Nice:
Player Testifies in Recruiting Trial
By WOODY BAIRD
The Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis defensive tackle Albert Means said his high school coach picked the college he would attend, while testifying Tuesday in the federal trial of an Alabama booster.
Logan Young is charged with paying a $150,000 bribe to high school coach Lynn Lang to get Means to sign with Alabama.
Means said he signed with the Crimson Tide because Lang told him to, but he never met Young, a millionaire from Memphis.
Lang has pleaded guilty to taking a bribe to send Means to Alabama and is awaiting sentencing. He was expected to testify against Young on Tuesday.
Defense lawyers say Lang is a liar and is the foundation of the government's case against Young.
Authorities say Means did not know Lang was brokering his football skills.
Means signed with Alabama in 2000 but transferred to the University of Memphis the following year after reports of a payoff to Lang became public.
Alabama's recruitment of Means became part of an NCAA investigation that led to sanctions against the Crimson Tide in 2002.
The player told jurors he depended totally on Lang to deal with college recruiters.
"He took care of everything else," Means testified. "That's why I trusted him."
Means also said someone else, who was not identified in court, took his college entrance exam for him, and he acknowledged lying about that to a grand jury.
"I was afraid," he said.
While entering his guilty plea in 2002, Lang said he arranged for a stand-in to take Means' college entrance exam.
Means wrapped up his eligibility to play college football this year and expects to graduate in May. He said he hopes to have a professional football career.
January 25, 2005 6:30 PM
