WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue believes the alleged leaking of a playbook by former Memphis defensive back Tahj Ra-El to UTSA quarterback Owen McCown has been “mischaracterized.”
Ra-El left Memphis in the middle of last season and has transferred to Purdue, where coach Barry Odom is in his first season. Ra-El began his college career at Old Dominion in 2021.
“Our coaching staff sees this scenario as being mischaracterized and does not have any concerns moving forward,” the Purdue athletic department said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday.
The controversy erupted last week when On3 published screenshots of an alleged conversation between the former high school teammates from Charlotte, N.C.
“Far left is coverages. i’ll send you better list showing you the call,” the screenshot showed Ra-El wrote. “But they run qtrs none of they safeties can cover btw.”
Ra-El also reportedly told McCown that starting safety Kourtlan Marsh had an injured hamstring. Marsh didn’t play in the game, which UTSA won 44-36 after scoring 30 consecutive points to erase a 24-14 halftime deficit.
During the American Conference media days, UTSA coach Jeff Traylor said the information had “no bearing whatsoever” on the outcome of that game, even though he said he had not heard about the allegations until last week.
“The stuff he sent him didn’t make any sense, so he didn’t tell me,” Traylor said. “He was just being nice to his buddy. It got blown out of context in my opinion.”
McCown, the son of former NFL quarterback and current Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, threw for 3,424 yards and 25 touchdowns with 10 interceptions in 13 games last season, his first as the Roadrunners starter. They finished 7-6 and beat Coastal Carolina in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield said Friday he spoke with Traylor earlier in the week over the phone and again at the coaches dinner Thursday night.
“Look, it’s the nature of it,” Silverfield said. “(We) have had open dialogue. We both said it’s in our best interest, regardless of what happened, that we should move on and focus on our 2025 season.”
American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti addressed the situation Friday, saying he spoke to both coaches and was allowing them to handle the situation.
He downplayed the story, saying: “What I can tell you is there’s really not much to this story. I think a lot of it has been, you know, sensationalized, and some of it I think quite frankly is clickbait.”
While Pernetti said protecting the integrity of the conference is vitally important to him, he added: “Anything that flirts with the line we are going to take seriously, but I think in this case it is much ado about nothing.”
AP’s Steve Reed contributed from Charlotte, N.C.
