The coach who recruited Justin Combs to UCLA all but admits to offering him a scholarship based on the star power of dad P Diddy, who was arrested Monday for allegedly attacking Bruins strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi with a kettlebell.
Rick Neuheisel, in charge of UCLA football from 2008-11, acknowledged on his SiriusXM College Sports Nation radio show Wednesday that being the son of a millionaire music mogul made Combs a much more attractive recruit.
“When you’re weighing the assets of what a youngster can do for your program, there’s no question (being Diddy’s son) had something to do with it for me.
“Justin is a great kid. His problem was his size. He’s not big enough to be a dominant player. Could he be productive? Yes. The fact his father was an influential guy played into my decision to go ahead and offer him.”
That probably also explains why Neuheisel personally showed both father and son around campus when they visited UCLA.
“I took them on their campus tour,” Neuheisel said. “A half-hour into it, [DIDDY]asked me who I was. He said, ‘Tell me what you do, Rick.’ I said, ‘I’m the head football coach here.’ He said, ‘You’re giving us the tour?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, this is my school.'”
