R. Jay Soward discusses payments

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Former USC Trojans receiver R. Jay Soward, who admits to taking money from former agent Josh Luchs while he was in college, said he believes the NCAA needs to give student-athletes more in their stipend checks.

In an interview Friday with Steve Mason and John Ireland on 710 ESPN, Soward said he took money from Luchs his senior year and knew that what he was doing was against NCAA rules.

"I knew what I was doing, but no one else knew; my father didn't know, [U]SC didn't know, my roommates didn't know," said Soward, a first-round pick who played with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. "Nobody had a clue what I was doing. I just went out and I took care of my business by myself without anybody knowing. I would just come back and then I would have a little bit of money in my pocket."

Soward was named in a Sports Illustrated article in which Luchs detailed his payments to college football players early in his career. Luchs told the magazine he gave Soward $1,500 almost every month during the 1999 season.

"I bought food and video games and stuff for leisure," Soward told Mason and Ireland.

Soward said many student-athletes don't have much when they go to college. He said if the NCAA's stipend checks increased, the pull to take money from agents might lessen.

"It's just a fact of everybody just getting together and realizing, OK, if we can give these kids a little more money in their pocket, spending money, I don't think kids would do it," he said.

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