Video Game Was Violation by Matadors

Coach Jeff Kearin of Cal State Northridge said he is sorting out the football team’s video blooper.

That’s the one in which 19 players, including 17 returning this season, appeared as part of the Super Bowl hype in January.

The players portrayed NFL legends in the video, televised during a pregame show. Each received $100 for about 12 hours of work at the Coliseum.

“We were doing it to represent the university and to have fun,” said Dwan Vance, a senior defensive back. “We didn’t do it for the money.”

Motives aside, the payments were illegal by NCAA rules and the players must make restitution by donating the money.

If not, they can lose their eligibility.

“If they have a church or a charity, we’ll accept that,” Kearin said. “This is totally a paperwork deal. . . . I don’t see any resistance [from the players].”

Who did the Northridge players portray in the video?

Vance, for instance, was Jim Brown. Senior defensive tackle Shawnbay Jones was Deacon Jones. Senior quarterback David Lins was Joe Namath and Raymond Berry. Sophomore linebacker Karl Finely was Red Grange.

“We worked the whole day until late at night,” Lins said.

Then there’s the matter of illegal team barbecues held last season, usually after practice. Those, too, were an NCAA no-no and the players must make retribution.

Kearin said each returning player who took part in the barbecues will be charged $2 for each instance.

The video and barbecues surfaced during a Northridge internal investigation of NCAA violations by the program under former coach Ron Ponciano, who was fired July 16.

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There were three no-shows at the first full-squad practice on Saturday, leaving Kearin baffled.

Missing were redshirt freshman Jake Ashabraner, a defensive lineman from Anaheim Esperanza High, and junior linebackers Jeff Connick and Cameron Stewart, transfers from Hancock College in Santa Maria.

Kearin said everything seemed fine when Connick and Stewart attended a team meeting Friday night.

“I have no idea why they didn’t say anything,” Kearin said.

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Dave Baldwin, former Northridge coach who is coach at San Jose State, had an emergency appendectomy on July 30.

When Baldwin coached the Matadors in 1996, his second year with the team, running back Shayne Blakey was shot at an off-campus party in August and missed the season.

Baldwin tried to cover up the incident, saying Blakey had an appendectomy.

“I’m a disgrace to myself,” Baldwin said when the truth came out.

Apparently, there are doctors in San Jose who can vouch for the surgical procedure.