Ex-Wheeler Star Named in Miami Scandal

An ex-Wheeler High School basketball standout is one of more than 70 present and former University of Miami athletes named in bombshell allegations by an imprisoned booster that have rocked the college sports world. 

According to a report Tuesday by Yahoo! Sports, a former Miami basketball assistant coach told the booster he needed $10,000 to secure the commitment of DeQuan Jones, a former Georgia state player of the year and star of Wheeler's 2008 Class AAAAA runner-up team.

The Yahoo! Sports report also says that Nevin Shapiro, the now-jailed Miami athletics booster, claims that the former assistant coach, Jake Morton, was making the request for payment on behalf of a member of Jones' family. 

The story says the request was made early in the summer of 2008, as Jones was graduating from Wheeler but who was undecided on his college choice.

The report says that Shapiro does not believe that Jones, now a senior at Miami, knew anything about the transaction. 

Shapiro also says that Morton returned the $10,000 to one of the booster's representatives in June 2010 after Shapiro was imprisoned. He is serving a 20-year sentence for bilking investors in a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

The allegations involving the Miami football and men's basketball programs were revealed at the end of an 11-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports. Shapiro claims he funneled thousands of dollars in impermissble payments and other benefits to players from 2002 to 2010.

Shapiro claims the illicit activities involving athletes include cash, entertainment at his mansion and on his yacht, prostitutes and visits to strip clubs. Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports that he also paid for an abortion for a stripper who said she was impregnated by a Miami athlete after a visit to a club.

Shapiro also says he offered "bounty" payments to Miami football players for trying to hurt opposing players, including former Florida Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. 

Football players named by Shapiro include former Miami stars Devin Hester, Frank Gore, Jon Vilma, Antrel Rolle, Willis McGahee, Vince Wilfork and Kellen Winslow Jr. 

Jones was the only basketball player named, and there is no other mention of him in the Yahoo! Sports report. 

A 6-foot-7 forward, Jones started 10 games for the Hurricanes last season, averaging 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. 

Morton left the Miami staff this spring when former Miami head coach Frank Haith was hired at the University of Missouri. The Yahoo! Sports report says Shapiro claims that Haith was aware of the $10,000 payment before Jones committed to Miami. 

Morton is now an assistant coach at Western Kentucky.