Through a New York Jets spokesperson, Holmes denied that he ever told Luchs he was receiving money from an agent while in college, SI reported. “Other than that one conversation, I’ve never spoken to him before, never spoken to him since.” “I wasn’t involved with Santonio Holmes other than the fact that my other agents went to go recruit him,” Luchs said. Luchs told The Lantern that the encounter with Holmes was the only interaction the agent had with the Buckeye receiver. “Had it been 10 years earlier, I would have probably said, ‘Santonio, whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it.’ But … I had Hollywood to sell. I’ve been taking money from (an agent) the last couple years, and he’s been taking care of my family too.’ “We met him outside the football building, and he said, ‘Listen, I want to save you the time. “In November 2005 … I flew to Ohio State to talk to receiver Santonio Holmes,” Luchs wrote in the SI article.
In the SI article, Luchs reveals how he got his foot in the door with player-agent relations and details how he violated NCAA regulations by paying college football players. “I wish more players were that honest with what they were doing, and I applaud him for it.” “You know what, I applaud Santonio for being straight-up and being forthright with me when I got there and not making me go through my song and dance and wasting my time,” Luchs said. Luchs said he appreciated Holmes’ being forthright about taking money from another agent. “He was already involved, so it was very refreshing for him to be so forthright and man-to-man,” Luchs said. But, obviously, as I progressed on, I wasn’t going to participate in that stuff anymore. “So I just took it as I was too late for the dance. I was basically shut down immediately with the response being that he was basically getting taken care of by somebody else,” said Luchs, who also represented former OSU running back Maurice Clarett.
In a phone interview with The Lantern, Luchs said he wasn’t the first to contact Holmes while the receiver was at OSU. Holmes told Luchs that he was already taking money from a different agent, Luchs said. Sports Illustrated reported that Holmes was one of many college football players asked to accept money from former agent Josh Luchs. Agent spills details about relationship with Santonio Holmesįormer Ohio State wide receiver and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes returned Monday night from a four-game suspension following a violation of the NFL substance abuse policy.īut instead of focusing on his future and his team’s next opponent, Holmes on Tuesday was forced to again answer questions about his troubled past.