Ohio State freshman JaQuan Lyle spoke with an NCAA investigator this week about his recruiting visit to Louisville in June 2013 and confirmed the gist of allegations involving paid escorts during his trip to the school, a source with knowledge of the NCAA's investigation told CBS Sports on Thursday morning.
"He told the truth," the source said.
The allegations were made in a book published last Friday night called "Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen." In it, Katina Powell, a self-described madam, writes that she took four escorts, at the request of former Louisville staff member Andre McGee, to do a "show" for a "new recruit named JaQuan Lyle."
"I took Rod-Ni, TooTall, Jazmine and Shay, who calls herself Sammi," Powell wrote in a journal entry. "TooTall made $100, Shay made $100, and Jazzy made nothing because she did absolutely nothing."
Lyle, just a couple of weeks after his visit, committed to Louisville but later de-committed. He subsequently planned to play at Oregon but ultimately landed at Ohio State.
Ohio State associate athletic director for communications, Dan Wallenberg, told Yahoo! Sports that the school is unconcerned about Lyle's eligibility.
"It does not affect us or JaQuan at all,” Wallenberg told Yahoo! Sports. "We’ve been told, and are pretty confident, this is not something we need to worry about."
The NCAA has also already interviewed former Louisville recruit Antonio Blakeney, according to sources. Blakeney is now at LSU. What he told the NCAA remains unclear.
Louisville's Rick Pitino has denied any knowledge of the 22 "shows" Powell claims she put on for players or recruits. McGee has not spoken publicly since the book's release.
Meantime, WDRB.com reported Thursday afternoon that a former Louisville basketball player has "given investigators a version of events that indicates strippers were in the players' dorm on at least one occasion," according to a source. The report did not name the former player but did state that it's somebody who was "mentioned in the book."
