Yahoo Sports: Will Wade ‘Drawing Scrutiny’ From the NCAA

A report from Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel vaguely indicates that the NCAA has spent time “looking into” Will Wade’s recruiting success at LSU over the last year.

NCAA enforcement officials have done work both on the phone and in person to look into Wade, inI cluding traveling around the country, to learn more about his recruiting.

The NCAA’s scrutiny of Wade began not long after his hire at LSU in March, but the inquiry has stalled because of a lack of on-the-record specifics about Wade’s recruiting, according to a source. The NCAA’s information gathering has covered part of his time as head coach at VCU, according to a source. Wade’s early recruiting activity at LSU prompted the NCAA enforcement interest, according to a source.

/sigh

It’s a home cliche to call something like this “clickbait,” but...goddamn if this ain’t some clickbaity-ass clickbait. A bunch of rumor-mongering about LSU’s success with the 2018 class, currently ranked first in the SEC and third overall in the 247 Sports composite, and “information gathering,” that by the article’s own admission, has yet to bear any fruit.

Basically, somebody — likely an SEC coach that isn’t happy he’s getting worked on the trail by a 35-year-old at a football school (or that coach’s agent) — leaked some rumors to Thamel in hopes it would hurt LSU’s efforts down the line. Create some questions about NCAA sanctions he can use in the 2019 and 2020 cycles against Wade. And lazy hack reporters like Thamel are always happy to push some controversy for the clicks, as opposed to actually investigating as to whether there’s any legitimacy.

I don’t like linking the story, but from an outlet like Yahoo! Sports we can’t exactly ignore it, either. So there. I don’t suggest you waste the brainpower caring about this.