Pouncey issues stronger denial of allegations

On July 21, former Florida Gators center Maurkice Pouncey officially denied allegations that he took $100,000 from a runner for an agent between the 2009 Southeastern Conference Championship and 2010 Sugar Bowl, an accusation that was sent to the University of Florida by a letter postmarked in Canada in June.

“I did not accept $100,000, it is an absolutely ridiculous claim. I have completely cooperated with the investigation and answered any and all questions put to me,” Pouncey had said.

Still technically under investigation by by the NCAA and UF for a potential rules violation, he has done everything he can up until this point to cooperate and prove his innocence, including providing “phone, bank and credit card statements that do not show large payments,” ESPN‘s Joe Schad previously reported.

Now signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pouncey has once again denied the allegations – doing so this time in an even more specific and direct manner.

“It’s not true,” Pouncey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I don’t know who would ever write a letter like that to try to distort somebody’s name. It’s not fair. It’s not true, everybody knows. […] They went through a whole investigation and couldn’t find anything. It’s almost [over]. They couldn’t find anything. I am just happy that everybody said it wasn’t true. I am just happy everybody could just see it.”

He proclaims that, when choosing his agent, he did so according to regulations. “I did the player panel and everything,” he said. “When I picked my agent, I went through the school. They do it the right way. There is no fault there.”

Pouncey also described the range of emotions he went through when finding about the allegations. “I thought my brother was playing with me he first called me. I was actually [in Pittsburgh] when he first told me and I was like, ‘You have to be kidding me.’ I went to the school and kind of said, ‘You all better be behind me if it’s not true.'”