"I checked with the NCAA, the school, everybody gave me documented paperwork, which I wanted all along," Bielema said. "There weren't rumors or sources, pure information, (we) got our guy out there to play."
Awesome.
"Great effort," Bielema said. "I think the reason we recruited him, as well as everybody else in the country recruited him, (is) he's a good person. He's a good football player. He stands for what's right. He worked very hard to get to where he is right now.
"I think the biggest thing he's got to learn to take forward from here is, it didn't come about in a normal way, as clean as everybody else and he can definitely learn from that past experience."
I love -- just love -- this attitude from Bret Bielema. John Clay made the grade, but hopefully the extra work he had to do to get to campus is something he won't forget.
An injured walk-on, defensive back Tony Megna, vacated his roster spot, a necessary step before Clay could join the team.
And finally, there's this:
"In this situation, things were out there prematurely that didn't need to be out there," Bielema said. "I just hope the same amount of space given to him when the story broke that he wasn't going to be eligible, is given to him now that he is eligible."
Yep, there's egg on my face over this one ... even moreso here. Mea culpa, Coach, and sorry, John. I was 100%, completely wrong. And I'm so glad I was.
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