Trojans’ Walters Gets Reprieve From NCAA : College football: Running back reinstated, beginning with USC’s fourth game next season.

The sports-agent scandal that rocked USC’s football team this season ended Friday when junior running back Shawn Walters was reinstated for part of the 1996 season.

In a surprising decision that could indicate a softening of its stance against agents, the NCAA eligibility committee overturned a Nov. 17 staff ruling that would have ended Walters’ career.

A week after reducing the penalty of California basketball star Tremaine Fowlkes for dealings with an agent, the eligibility committee ruled that Walters could return for the fourth game of next season.

Walters, who led the Trojans in rushing in 1993 and ‘94, might return as early as the Sept. 28 game at Houston if USC plays in the Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J., in late August. Negotiations for that game are ongoing.

If the Rose Bowl-bound Trojans do not play in the Kickoff Classic, Walters will return Oct. 5 against Cal.

He played in USC’s first three games this season, but was suspended Sept. 28 with teammates Errick Herrin and Israel Ifeanyi for alleged links to Robert Troy Caron, an Oxnard agent.

Herrin was suspended for five games and Ifeanyi for two games for their dealings with Caron. Ifeanyi, a Nigerian, was also suspended for two more games for having accepted money from fellow tribesmen living here.

A ledger obtained by The Times indicated that Walters had received $15,900 from Caron. But a monthlong investigation by USC officials determined that $9,000 of that had been given to Walters through agent recruiters living with the player.

“I never received the money the ledger said I did,” Walters said.

Walters testified in USC’s final appeal before the NCAA, a factor that seemed to help his cause.

“I just told them how I felt,” he said. “ I told them I’d get physically sick knowing I couldn’t play on Saturdays and that I wouldn’t try to cause any pain to my coaches, teammates and school.”

Kathryn Reith of the NCAA said the committee believed that Walters had not known the money supplied by his roommates was actually from Caron. Walters’ roommates, Melvin Nunnery and Corey Tucker, allegedly worked for Caron.

The school cited the Fowlkes case in a plea for leniency. Fowlkes accepted $1,800 from a former agent, James Casey, to help buy a car. He was suspended for a season, but the eligibility committee reduced the penalty to half a season.

Reith said, however, that Friday’s decision, and the one involving Fowlkes, should not be seen as a policy shift on agents.

“I’m not sure the result would be the same if the money was coming directly from an agent or if the athlete knew the money came from the agent,” she said. “It’s too early to see any kinds of trends here.”

Last July, the eligibility committee told the NCAA staff in Overland Park, Kan., to mete out tough sanctions for cases involving agents.

The Caron case was one of the first after the edict and NCAA investigators questioned players from seven schools who allegedly had connections with the fledgling agent. Players from USC, UCLA, Arizona and Utah were punished for allegedly receiving pagers, telephone credit cards, groceries, cash and other items from the agent.

Caron, who owns Pro Manage Sports Agency, denied he gave players anything. He said the credit cards were nothing more than a promotional item, like key chains.

Walters said he will discuss his football future with Coach John Robinson on Monday.

“If he doesn’t feel it is right for me to come back, we need to talk about it and think about it,” Walters said.

Robinson said after Friday’s practice that the decision presents a great opportunity for Walters, who will have to work his way back on the team.

But Walters, 22, said he wants nothing more than to return for his senior season.

“You are going to see an improved player because I am going to be that much more hungry,” he said. “I feel that I have to clear my name as an athlete, student and person and try to take all this frustration that has built up and take it out on the field.”

*

Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this story.