A Texas-based football trainer reportedly told Texas A&M back in 2007 that they needed to pay more than $80,000 to get Patrick Peterson to attend the school.
CFT has the details, but essentially Willie Lyles is accused of trying to shop Peterson’s college choice between school. It sounds rather similar to Cam Newton’s story at Auburn. Lyles is currently under investigation for taking $25,000 from the University of Oregon.
A former A&M coach Van Malone describes the situation like so:
“A few days after the kid’s visit, Will calls and says, ‘If you want this kid, there are other schools that want this kid as well. They’re willing to pay a certain amount of money, around the $80,000 mark,’” Malone said. “He said that was something we were going to have to beat as a university to be able to obtain the services of this kid.”
Peterson’s father says this is the first that he’s heard about the story.
“This is a shocker,” Peterson Sr. told ESPN’s Kelly Naqi. “It could have happened. It could have come out of [Lyles’] mouth, that’s what happens. These guys try to make money on their own, they are kind of like escort services. That’s what I call them, escort services.”