Larry Brown Sports

Myles Crosby, a high school defensive back from Texas, announced earlier this week that he will sign a letter of intent to play Division I college football at SMU. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound safety is a two-star recruit and is ranked nowhere near the top at his position, but there’s one particular bit of information that makes his story noteworthy — Crosby is a nationally-recognized male model.

According to the Dallas Morning News, crosby became one of the youngest stars in the modeling industry at age 17 when he posed for Calvin Klein ads that appeared in magazines like Esquire, GQ and Vanity Fair. Models.com lists him as the 11th-ranked model in the world, and the director of the men’s division at the Kim Dawson Agency says Crosby would be making a six-figure salary if he decided to model full time.

He’d rather play football and go to school.

“I’m told I’m so stupid by every single person,” Crosby said. “That every single person in my shoes should drop out of school now and go make the money. I have a passion for football and I want an education. This modeling crap could only last another year and then I’d have no education and never get to play football. I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

Crosby racked up 108 tackles, 13 passes defensed and two forced fumbles during his senior season Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas. He’s well aware of the stereotypes that come along with being a male model, but they don’t seem to have any affect on his performance on the field.

“The stereotypical model is a lot softer than I am,” Crosby said with a laugh.

Crosby plans to major in film at SMU and is interested in directing after college. He says he would consider modeling again after college to make some extra money, but his focus is currently on getting a degree and playing college ball. As this famous NFL star could tell him, playing football and modeling is not out of the question.

H/T Prep Rally
Photo via Scout.com

Craig James, widely acknowledged as one of the most disliked broadcasters in sports, is well known for being one of the stars of SMU’s infamous team that received the death penalty (the death penalty came a few years after he graduated). James has begun a career in politics and he’s running for senator in Texas. As part of the race, he faced questions about his rule-breaking past at SMU.

Asked at a news conference whether he’d taken money or valuables from boosters, James said, “It was an insignificant amount that I had when I was at SMU. It was wrong. And I was 18, 19 years old.”

James declined to specify what gifts he accepted and how much money, nor from whom.

“It was insignificant. It was never,” he said, halting in mid-sentence. “I said in my book that if someone came up and shook my hand and there were a $20 bill in it, I didn’t have the maturity at that time to turn it away.”

James’ admissions are nothing new — in a book released in 2009, he admitted to taking some money, though he emphasized that he was not one of the reasons for the death penalty. He also specified that benefits did not entice him to join the school.

Even if this isn’t exactly breaking news, it’s comforting to know that James is being grilled somewhat. He’s at least getting grilled more in his political career than he was as a sports broadcaster where his behavior led to the firing of a prominent coach.

H/T Bryan D. Fischer

SMU has spent nearly $3 million on stadium improvements and facilities upgrades that are nearing completion, the school says. According to The Dallas Morning News, “the renovations include a new team meeting room with stadium-style seating as well as renovated positional meeting rooms. Changes to the locker room included the creation of a new team lounge, as well as new lockers, updated graphic and audio/visual equipment.”

The money for the project came from donations from program boosters. What I don’t understand is how people can’t question where the money is coming from and why it’s being used for those purposes. Are you really telling me that SMU needs its locker room to look like the Crazy Horse Too? That’s why people donate millions to the program? Money shouldn’t be used for those purposes.

SMU is the same program that got the death penalty in the 80s for their rampant violations. This doesn’t mean that rules are being broken, but my point is that the same people willing to pay $1 million for the program to have new audio/video equipment would probably be willing to pay recruits/players to make them happy. Honestly, how far away are we from people wanting stripper poles in their luxury box? In light of what happened with Miami, this sort of behavior is dangerous — especially at a school with SMU’s history.

Thanks to Lost Lettermen for the tip