Oklahoma State’s Bryant: I just panicked’
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant claims he was worried he had done something wrong when he “panicked” and lied to the NCAA about a meeting with former NFL player Deion Sanders at a Texas athletics center.
In his written apology to the NCAA, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press following an open records request, Bryant said that he is “very, very sorry” and “made a terrible mistake” when he lied to Marcus M. Wilson, the NCAA’s assistant director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities, in July.
“It was all me, there is no one else to blame,” Bryant writes in his two-page apology. “I just panicked because I was scared and afraid that I was in some kind of trouble.”
The All-American was declared ineligible by Oklahoma State last week and was expected to go through a follow-up interview with the NCAA on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
“I was scared because I was thinking, why would the NCAA talk to me unless they thought I had done something wrong, even though I did not think I had,” Bryant writes in his letter.
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If he did not think he did anything wrong, you tell the truth. No matter what the outcome. By saying, “I was afraid I did something wrong” leads a person to believe his intentions were somewhere else, not just having a friendly meeting with a person.
When the police stop your car and ask you a question, you tell the truth. You do not step on the accelerator and try to get away with it. It gets you in more trouble.
This is not a 16 year old. This is a man that is about to have millions of dollars thrown at him in the NFL next year. If he gets away with this just watch what happens to him when he turns Pro. If he is punished for his actions, he may think twice about it next time when it will have to do with something a lot more serious.
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I think Bryant is getting a raw deal. He is caught between a rock and a hard spot and the dirty hands are not on campus but the guy who set it all up.
Yes, it is easy to say that he should have known. But it looks as if he did not.
The question behind the question remains, why was the NCAA asking questions.
The media can harp all they want to about injury policy at TTU, but when there is a really serious question at the NCAA level, where are the good reporters ?
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Just wait and look who ends up being Bryants agent when this is all over.
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Finally a liar gets his just reward. Let’s hope it teaches him and some of the other liars out there a life lesson.
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