Lache Seastrunk, the running back connected to the probe into Oregon’s use of Texas-based prep scouting service, has been granted his unconditional release by the No. 3 Ducks.
Questions were first raised about Seastrunk’s status when he did not report for practice Saturday morning. Oregon coach Chip Kelly confirmed his release later in the day.
Speaking before reporters following the Ducks’ afternoon workout, Kelly said Seastrunk missed his grandmother back home. A prep star at Temple High School in Texas, Seastrunk redshirted as a freshman last season.
“Lache came in and I talked to him a little bit yesterday. He’s a little bit homesick I think and he wants to be a little bit closer to his family,” Kelly said. “I told him to take a night and think about it. I gave him off meetings last night and this morning’s practice.”
Oregon paid Houston-based Willie Lyles and Complete Scouting Services $25,000 last year soon after Seastrunk committed to play for the Ducks.
Lyles has said in interviews he had a mentoring relationship with Seastrunk. It would be against NCAA rules if Lyles convinced the running back to go to Oregon.
The NCAA is investigating the matter.
OKLAHOMA NO. 1
Being voted preseason No. 1 is a tradition at Oklahoma, and this season is no different.
The Sooners will start out top ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the 10th time, more than any program in the country.
The defending Big 12 champions received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points in the Top 25 released Saturday.
Auburn, last season’s national champion, will start the season No. 23, one spot behind where it began in 2010.
If the rankings are any indication, the national title race could be a scramble.
No. 2 Alabama, one of a record eight Southeastern Conference teams in the preseason poll, wasn’t far behind the Sooners, receiving 17 first-place votes and 1,439 points.
No. 3 Oregon got four first-place votes, No. 4 LSU received one and No. 5 Boise State got two.
Florida State was No. 6, the Seminoles’ best preseason ranking since starting the 2004 season at No. 5.
Heisman Trophy favorite Andrew Luck and Stanford were No. 7, matching the best preseason ranking for the Cardinal since 1950, the year of the first AP preseason poll.
Rounding out the top 10 are Oklahoma’s Big 12 rivals, Texas A&M (No. 8) and Oklahoma State (No. 9), and Nebraska (No. 10), in its first season in the Big Ten after leaving the Big 12.
EXTRA POINTS
Police in Baton Rouge, La., said no charges have been filed in connection with a fight at a local bar late Friday that included LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson and several unidentified teammates. … Braxton Miller threw two touchdown passes and Joe Bauserman threw one in Ohio State’s scrimmage. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 18 in the preseason, must replace quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who left in scandal after his junior season for the NFL supplemental draft.… Even with potential sanctions looming, University of Miami coach Al Golden sidestepped questions about his contract and smiled, reminding reporters he is happy living in South Florida.
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