COLUMBUS, Ohio — A day after coach Jim Tressel’s forced resignation for lying about Ohio State players receiving improper benefits, the focus has shifted to the investigation of quarterback Terrelle Pryor and his succession of used cars.
The salesman who put Pryor behind the wheel of several vehicles said in a sworn affidavit released by Ohio State on Tuesday that he didn’t offer any special deals to Buckeyes.
“The deals that I did for Ohio State student-athletes were no different than any of the other 10,000-plus deals that I’ve done for all my other customers,” Aaron Kniffin said.
Pryor is one of five Buckeyes who have been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for taking money and tattoos from a local tattoo parlor.
The Columbus Dispatch reported the NCAA and Ohio State are investigating more than 50 vehicle purchases by Buckeyes players, family members and friends in the past. Sports Illustrated reported Pryor, who will be a senior this season, might have driven as many as eight cars in his three years in Columbus.
Pryor drove up to a players-only team meeting Monday night in a Nissan 350Z sports car with 30-day plates.
Pryor was stopped three times for traffic violations over the past three years, each time driving cars owned by Kniffin or a Columbus used-car dealership where he worked, The Dispatch reported. Kniffin, owner Jeff Mauk of Jack Maxton Chevrolet Inc. and Jason Gross of Auto Direct Columbus Inc. each provided affidavits to Ohio State officials last month.
Even though the dealerships where Kniffin works have dozens of signed jerseys on display in their showrooms, Kniffin and the dealerships said that was not part of any deal.
Sports Illustrated also reported the memorabilia-for-tattoos violations actually date to 2002, Tressel’s second season at Ohio State, and involved at least 28 players — 22 more than the university has acknowledged.
