New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Report: Auburn bribed players

Auburn's football program changed players' grades to secure eligibility, offered money to potential NFL draft picks so they would return for their senior seasons, and violated NCAA recruiting rules under former coach Gene Chizik, according to a report by former New York Times and Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts.

The report appears on Roberts' website, Roopstigo.com. According to three former Auburn players, as many as nine players' grades were changed before Auburn's win in the 2011 BCS national championship game.

"We thought we would be without (running back) Mike Dyer because he said he was one of them, but Auburn found a way to make those dudes eligible," former Auburn defensive lineman Mike Blanc told Roberts.

In an interview with AL.com on Wednesday, Blanc denied saying that quote. Blanc later tweeted: "Man this article is outrageous and isn't true."

According to his uncle, Andre Dyer, Michael Dyer said he was "never even close" to being academically ineligible prior to the 2011 BCS national championship game.

Dyer made the game-sealing run as a true freshman in the title game against Oregon. He ran for 1,093 yards as a freshman and 1,242 as a sophomore before leaving the program for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

If Dyer or other Tigers' players were found to have been ineligible to compete, Auburn's national championship would be in jeopardy.

According to the report, Auburn coaches offered money to players for any number of reasons, including as a means to convince players to bypass the NFL draft.

Darvin Adams, a former Auburn wide receiver, told Roberts that coaches offered him cash to keep him at the school.

Blanc and Mike McNeil, another former Auburn player, told Roberts the money amounts reached "several thousand dollars."

"Coaches would say, 'Don't tell anyone where you got it from,' " Blanc told Roberts.

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