SEC teams on defense following allegations

SEC Southeastern Conference

A few days before back-to-back defending national champion Alabama faces its biggest road test of the season, a series of allegations about agents and a former player appear to be a potential retrospective threat to the Tide’s perch atop the college football world.

D.J. Fluker, a former Alabama All-America offensive tackle, is one of five SEC players linked to a YahooSports.com report that detailed payments from agents to Luther Davis, a former Alabama defensive end who allegedly was serving as a go-between.

If proven true, the allegations against Fluker and former Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray, current Vols defensive lineman Maurice Couch and former Mississippi State players Fletcher Cox and Chad Bumphis, would be NCAA violations that could threaten their eligibility during their college career.

If schools play ineligible players, they normally are required to forfeit the games in which those players participated. For Tennessee and Mississippi State, that would mean rewriting the record books for seasons that ranged from forgettable to mediocre, respectively.