NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A former NFL agent has named 30 former college football players he says he gave money and gifts to in the course of a 20-year career.
In an article published Tuesday in Sports Illustrated, former agent Josh Luchs said he gave the money to the college players in hopes of luring them as clients when they went to the NFL.
Eight players confirmed to SI that they had taken money from Luchs, action that would be in violation of NCAA rules. Others denied they took money from agents while in college.
"Agents have been giving kids money for decades," Luchs wrote. "It was more open in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, before states passed sports-agent laws making it illegal. Now, agents still do it, but they are more secretive and use middlemen."
Luchs admitted paying thousands of dollars to dozens of college football players as well as paying for meals, trips and concert tickets.
Former Southern California receiver R. Jay Soward confirmed Luchs' account, telling SI: "I would do it again. I have four sons, and if somebody offered my son money in college and it meant he didn't have to be hungry, I would tell him to take it."
