Last week I did a radio show in Hawaii. One of those who listened was Larry Hilliard, the father of UCLA’s incoming freshman tailback, Dalton Hilliard.
Dalton plays for Punahou, the same school as linebacker Manti Te’o and wide receiver Roby Toma. Larry wanted to touch base after my interview and said his son was contacted by UCLA last week following the whole package deal controversy involving Te’o and Toma.
Here is what Hilliard told me:
“Norm Chow gives Dalton a call (last week) and says there’s a lot going on with Roby (Toma). Chow said, `Manti said we attacked Roby in regards to Manti not coming.’
“Chow said, `We were aggressive because a deal was struck.’
“Based on what Coach Chow said, Manti called them up and said, `I have a buddy.’ He told them if they gave (Toma) a scholarship, he would come. The caveat is he said, `I want to keep it under the table and on signing date I’ll make it public.’ It’s coming from Norm Chow. He did tell Dalton to ease Dalton’s mind that they didn’t do anything other than offering a friend a scholarship in hopes of Manti’s coming to UCLA.”