Byron De’Vinner, very available for interviews

This is Byron De’vinner, the smoking gun behind the ongoing investigation into some shady Memphis high school recruiting practices, namely those involving the recruitment of Will Redmond by Mississippi State by former coach Angelo Mirando and one of it’s (now disassociated) boosters.   De’Vinner appeared on Head to Head Radio  and claimed that he had witnessed Redmond being given the ol’ “hundred dollar handshake” by Mississippi State booster Robert Herring while on his visit to Starkville.  De’Vinner also claimed that Herring arranged a free stay at a cottage at Old Waverly Country Club and a free meal for De’Vinner that same weekend.  Then he went over to Yahoo and gave Pat Forde a few more details, and some receipts.  Next he headed over to Nashville radio and claimed that there was more to the story than a couple hundred dollars being offered.  Then De’Vinner went and told the Clarion Ledger that Herring attempted to persuade at least 10 other recruits to Mississippi State.  After that he ran over to Joe Schad and told him that Herring provided benefits to five or six other athletes, including Denico Autry.  De’Vinner also told Schad that there were promises of jobs for recruit’s parents and grade altering for commits.  After that he went over to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and told them that Herring had offered Redmond $6,000 to shut down his recruitment and commit to the Bulldogs (he also said some other BCS school offer $60,000).  De’Vinner then stopped by Alabama radio to let everyone know that he was also a government informant.  Finally he went and told the Clarion Ledger that there are also audio tapes…of course there are audio tapes.

That’s a lot of information to take in, especially for a guy that looks pretty much like every AAU coach I’ve ever seen or interacted with in my life, right down to the wrinkled polo shirt and the bluetooth headset (never, EVER, trust someone that would wear a bluetooth headset).  I’m not saying he’s lying, I’m not saying he’s telling the truth…but I would say he probably needs to stop doing interviews…because besides the constant additions to the story making him look less than trustworthy, it’s just really hard to keep everything straight at this point.