John Blake fires back at attacks
Former University of North Carolina assistant football coach John Blake has fired back after he was accused of trying to convince Marcel Dareus to sign with sports agent Gary Wichard. In addition, Blake’s lawyers have also dispelled any rumours that Blake
had received money from Wichard in order to recruit college football players for the agency.
It was recently revealed that Blake had taken six loans from Wichard and was said to have attempted to convince defensive star Dareus to sign with the agent. The investigation of Blake has grown exponentially since it was first revealed, in late August,
that he may have played a part in encouraging players to accept improper benefits from agents. Since that time, it has become clear that Blake may have been involved with more students outside of UNC.
Blake’s lawyers have fired back at the NCAA investigation, saying that three of the loans Blake received were legitimate. The loans were said to have come after Blake was fired from his job at Oklahoma and were to help put his son through private school.
Wichard is the godfather to Blake’s son and simply wanted to help. Nevertheless, Blake has yet to dispute the other three loans, one of which totalled $45,000, and was paid after he joined the Tar Heels.
In addition, Blake’s lawyers also contested a recent testimony from Dareus that stated Blake had tried to recruit him for Wichard. Blake maintains that he was simply calling Dareus, as his mother had fallen ill, to try and comfort him. Blake states that
Dareus was stressed out about agents who had been calling and told the youngster not to worry about that right now. He added that he was a good friend of Wichard’s, but reiterated to Dareus, not worry about that at the moment.
The Blake investigation has hampered the development of the Tar Heels program this season, with 13 players being forced out of the club’s first game.
At the moment, two players have been suspended, two have been re-instated and nine are still waiting to find out about their eligibility.
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