



Here is the early prediction on what will come – at least in terms of NCAA sanctions – from the accompanying Yahoo Sports story detailing how Luther Davis went from starting Alabama defensive end to middle man possibly funneling money from agents and financial planners to a handful of top SEC players, including some in Tuscaloosa.

Nothing.

Or, at least, not much.

The NCAA won't be able to get enough people to talk. They won't be able to access the paper trail. It's possible they won't even muster much of an effort. There isn't a direct tie to the coaching staffs. The schools involved, Alabama, Mississippi State and Tennessee, will solemnly declare their concern, even though the latter two are already on probation for previous things that produced solemn concern. Maybe Volunteers defensive lineman Maurice Couch, the only still-eligible participant, gets hit a little, but that'll be it.

And that's fine. The NCAA always looks foolish when it tries to retroactively strip championships – in this case, Alabama's.

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It's looks even worse when it argues that something horrible occurred if a kid such as D.J. Fluker, who grew up poor even before Hurricane Katrina left him homeless and sleeping in a car with four others, actually accepted some of the money that just about everyone was willing to throw at him because they've defined his worth as far greater than just tuition, room and board.

When it comes to these kinds of stories, much of the focus is on the NCAA enforcement angle. Some just want to know what the penalties will be and how it will affect competitive balance. Some want retribution along fair-is-fair guidelines – the NCAA lit up their favorite program, so it's about time the damn Tide got its comeuppance too. Still others just want to blame the media for supposedly doing the NCAA's investigative work or even propping up the rulebook by laying out violations.

Almost everyone is missing the forest for the trees.

These stories – from Johnny Manziel and autographs, to Sports Illustrated's current series on Oklahoma State to North Carolina academics to Nevin Shapiro to UConn hoops to Ceruzzi Sports to John Blake to Oregon football to whatever is coming next – contribute to the pulling back of the curtains on how this massive enterprise truly operates. There's enough media selling the fairytale. We don't need fewer investigations.

This is major college athletics. Not those public-relations commercials during the games with cinematography, soaring music and canned concepts propping up "amateurism" as anything more than a tax dodge. And this is the river of underground money that flows through major college football. It's everywhere. It's undeniable. It's uncontainable.

[Yahoo Sports exclusive: View SEC investigation documents]

The more that truth is exposed, the better.

Luther Davis must have seen it all first-hand as a Crimson Tide player. When he wasn't quite good enough to make the NFL, he got into the business of the business, using his connections and credibility with current players who might make the pros to attract a slew of parties looking to gain access to them. If they didn't use Davis, they'd use someone else. Maybe a high school or AAU coach. Maybe a friend from home. Maybe a minister or a family member. Maybe even a college assistant coach, trainer or workout guy. That's how it works. Everywhere. And it always will.

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