Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was not initially aware that the Buckeyes turned in Florida for a possible secondary NCAA violation, an Ohio State spokesman said Wednesday, although a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN that "Urban was aware of it and he endorsed it."
Meyer told the Gainesville Sun it's "absolutely not true" that he turned in an assistant at his former school and there was "zero coach involvement."
The incident involved an alleged illegal "bump," i.e., contact, between Florida running backs coach Brian White and Brooklyn Erasmus High School running back Curtis Samuel. The Southeastern Conference investigated the allegation and ruled that no NCAA violation had been committed, a source told ESPN.
According to an Ohio State spokesman, the university's compliance office, after learning of possible illegal contact between White and Samuel, forwarded the information to the Big Ten office.
Ohio State director of player personnel Mark Pantoni read about the possible "bump" on a recruiting website and informed Meyer of the incident, a source told ESPN.
It's not uncommon for schools to report possible violations to their conference's offices, the Ohio State spokesman said, but Meyer was not aware of the report "until well after it was done."
FoxSports.com first reported that Meyer had turned in Florida for the alleged illegal contact with the recruit, whom both Ohio State and Florida are recruiting.
Meyer coached the Gators from 2005-2010 before stepping down to address health issues and spend more time with his family. He did not coach in 2011, instead working as an broadcaster for ESPN, before returning to coaching last season at Ohio State.
In his first season with the Buckeyes, Ohio State went 12-0 but was ineligible to play in the Big Ten championship game or a bowl game because of NCAA infractions committed under former coach Jim Tressel.