Auburn Football 2011: Could Danny Sheridan Be Only a Small Piece of the Puzzle?

After living through the leaks of Jody Wright, the fakes of Scott Moore and multiple other attacks that proved not only false but deceitful, Auburn has been targeted by what appears to be an even more underhanded action.

Danny Sheridan used his time on a national radio program broadcast from SEC Media Days to throw a javelin at the heart of the Auburn athletic program. He claimed he had sources in the NCAA that had revealed to him that not only did Cameron Newton get paid, but the NCAA knew the name of the bag man that delivered the payment.

The NCAA later released a statement after interviewing Sheridan that destroyed his credibility. The question is why did Sheridan take such a risk?

In the mid-90s, Sheridan claimed to have similar sources in the NCAA. At that time he commented that there was simply not a shred of evidence against Alabama. Alabama was found to have committed, and attempted a cover up, dozens of infractions. The program was crippled with NCAA sanctions.

Since it seems that Mr. Sheridan has been doing some speculating, maybe it is time others did some speculating about his motives.

Is it possible that Mr. Sheridan found the NCAA the perfect target to spin a yarn using them for credibility? They had never come out with a statement on an individual before. Is it possible that Sheridan, knowing that any case against Auburn was all but dead, decided to spin such a yarn as to taint Auburn, no matter if the NCAA investigation found evidence or not?

If Mr. Sheridan’s statements that were eviscerated by the NCAA had been simply left alone and not refuted, many fans would have been convinced that Auburn was guilty of rule-breaking, but the NCAA simply did not have the legal means to get the truth. There is no defense of a well made-up story. Reputations can be ruined by speculation and lies if left unexposed.

It is likely that fans will never know if this was the intention of Danny Sheridan, but like Scott Moore and Jody Wright, there is a very well-established precedent of this type of activity toward Auburn University. There is only one thing that all of these people have in common: They were all either staff or alumni of the University of Alabama.

Should the NCAA maybe speculate a little as to why such outrageous and malicious activity seems to have only one common link? I guess fans can speculate on that as well.