Dwayne Jarrett will not miss any games and has to pay about $5300 to charity. This seems almost too reasonable, but I am not complaining. There is a legitimate question about whether this will lead to recruits being wooed with good off-campus housing (one of the more meaningful complaints posted on Bruins Nation, to give credit where it’s due) but I would argue that this is different. (I’d also argue that this is more compelling for people who had to pay Westwood rents).
The difference is this: Jarrett was already an established student and player, and he was already Leinart’s room-mate. Plainly the rules were broken, but it’s hard to read anything more into this than the parental sheltering of a star quarterback who just happens to be buddies with his best receiver. It’s right that Jarrett makes some restitution, especially since he was getting a premium out of his housing stipend, but it’s hard to see this in the same light as the Bush housing scandal (remember that?) or punching people…
Anyway, here’s to seeing plenty of this in 2006:
Filed under: The future, USC football, legal eagle, rentier class
