Odell Beckham Jr created somewhat of an awkward situation for LSU after the national championship game on Monday when he handed out wads of money to Tigers players on the field, but apparently no NCAA violation was committed.
An LSU athletic official told Brooks Kubena of The Advocate on Tuesday that the money Beckham handed to junior wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jontre Kirklin was not real. It looked pretty real in the video, but apparently Beckham was walking around with a stack of counterfeit money in his pocket.
Odell Beckham Jr. handing out cash like a bank teller after LSU's national championship victory.
Julio Jones might back a Brinks truck on the field the next time Alabama wins. pic.twitter.com/TXUCsbzLHm
— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) January 14, 2020
Both Jefferson and Kirklin could declare for the NFL Draft, so there was some speculation that Beckham was giving them cash since that was the last game of their college careers. Beckham may also have been trying to make a statement to the NCAA that players deserve to be paid.
College athletes are not permitted to receive monetary gifts, and Jefferson and Kirklin probably could have just given the money back to OBJ even if it were real. However, we were reminded with Ohio State star Chase Young’s suspension earlier this year how the NCAA reacts when players borrow or are given money.
Whether the money was real or not, everything happened so fast that we doubt the NCAA would hold the LSU players responsible. Then again, this is the NCAA we’re talking about.
