College Football 2021: Arizona State Sun Devils under investigation for recruiting violations

Arizona State's football program could be in hot water. Yahoo! Sports reported that the Sun Devils received a dossier. It consisted of several pages containing screenshots, receipts, pictures, and emails related to potential violations.

Yahoo! Sports also reported that an outside source told them that the NCAA's enforcement staff has possession of the documents. The NCAA has their assistant director of enforcement, Vic DeNardi, working on the case against ASU. Arizona State is also running an internal investigation on its end.

Katie Paquet, the vice president of media relations at Arizona State University, confirmed that the NCAA had opened an investigation. The NCAA and Arizona State declined further comments about the allegations.

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What recruiting rules did Arizona State break to cause an investigation?

Arizona State Sun Devils

According to sources that Yahoo! Sports spoke with, Arizona State broke many recruiting rules. The documentation that the university and the NCAA received has multiple examples of the violations.

On his ESPN radio show, Keyshawn Johnson fingered a former ASU staffer as being a “whistleblower” in NCAA investigation into Sun Devil football recruiting. https://t.co/jJJJEg5qm6

— SunDevilSource.com (@SunDevilSource) June 18, 2021

Arizona State allegedly welcomed high school recruiting prospects to their campus during the pandemic period. The NCAA banned high school recruits from visiting college campuses because of COVID-19. There are pieces of evidence in the dossier that show the player's trip to campus and who paid for the visits.

One of the sources mentioned the Sun Devil's well-respected head coach, Herm Edwards. The source said that Herm Edwards met with recruits during the pandemic period. A source sent Yahoo! Sports pictures of Herm Edwards meeting with recruits who later enrolled at ASU.

An Arizona State staff member also commented on the current investigation against the school. The staff member had this to say about the recruiting violations:

"It wasn't a secret. Knowing everyone who came into that football office, the number is too big, and the names are too many. They would bring in parents, their moms and dads, and friends. They'd get a facility tour like they were on an official visit. They'd show you the weight room and training room. They'd show you everything."

It's as if the situation couldn't get any worse for Arizona State. A former recruiting prospect, who signed with a rival Pac 12 school, was reportedly working with a position coach. A source captured the video footage on a cell phone, which was passed on to the ASU staff.

The Sun Devils broke many violations in this situation. ASU worked out with a prospect, clearly knowing it was against the rules. They also illegally evaluated the workout video footage.

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What are other college coaches saying about the ASU violations?

Stanford head coach David Shaw

When the words 'recruiting violations' and 'NCAA investigations' come out of individual's mouth, coaches hide. Arizona State is different, and it could be because of the situation. Stanford's head coach David Shaw is one coach that has been outspoken about the violations.

NCAA is investigating Arizona State for allegations related to the football program.The allegations include paying players, MAJOR recruiting violations, Covid violations, and other things that have left serious concern about the coaching staff being able to coach this season.

— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) June 16, 2021

When asked by Yahoo! Sports about the recruiting violations conducted by ASU, David Shaw didn't hold anything back in his response.

"It's a disrespectful thing to do. That doesn't sound overly harsh. But for me being a lifer in this profession and a coach's kid, I believe in respecting our profession and respecting the other people in the profession. Doing things that you're not supposed to do just to gain an advantage, I take offense to that."

Jack Swarbrick, the Notre Dame athletic director, also commented on the ASU recruiting violations.

"If there was ever a time when everyone following the same rules was critical, it's now during a pandemic and during a time of such national scrutiny on college athletics."

If the Arizona State coaching staff did break the recruiting violations set in stone by the NCAA, they need to be punished. The situation could cost Herm Edwards his job at Arizona State. It'll be interesting to see how the investigation plays out over the next two months before the upcoming season.