News of the NCAA investigating whether Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel -- college football's most popular player -- was paid for hundreds of signed items of memorabilia didn't take long to beget the next logical question:
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What about college football's second-most popular player?
Right on cue, the sports blogosphere has done some interesting sleuthing into what's available online with South Carolina star Jadeveon Clowney's John Hancock on it. And the results weren't surprising. Hundreds of Clowney-signed items are out there to be had, and the certification company that authenticated them did so in sequential order.
The major difference, of course, is that the NCAA isn't knocking on South Carolina's door about Clowney items, at least not that anyone knows of.
As well, there aren't memorabilia dealers singing like canaries about paying Clowney, as there are with Manziel. NCAA rules don't prohibit student-athletes from autographing items, even hundreds of them. It's when they get paid for it that the NCAA has a problem.
But while Manziel remains the only one in the NCAA and media crosshairs, the line of questioning about 258 Clowney-signed items authenticated in sequential order is a fair one: Is it plausible that they were signed for free, particularly if they were signed in bulk, and then placed online for a price?
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
