When it rains, it pours. Take it away, ESPN's Kelly Naqi:
Willie Lyles, who runs a Texas-based recruiting service which is under NCAA investigation after receiving $25,000 from Oregon, told Texas A&M it had to "beat" $80,000 if it wanted to sign star recruit Patrick Peterson in 2007, a former Texas A&M coach told ESPN on Wednesday.
Van Malone, the former defensive secondary coach at Texas A&M, told ESPN that Lyles phoned him in 2007 after Peterson had visited the College Station campus.
Lyles is the street agent/recruiting service provider who is under investigation in relation to Oregon football. He received a $25,000 payment from Oregon shortly after Lache Seastrunk signed with the school, and it's unclear whether he provided $25,000 worth of value other than (allegedly/potentially) Seastrunk's signature.
The report goes on to quote Peterson's father, who says he hadn't heard anything about Lyles shaking down any schools for money. He didn't have a high opinion of Lyles though, comparing people like him to escort services. Malone himself says he didn't tell anyone A&M about it as he intended to continue recruiting Peterson without going through Lyles.
We'll have more on this as it develops. As for now, nothing indicates that money changed hands or that if it did, any of it got to Peterson. Clearly none got to his father, but the implications here are not good for LSU.