was lured to Miami under a false pretense, a source close to the family said. When Dareus discovered there were agents at the party, he asked to leave. Then he received grim news that his mother, Michelle Luckey, had died, and he abruptly returned to Birmingham.
The friend who arranged the trip was Marvin Austin, a star defensive lineman at North Carolina, a source close to the Dareus family said. Austin appears to be a central figure in a growing NCAA investigation into possible improper dealings between agents and college football players.
When Dareus made a recruiting visit to North Carolina during his senior year at Huffman High School, his host was Austin, then a freshman. The two players bonded.
As Alabama rolled last fall toward an undefeated season, Austin said if the Crimson Tide won the national championship, he would pay for a trip for Dareus anywhere, a source close to the Dareus family said.
The plane fare to Miami was paid for by Austin, but when Dareus arrived in Miami, he paid Austin for the ticket and received a receipt, the source said. Austin also arranged for a hotel room, but the source said Dareus did not use the room.Last week, when reports surfaced about Austin's possible involvement with agents, Dareus was urged to call Alabama coach Nick Saban, a source close to the family said. The player and coach met late Sunday morning.
On Monday, Dareus met with Mike Ward, Alabama's associate athletic director in charge of NCAA compliance, the source said.
Dareus has told Alabama officials that he was the only Crimson Tide player who made the trip to Miami, the source said.
Sources close to the Dareus family paint a picture of the player as a young man who is a ferocious, competitive athlete on the field, but off the field his idea of kicking back often means watching cartoons. He is described as trusting, naive and gullible. As his mother's health declined in the spring following a lengthy illness, he was particularly vulnerable, a source said.
Saban addressed "this whole Marcell Dareus thing" on Wednesday at SEC Media Days even before he was questioned about the matter.
"We're not really going to make any comments, nor do we have any information that he did anything wrong or he didn't do anything wrong," Saban said. "But we're going to find out with the due diligence that we look for."
Saban stressed what Alabama does to educate its players: "We have an outstanding agent education program," he said. "Joe Mendes, who has been in the NFL for years, interviews our players, makes booklets, actually has home visits with their families to try to educate them on the things that they can and can't do relative to agents."
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