Running back Marc Hicks, a freshman at...

Running back Marc Hicks, a freshman at the University of California, was offered $125,000 to enroll at a Big Eight school, according to the San Jose Mercury-News. A source “close to the story” identified the school as Nebraska, which recruited Hicks heavily and offered him a scholarship, the newspaper said.

Cal recruiting coordinator Sam Parker said he was told that Hicks received a phone call from a man who identified himself only as an alumnus of the Big Eight school and that the man offered Hicks $25,000 a year for five years.

An adviser to Hicks said the report is “totally untrue.”

“I can categorically say that Nebraska never offered Marc Hicks any money at any time, either to me or him individually,” John Patella said.

The story said Parker learned of the incident from Patella.

Hicks, a highly-touted prep star from Davis, Calif., said he wasn’t aware of any financial offer.

“As far as my personal contact with any of the schools I considered, everything was above board,” Hicks said.

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne called the report “preposterous.”