OHIO STATE FOOTBALL Three ex-players support Clarett

One said there were people around to "help you cross the line."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Three former Ohio State football players backed up some of Maurice Clarett's allegations that players received improper benefits while on the team, ESPN.com reported Wednesday night.
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Drew Carter, former OSU linebacker Fred Pagac Jr. and former Buckeyes fullback Jack Tucker said in a story posted on the Web site that they knew of tutors who completed homework for players. Carter said he was overpaid for working odd jobs.
Messages were left Thursday for Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, sports information director Steve Snapp and an NCAA spokesman.
But Snapp told ESPN.com he thought the story was "another example of selective journalism on [ESPN's] part and an attempt to run an unbalanced story."
Family
Pagac's father, Fred Sr., was an assistant coach at Ohio State for 19 years. Tucker was an Academic All-Big Ten pick.
"There are always people who will help you and cross the line," the younger Pagac was quoted as saying in the report. "I've personally seen it happen. You had tutors who if you asked them for help writing a paper they'd end up writing it. You'd go in and ask help about specifics, and then it would end up getting written."
Carter told ESPN.com that he "got paid quite a bit of money for sweeping, cleaning up stuff, doing like very, very light work."
In an interview with ESPN The Magazine earlier this month, Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his staff and school boosters of arranging for him to get passing grades, cars, and thousands of dollars, including for bogus summer jobs.
The school denied the claims, and some former players told ESPN they never saw any wrongdoing in the Ohio State program. Carter, Pagac and Tucker told ESPN.com they didn't believe Tressel set up Clarett with vehicles.
An NCAA investigator was on campus last week to look into Clarett's accusations.
Clarett helped lead Ohio State to the national championship in 2002 as a freshman. But he then was suspended for lying to investigators during an NCAA probe of allegations that he received improper benefits from a family friend.
He then lost a court challenge of the NFL's rule preventing players out of high school less than three years from being drafted.