Leavitt Back In The News

The Jim Leavitt Saga continues with two more accounts of the Joel Miller incident. The situation becomes more bizarre and has taken a life of its own with two USF players speaking out.

Senior wide receiver, Colby Erskin, may have an axe to grind with South Florida Head Coach Jim Leavitt and Erskin is the reason why the alleged altercation has been revived. Erskin told AOL Fanhouse, who first broke the Leavitt accosting Miller story, that everything Joel Miller said was true. Erskin was part of the five unnamed sources that Fanhouse originally posted. According to Erskin, none of the “sources” wanted to speak out in fear of losing their scholarships. The senior broke his silence after Jim Leavitt supposedly emptied his locker and threw all his belongings into a trash bin. The equipment manager confirmed it was Leavitt that did it personally.

Erskin claims that Miller approached him for answers on how to handle the Leavitt situation a few days after it happened and Erskin advised him to seek Athletic Director Doug Woolard and tell him everything. As we all know, Miller was too afraid to say anything because he was afraid of being kicked off of the team. The Fanhouse story broke from that point and we know the rest from there. Leavitt supposedly emptied Erskin’s locker in retaliation for giving Miller counsel.

Now we have someone finally defending Jim Leavitt. Sophomore safety Jerrell Young says that everything Erskin and Miller have reported is bogus because Young was in the room when the alleged slap took place. According to Gary Auman of the St. Pete Times, when asked why more players haven't spoken out in support of Leavitt, Young said the players were specifically told by athletic director Doug Woolard not to speak publicly about the incident.

See, this is where the whole situation becomes ridiculous. If erroneous allegations are made about my head coach whom I respect and admire, I come out right away and back him up. The fact that USF football players were quiet throughout this whole process makes me believe that there’s actually something to this story. Why would Miller come out and accuse Leavitt of wrong doings then retract his statements the next day? Only one person saw what really happened and has the guts to speak out? Where are these other five “sources” that secure Miller’s side of the story?

This thing is far from over and I fully expect there to be more players that defend both Miller and Leavitt. Grab your popcorn, folks. This is will get interesting.

UPDATE: Leavitt fired. More to come...