8A — Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Tai Streets, Michigan and Brian Bowen: What you need to know

On Tuesday, Brian Bowen, 
Sr. — the father of former top 
men’s basketball recruit Brian 
Bowen, Jr. — testified in court 
that Amateur Athletic Union 
coach and former Michigan 
athlete Tai Streets gave the 
younger 
Bowen 
$5,000 
to 
play for Streets’ AAU team, 
Meanstreets.
Bowen, Jr., a focus of this 
week’s 
college 
basketball 
corruption trial because of 
numerous 
NCAA 
violations 
during his recruitment, was 
never reported to have any 
monetary 
offer 
from 
the 
Wolverines. However, Streets 
played 
on 
the 
Michigan 
football team from 1995-1999 
and the men’s basketball team 
in 1997. Because of that, he is 
considered a representative of 
the University under NCAA 
bylaws.
“Following testimony in a 
federal court today, a claim 
was made that a former U-M 
student-athlete offered money 
to 
a 
basketball 
player 
in 
exchange for participation on 
a youth team,” the Michigan 
athletic department said in 
a 
statement 
to 
The 
Daily. 
“Integrity 
in 
the 
college 
basketball 
environment 
is 
an 
important 
issue 
and 
we 
will 
continue 
to monitor this 
situation.” 
But 
what 
could 
the 
implications 
be 
for 
the 
Wolverines and what would 
they mean? The Daily spoke 
with business lawyer Richard 
Hoeg 
about 
the 
scandal’s 
possible 
impact 
on 
the 
University 
and 
its 
athletic 
department.

Why 
is 
Tai 
Streets 
considered a representative 
of the University?
The NCAA’s bylaws include 
provisions 
for 
people 
deemed 
“representatives 
of 
athletics 
interests” 
because 
people 
not 
directly 
associated with 
the 
program 
— players and 
coaches — may 
still 
have 
an 
interest 
in 
helping the athletic program. 
Such people can have an impact 
on recruiting.
Per bylaw 13.02.9, anyone who 
has been involved in promoting 
an institution’s (in this case 
Michigan’s) athletic program 

is considered a representative 
of 
athletics 
interests 
— 
a 
distinction 
he 
holds 
for 
life, even if he is no longer 
associated with 
the program.
“You 
might 
be able to argue 
that 
former 
players 
don’t 
fall fully under 
that paradigm,” 
Hoeg 
said. 
“ … But (the 
NCAA 
has) 
historically 
treated former 
players as representatives.”
Tai Streets paid Bowen 
to play on a youth team, not 
for the Wolverines. So why 
would that have implications 
for Michigan?
This is where the case gets 

a little bit more complicated. 
Technically, representatives of 
athletics interests must follow 
all the same rules with regards 
to recruiting as 
those 
directly 
affiliated 
with 
the 
program. 
However, 
that’s 
nearly impossible 
in practice due 
to 
restrictions 
on 
when 
representatives 
can and cannot 
have 
contact 
with high school 
athletes.
“(A 
representative 
of 
athletics interests) should not 
recruit a prospective student-
athlete except as permitted 
by NCAA rules (but) it can’t 
be applied fully as broadly as 

it might look,” Hoeg said. “ … 
Because to do that would be to 
limit any graduate that had a 
scholarship at some point from 
working in a high 
school, ever.”
The way the 
rule is applied, 
the 
question 
becomes whether 
Streets 
ever 
specifically 
recruited Bowen 
to play for the 
Wolverines. 
Streets 
could 
have 
violated 
that rule even if Bowen was never 
offered money by Michigan if 
Streets promoted the school to 
Bowen, but there has so far been 
no evidence that he did so.
If Michigan is implicated 
in the case, what would the 

punishment be?
Were the Wolverines to be 
punished, it would be because 
the 
athletic 
department 
is 
deemed responsible for all its 
representatives. In essence, it’s 
the University’s responsibility 
to make sure that boosters and 
former players don’t commit 
recruiting violations.
There is no set punishment 
for violations of this type — not 
to mention that we don’t know 
what the extent of the violations 
would be. However, if there was 
a punishment, it would likely 
be fairly minor, especially since 
Michigan coach John Beilein has 
a reputation as one of the cleanest 
coaches in college basketball.
“(Michigan) could get in front 
of it by essentially disavowing Tai 
Streets as a representative,” Hoeg 
said. “ … I think it unlikely to be 
more than a fine. We’re definitely 
not talking scholarships. Had the 
player in question played here, 
we might be talking about loss of 
eligibility and vacation of wins 
and things like that.”
That’s where there is one 
potential snag. Redshirt junior 
guard Charles Matthews and 
sophomore forward Isaiah Livers 
both played on Meanstreets 
under Streets. Neither player 
has been mentioned by the 
investigation 
and 
there 
is 
no 
evidence 
that 
Streets 
committed 
NCAA violations 
with 
regards 

to 
their 

recruitments. 
However, 
because 
of 
Streets’ 
affiliation 
with 
Michigan, it is likely something 
the NCAA will look into. If an 
investigation found violations, 
there would be much bigger 
implications for the Wolverines. 
There is currently no evidence 
that was the case.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan basketball team came under question Tuesday after former Michigan athlete Tai Streets was named for paying players to join his AAU team.

Brian Bowen Sr., testified in court that former Michigan athlete Tai Streets gave Brian Bowen Jr., $5,000 to play for his AAU team

“... we will 
continue to 
monitor the 
situation.”

