Former Oregon Ducks tight end Colt Lyerla was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school. He should have been a highly touted prospect coming out of college, but Lylerla didn’t make it through college. He got kicked out along the way for an incident involving cocaine. Still, Lyerla got a shot in the NFL. The Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent, but he tore his MCL and PCL during the offseason. The Packers released him with injury designation. He’s back to the drawing board.
More from College Football
- Colorado gives Pac-12 a possible death knell with move to Big 12
- Jim Harbaugh facing 4-game suspension over NCAA violations
- College football neutral site games in 2023: Full list
- College GameDay announces surprise Week 1 destination
- College football analyst warns Oklahoma that Texas is doing better prep for SEC
When he was coming out of high school, there was a point where he had a world of promise. And apparently, with all that promise on the field came some promises off the field. Lyerla spoke about a booster that offered him benefits if he chose the University of Oregon.
“I was promised a house, a car, all these things,” Lyerla said, via SBNation.
Lyerla added, however, that he was never given what he was promised. “It ended up being the exact opposite,” he said. “I didn’t get any of that. There were always excuses as to why I didn’t get those things — [like] I wasn’t doing [something] right. I felt played.”
Still the offered benefits certainly swayed his decision. It affected his mother, who pressured him to play for the Ducks.
“All of a sudden, it was ‘You need to go to Oregon. That’s the best place for you. They’re going to take care of you,’ he said. “My mom was really impressionable. When it was me and my mom in high school, it was $600 a month for the both of us. That’s how we lived … anything good financial-wise that would take care of me or take care of her, she was going to go for it.”
The school issued a statement about the Lyerla’s comments on Wednesday, via CSN Northwest:
"“The University of Oregon takes seriously any allegation of a rules violation and the compliance department will thoroughly examine the information to determine its validity as we do in all cases.”"