The recruitment of Cam Newton...

[dawgstudent]

as far as I what I have heard:
[list type=decimal][*]Kenny Rogers calls Bill Bell and Rogers says we need to pay to get Newton. Cecil is on the line as well and this is where "You are going to have do more than a scholarship" quote originates because Cecil says it. $180,000 is what Rogers/Cecil Newton say it will take to get Cam.[*]Bill Bell then calls Bond and says what do we do. Bond says we need to report this to Greg Byrne.[*]They call Byrne and MSU's response was no to paying money.
[*]Rumor is that Rogers and Cecil call Bill Bell back and say we are going to Tennessee and they have offered 200K. They then say since it's Mississippi State, we will do it for 180K. They ask Bell what's State going to do and Bell says we aren't paying. For all we know, Rogers and Cecil might be bluffing.[*]Rogers calls again with Cecil on the line and says we are going to visit Oklahoma. They ask what is State going to do and Bell says again we aren't paying.[*]Rogers calls one more time and says we are going to Auburn. Cecil is again on the line. Bell responds with "I guess Auburn met your offer". There was silence on the phone and that's the last of the conversations between Bell and Rogers/Cecil Newton.[/list]I am sure there are more holes in what I typed above than you can count but I am just repeating what I heard. My questions, which I didn't think about asking, was why does Rogers call Bell initially because from what I heard - this was Bell's first encounter with getting contacted about recruits.

 

[benatmsu]

From everything that's been reported/rumored I would have to think Bond was a little more central to this story.

 

[bonedaddy401]

./

 

[Hair of the Dawg]

That has for some reason never crossed my mind during all of this. It's hard to keep all of this straight. Did Bell and Rogers play together? Either way, why did he select him to call? I understand calling Bond, he's high profile and obviously connected to the AD.

I hope for our sake what you have above is on the "recordings".

I just want this **** to end, I'm Cam'ed out.</p>

 

[dawgstudent]

my only guess is that Rogers called someone who had a lot of money.

 

[Hair of the Dawg]

That Rogers really does have a limited knowledge of who's who at State. He appears to have contacted the only two people that he thought he might be able to get money out of for Cecil. Possibly hoping to get them to broker the deal.

 

[bendog]

my impression is that Rogers contacted Bell because he has no contacts at MSU, and that's the only person he knew to contact.

 

[tommyboy1520]

That Rogers' lack of connections at State led him to take a stab in the dark at who to call. It was his best guess. I imagine he sold himself to Cecil as a former Bulldog who could make it happen at State considering Cam wanted to go there. But then when he had to actually start the process, he probably realized he was in a bit of a jam with no connections and just called the first guy he could think of that he assumed would be well connected. I'm sure before the phone call, he bragged to cecil about how he and Bell go way back. they played together, have been friends all these years, yada yada yada. And probably remarked at some point that if anyone could make this deal go through, Bill Bell could.

At least in mind my, that's how it happened.

 

[maroonmania]

then that totally blows the current story out of the water from Rogers that he was only involved in Cam's recruitment to MSU. From what you are saying Rogers was either making up crap while on the phone with Bell to try and get MSU to THINK others were paying OR Rogers actually did serve as the Newton agent for EVERY school involved in getting Cam especially since Rogers keep saying "we are going" or "we are visiting".

 

[kired]

Maybe Bell was just the only not to turn him down on the spot.

 

[patdog]

other than Bond. The fact Rogers had to be introduced to Mullen by Cecil Newton during Egg Bowl weekend says a lot about how disconnected Rogers has been from MSU.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Bell told Bond that CN and Kenny Rodgers were just flat out cold calling around from money.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Based on the info out in the public, the actual sequence of events is quite unclear.

We know Rogers called Bell, and that there was more than one conversation between Rogers, Bell and Cecil.

We know Bell got Bond involved in the matter.

We know Bond says he talked to Rogers several times.

We know Bond eventually turned the matter over to Greg Byrne.

We know Byrne told Bond and Bell it wasn't going to happen and they should quit talking to Cecil.

The actual sequence of events remains a mystery.

Also, I think Kenny's claims that other schools were offering money may have just been salesmanship on his part. Say what you want about Rogers, he obviously has some sales technique in him to be able to weasel his way into so many people's lives. Also, according to the NFLPA, he well say just about anything to win people's trust.

If Cecil and Kenny are both going to stick to the story that Kenny was not involved with Cam's recruitment at any other school, then I think that story will stick.....Unless a booster at another school is willing to come forward and admit talking with Rogers.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Based on the info out in the public, the actual sequence of events is quite unclear.

We know Rogers called Bell, and that there was more than one conversation between Rogers, Bell and Cecil.

We know Bell got Bond involved in the matter.

We know Bond says he talked to Rogers several times.

We know Bond eventually turned the matter over to Greg Byrne.

We know Byrne told Bond and Bell it wasn't going to happen and they should quit talking to Cecil.

The actual sequence of events remains a mystery.

Also, I think Kenny's claims that other schools were offering money may have just been salesmanship on his part. Say what you want about Rogers, he obviously has some sales technique in him to be able to weasel his way into so many people's lives. Also, according to the NFLPA, he well say just about anything to win people's trust.

If Cecil and Kenny are both going to stick to the story that Kenny was not involved with Cam's recruitment at any other school, then I think that story will stick.....Unless a booster at another school is willing to come forward and admit talking with Rogers.

Both things I point out in your post are wrong. <div>
</div><div>Bond turned this into Byrne and company from the very start. There was no eventually. Bond and Bell were on the same page about not pursuing this. Some third party cold calling from money is not something they wanted to get involved with.</div><div>
</div><div>And Byrne did not have to tell them to quit pursuing this. It was Kenny Rodgers and Cecil Newton who kept calling both of them to offer "one more chance" after "one more chance" to land Cam Newton. Bell had to tell themrepeatedlythat we weren't gna bite.</div><div>
</div><div>One thing is for sure, the timeline that DS outlined above is what happened with the event surrounding Bill Bell's involvement in this. You can take that to the bank.</div>

 

[Dawgzilla]

Well I don't know if Byrne HAD to tell Bell to quit talking to Cecil, but according to Bell, that was the message he got back:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5818428

Bell said he called Bond, his close friend, soon after Rogers asked him
for money, and Bond informed Mississippi State officials of the
pay-for-play scheme. Bell said he was told to stop talking to Cecil
Newton and Rogers.

And the only reason I said Bond "eventually" contacted Byrne, is because the sequence of events is so unclear. Bond says he had conversations with Rogers. I assume those conversations took place before Byrne told him to quit talking to Rogers.

 

[Foronce]

they asked rodgers this question and he said something to the fact, ...when you are looking for that kind of money I don' have it. So I called the only person I knew I could get in contact with that had contacts with all the alums... He said all the alums go and associate at the games, so I knew Bill knew who to get in contact with.


/which was completely crazy of rodgers, almost to the point of unbelievable.