Sportsfrog.com

Thanks to swamp all-timer and occasional front page poster DSafetyGuy for calling my attention to the end of the Renardo Sidney saga. Last week I noted that the former UCLA and then USC recruit was considering instead the lure of Starkville, Mississippi and the Miss. State program over the bright lights of LA. And that being on the surface kind of weird.

The LA Times closes the circle by noting that Sidney will indeed head to Starkville, but there are a few hints in the article that might explain why. One, the Sidney family is from Mississippi. So there’s that. But there’s also this:

UCLA and USC officials were prohibited by college rules from speaking publicly about Sidney while he was unsigned, and even now they have declined to do so. But sources on both campuses who have knowledge of his recruitment agreed to speak with The Times as long as their identities were kept anonymous. Though they are from rival schools who often wage intense battles for the same athletes, the sources agreed on this about Sidney: The reward of suiting up such a prodigious talent was not worth the larger risk.

Bruins and Trojans sources both say they were wary of potentially intense NCAA scrutiny prompted by these issues: Despite what was perceived as a limited income, the family moved multiple times and resided in upscale homes during Sidney’s high school years; and stepfather Renardo Sr. directed a club basketball team with financial backing that was unclear beyond a relatively modest shoe company sponsorship. Plus there was this: A source intimately familiar with Sidney’s recruitment said a university official thought the stepfather had strongly hinted that he expected to be compensated if his son signed with the school.

Oh. That would do it. Other than a snarky man-that-must-have-been-bad-if-USC-backed-off observation, the pieces fall into place a little bit. Starkville it is, then.