Thaddeus Young, from all reports, is a fine young man and a very promising
student. We told you some time ago that
there was a stench around his entourage, and it got strong enough to
persuade some schools that recruiting him was more trouble than it was worth.
Now, after he committed to Georgia Tech, part of the fallout for allowing his
entourage to include some people of questionable character is that some
people seem to think there was some funny business going on. His
former AAU coach publicly said that something happened between Young's camp and
Arkansas, an assertion he later backed off from. Arkansas flatly denied it
and invited the NCAA to investigate.
Gregg Doyel said this, before, we think, the AAU coach commented:
"Young's recruitment has been sickening. It has included all the clichés that threaten to spoil elite-level recruiting: the lure of the NBA; the sniff of sneaker companies; the meddling, once-absentee father; the sketchy characters on the periphery; and the embarrassing self-promotion."
There is no evidence of any wrongdoing, not by Arkansas, and certainly not by
Tech. Young, entourage aside, is almost a poster child for what anyone
would want.
But his entourage made controversy almost inevitable.