“... it can’t be 
applied fully 
as broadly as it 
might look.”

“I think it 
unlikely to be 
more than a 
fine.”

Bell ahead of schedule at receiver, quieting recruiting doubters

Ronnie Bell grips the straps 
on his backback and smiles. He’s 
asked about recruiting rankings.
“Stars, I mean,” he says with a 
noticeable snarl. “Can’t always pay 
attention to stars.”
A year ago, Bell was a two-star 
basketball recruit, committed to 
play at Missouri State. There was 
an itch to play football, the sport 
he’s always preferred, but the 
interest wasn’t mutual. 
“Every week I attacked high 
school football with everything I 
had because I was trying to earn 
a scholarship from somebody,” 
Bell said Tuesday evening. “But 
nobody wanted anything to do 
with me.”
What a difference a year makes.
Saturday 
against 
Maryland, 
Bell caught a pass over the middle 
and ran for a 22-yard score — his 
second touchdown of this season 
in which the freshman receiver 

has played in all six games.
After the game, Bell spoke to a 
long-time friend via text about just 
how far he’s come in such a short 
time.
“He was like, ‘Man, a year 
ago today I was on the sideline 
talking to your 
dad 
about 
you 
playing basketball 
at 
Missouri 
State. Now you 
just 
scored 
a 
touchdown,’ 
” 
Bell 
recalled. 
“Just 
crazy 
to 
think how much it 
switched.”
He’s far ahead 
of where anyone 
could have predicted, and in the 
process is stomping all over those 
who doubted him. Bell saw early 
in one-on-one drills in fall camp 
he could compete at this level. 
Soon after, the rest of the team 
took note as well.
Sophomore receivers Donovan 

Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black and 
Nico Collins were among the first 
to see it.
“A lot of people learn, especially 
once you get here, stars aren’t 
anything once you’re here,” Bell 
said. “Once DP, Rik and Nico, all 
them realized I 
can play, they all 
took 
me 
under 
their wing and 
were willing to 
build me up.”
Black 
and 
Collins 
were 
four-star recruits. 
Peoples-Jones 
was a consensus 
five-star.
But Bell says 
nobody helped him out more than 
senior receiver Grant Perry. Each 
day after camp, Perry and Bell 
would go back to the hotel and act 
out plays in the room.
“We got the freakin’ couch and 
pillows all set up and I’m running 
around lining up,” Bell said. “He 
got me right over fall camp.”
Bell was hungry — maybe 

moreso 
than 
your 
average 
freshman. This was as much about 
proving to himself that he made 
the right decision as any external 
validation.
It’s still not lost on Bell just how 
close he was to a starkly different 
path. 
Had 
Michigan 
coach 
Jim Harbaugh not 
stumbled upon his 
tape through his 
brother-in-law, 
Bell might well be 
playing basketball 
at Missouri State 
or 
football 
at 
a 
far 
different 
level. When he 
finally 
decided 
on football, there were schools in 
contact with him — his hometown 
Division-II Northwest Missouri 
State being one — but certainly no 
program the caliber of Michigan. 
When 
Harbaugh 
and 
the 
Wolverines came calling, though, 
the decision became easy.
“It was a dream come true,” 
Bell said. “It made me feel a lot 

more better about my decision, of 
course. I want to play football, I 
want to prove to everybody I could 
play football. Coming in, it was 
like now I’m really going to show 
y’all.”
Bell 
has 
indeed 
shown 
everyone. 
Few 
have 
taken more pride 
in Bell’s success 
than Director of 
Recruiting 
Matt 
Dudek. 
Dudek 
and the coaching 
staff 
received 
some 
backlash 
shortly after Bell’s 
commitment from 
fans questioning 
the commitment. 
Bell was off everyone’s radar. So 
when Michigan offered, plenty of 
skepticism followed.
After both games in which Bell 
has scored, against Nebraska and 
Maryland, Dudek has taken to 
Twitter to gloat.
After his 56-yard touchdown 
against the Cornhuskers, Dudek 

tweeted “Zero-star Ronnie Bell 
#FromTheSideline 
#GoBlue 
#Winningest”
After Bell’s score against the 
Terrapins, Dudek tweeted “Man, 
if only Ronnie Bell had more stars, 
ugh #GoBlue #Winningest”
Harbaugh 
also 
spoke 
approvingly of Bell’s performance 
against 
Maryland, 
offering 
a 
comment unprovoked in his post-
game press conference.
“How about my guy, Ronnie 
Bell?”
There’s still plenty of room to 
improve for Bell, who has three 
catches on the year. His skill at 
receiver remains raw, despite the 
glimpses of talent. But for Bell, 
Dudek, Harbaugh and all involved, 
the first six games of Bell’s career 
are a recruiting triumph, with the 
potential for much more on the 
horizon.
“I just came in humbled,” Bell 
said. “I was ‘the basketball guy’ 
to everyone. My goal was to show 
everybody I could play football. 
For me to start out this way, it’s a 
great thing, great feeling.”

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Freshman wide receiver Ronnie Bell has two touchdowns on three catches this season, as he scored a 22-yarder in Michigan’s win against Maryland on Saturday.

“But nobody 
wanted 
anything to do 
with me.”

“For me to start 
out this way, it’s 
a great thing, 
great feeling.”