SWAC checking out claim of stolen practice film

• 

• Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Personnel WriterNov 22, 2024, 09:59 AM ET Close Covers college football.Joined ESPN in 2014.
• Gone To Washington State University.The Southwestern Athletic Conference has actually opened an examination into

an accusation that Jackson State players and coaches had access to game-week practice film of Arkansas-Pine Bluff prior to the groups ‘game on Nov. 2, according to SWAC representative Andrew Roberts.The claims came to light Oct. 31, two days before Jackson State’s 41-3 win.

A UAPB player informed the coaching staff he was told by a Jackson State player that Tigers defensive players were in the Jackson State group facility seeing practice movie of UAPB from that week, sources told ESPN.After receiving this details, UAPB coach Alonzo Hampton logged into the software application the group uses to publish and examine practice video footage and saw that it had been accessed by the account of a previous walk-on who had actually been cut in the spring, sources said. The IP address linked to the account when it accessed the practice video was assigned to Clinton, Mississippi, a town that next-door neighbors Jackson, sources said.A Jackson State representative gave a statement to ESPN on Friday saying the school had used “full openness into our program”following the allegations. The spokesperson stated no violations were discovered which the matter was closed.The SWAC representative, nevertheless, stated the investigation remained opened after the conference got new information into the matter.A UAPB spokesperson acknowledged he understood

an investigation however declined comment. Hampton did not respond to a text message or a call from ESPN.Editor’s Picks The previous walk-on informed ESPN that he was called by Hampton and UAPB athletic director

Chris Robinson on Oct. 31. The previous player talked with ESPN on the condition his name would not be released, citing a desire to limit blowback in his direction.”[ Hampton] let me understand that my film has actually been accessed and I had logged in, and then he said

he got word that Jackson State had actually been utilizing the film,”the player said.” He was persistent in thinking that I had released the movie, and I repeated,’No, I didn’t launch anything to Jackson State. ‘”Quickly after the former player talked to Hampton, he got a call from Robinson in which he once again rejected having actually

offered a password to anybody at Jackson State. ESPN reviewed the player’s phone log to validate the calls took place.The player declared to ESPN that he did not share his credentials with anyone at Jackson State but said he had actually shared that information with teammates at UAPB in the

past which there was a loose culture around sharing login details within the team.The previous player said he has actually not been called by the SWAC as part of its investigation.He said he first got access to the software application in spring 2023 and was not mindful his qualifications were still active till Hampton called him. It’s uncertain why UAPB had actually not removed his gain access to after he was no longer on the team.A source knowledgeable about the video-sharing software application cautioned versus utilizing the IP address as some sort of evidence that the film was accessed near Jackson, as various steps can be utilized to alter the place of an IP address. The software has a security feature that would have allowed UAPB to restrict access for each account to particular devices, but it was not used.Jackson State (9-2, 7-0 SWAC)was a heavy favorite versus UAPB(3-8, 2-5 )and held the Golden Lions to their worst offending performance given that being shutout by Arkansas in the season opener.Jackson State clinched an area in the SWAC title game on Saturday with a 16-10 win over Alabama State, after which a postgame

run-in between the groups caused fines of$25,000 for both schools and 16 one-game player suspensions, consisting of seven on Jackson State.