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Oregon’s long forgotten J.J. Arrington faux pas means Ducks subject to NCAA repeat violator rules

Frank Schwab
NFL writer

Since 2003, running back J.J. Arrington had a full football career.

He had a 2,000-yard season for Cal, was drafted in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals, played four seasons with them and had two catches in a Super Bowl, was with Denver and Philadelphia after that but didn't play due to knee issues, and was signed and released by the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL in the span of a few months in 2011.

A decade ago, Arrington was known for an incident in which he forged his father's name and falsified the time on his letter of intent to beat the deadline under an Oregon coach's watch according to the LA Times. Even though that was so long ago and Arrington went to Cal anyway, it still looms over the Ducks' program.

The Register-Guard obtained a copy of the NCAA's notice of allegations it sent Oregon in early December, regarding Oregon's recruiting practices and its relationship with Willie Lyles. The notice of allegations confirmed that because of the long-ago Arrington ordeal, which resulted in a two-year probation handed down in 2004, the Ducks are subject penalties under the NCAA's repeat violator rules.

These incidents never seem totally in a school's past, do they?

The Register-Guard said the notice of allegations is almost identical to the summary disposition proposal sent to the NCAA last year, so there wasn't a lot of new ground covered in the latest document. The Ducks met with the NCAA's committee on infractions last month.

Given that, according to the Register-Guard, the notice of allegations points out that "all of the alleged violations ... are considered to be potential major violations of NCAA legislation," this is a nervous time for Oregon. The repeat offender classification won't make the Ducks sleep easier, either.

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