Yahoo! Sports with another scoop:
Ex-Vols aide funded airfare payment for Seastrunk
An assistant coach during Lane Kiffin’s tenure at the University of Tennessee wired $1,500 to a talent scout in July 2009, funding the airfare for an unofficial recruiting trip by then five-star prospect Lache Seastrunk and his mother, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
In an apparent NCAA violation, then-Volunteers secondary coach Willie Mack Garza sent the money to one-time scout Will Lyles, who had paid for plane tickets for Seastrunk and his mother Evelyn. Garza, who joined Kiffin’s staff at USC in 2010, stepped down from his position with the Trojans in September citing “some personal issues unrelated to USC that I need to address.” His resignation came shortly after Lyles informed NCAA investigators in August of the transaction. Lyles said NCAA investigators were conducting a wide-ranging look into Tennessee recruiting practices.
Houston-based Lyles was a talent scout and mentor to several area players, including Seastrunk of Temple, Texas, in the central part of the state. Lyles said he told the NCAA he organized and paid for Seastrunk and his mother to travel to Knoxville June 20-21, 2009 for an unofficial visit. Lyles said he was reimbursed via MoneyGram by Garza on July 5. Lyles said he provided the NCAA receipts for the plane tickets and a hand-written MoneyGram receipt.
Yahoo! Sports, with Lyles’ cooperation, requested and received an independent receipt of the transaction directly from MoneyGram International. Under transaction history request, the receipt lists “Willie Garza” as the “sender” and “Will Lyles” as the “receiver” of $1,500. An additional $76 processing fee was charged to Garza.
The rest here.