The recruitment of offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson, who is now at Miami, created four secondary violations for Ohio State.
The pursuit of Seantrel Henderson, an offensive lineman who eventually chose Southern California -- and then Miami -- over Ohio State has resulted in the Buckeyes admitting some recruiting violations.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The recruitment of offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson created a lot of paperwork for the Ohio State compliance office. The Buckeyes' chase of the highly-rated recruit led to the school reporting four secondary NCAA violations, most of which had nothing to do with the OSU coaching staff.
Henderson signed with USC before getting out of that commitment and landing at Miami.
"When you have a kid that high-profile, the chances of those types of things popping up are much greater," said Chris Rogers, Ohio State's assistant athletic director for compliance. "It's not like it's something that's limited to Ohio State. It happens all the time."
Here are the four Henderson violations reported by Ohio State, according to a public records request from The Plain Dealer:
• Former Ohio State cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, now with New Orleans Saints, encouraged Henderson to attend Ohio State when asked a question during Super Bowl media day. A video of the request appeared on a Web site. Former players can't recruit for their old school.
• Current quarterback Terrelle Pryor sent a text message to Henderson telling him to attend Ohio State, as reported in a New York Times story. A Notre Dame player was reported to have done the same thing and Notre Dame filed a similar violation report. Current players can't recruit for a school that way.
• In an online video, Henderson is seen talking to former OSU receiver Cris Carter during his official visit to Columbus. Again, former players can't recruit. Another school turned in Ohio State for this incident after viewing the video.
• Henderson and several other recruits walked through the tunnel of fans that line the path from Ohio State's pep rally at St. John Arena to Ohio Stadium. The recruits didn't walk with the team, but around the same time, and that was determined to be a secondary violation.
Ohio State wasn't the only school caught in the Henderson glare. Minnesota self-reported a violation for some of the props used in its recruiting pitch during a Henderson visit.
Overall, the OSU athletic department reported 13 secondary violations between Jan. 1 and July 1 of this year, including three of the Henderson incidents. Rogers said a rule of thumb is for a department to average one secondary violation per sport per year. Ohio State has 36 sports.
Two other violations involved the football team:
• Quarterbacks coach Nick Siciliano made impermissible contact with a recruit when he bumped into him and spoke for a few minutes on a trip to a Connecticut high school.
• Jim Tressel and Siciliano spoke at a fundraiser in Youngstown for a group that could be considered a high school booster club. Coaches from many other colleges spoke at the event, and Ohio State determined that was a secondary violation.
One violation occurred with the basketball team when an OSU player, while signing autographs, was asked during a basketball camp last year for his shoes by a camper. The player granted the request, which was discovered when the camper's mother offered thanks to the player in a camp survey.
By the rules, that camper was a future prospect, so giving him the shoes was a violation.
Ohio State doesn't face any further consequences for any of the secondary violations.