southern cal's AD Mike Garrett sent apology letters to 5 schools yesterday stating, after looking into the matter, that Dillon Baxter in fact did not receive phone calls from those institutions, as was alleged and  reported earlier from sc's compliance officer, allegations of which would be violations of  NCAA regulations.

Essentially, Garrett has strongly implied that Dillon Baxter fabricated these allegations. 

If Baxter did indeed lie about this, then it would appear he violated a NCAA Bylaw and would be subject to suspension by the NCAA:

NCAA Bylaw 10.1, which addresses “unethical conduct” and includes “Knowingly furnishing the NCAA or the individual’s institution false or misleading information concerning the individual’s involvement in or knowledge of matters relevant to a possible violation of an NCAA regulation.”

There is a precedent in this matter. Oklahoma St.'s Dez Bryant was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for most of the 2009 season for violating this very bylaw when he lied to the NCAA about being in contact with Deion Sanders (which was, in of itself, not a violation per se).

It would seem that Baxter's fabrication would meet the criteria for a violation of this bylaw, as he apparently gave false information to his own institution regarding matters relevant to a possible violation.

So, NCAA, now that 5 schools have been publicly slandered due to false information given by one of your student athletes, how are you going to handle this?

UPDATE:  If we are to believe Mike Garrett (and that should be done at your own peril), then it would seem that the sc compliance official involved was at the very least negligent in doing their due diligence and investigating this matter, which would have entailed performing a procedure that any moron could do in about 5 minutes. At the very least, sc deserves a public reprimand from the NCAA and the Pac 10, similar to what happened last year with Tennessee and the SEC. At the VERY least.

As far as Baxter is concerned, the precedent was laid out last year when Dez Bryant lied to the NCAA and was ruled ineligible (for at least 6 games IIRC). In my opinion, Baxter’s fabrication was much worse in that he pulled in 5 other institutions with his lie. The NCAA should hand down a punishment that exceeds the one it gave Bryant last year.

Moreover, if Baxter does receive punishment from the NCAA in the form of a suspension, and if, in fact, Kiffin and co. took a more active and complicit role in this fabrication, then I guess the discussion shifts towards Baxter getting completely worked over by his trogan family.

This story has so many potential layers to it. It could get very interesting