Who was Lache's Mentor?

Time for a new tidbit that might shed even more light on how mangled Lache Seastrunks relationships were during his last two years of high school.

We have heard Lyles call himself Lache's “mentor." Yahoo printed such statements as fact simply because they came from the man's mouth. But that's the thing about mentor's; typically, kids who are mentored by someone appreciate their mentors and talk candidly about how important the mentor is to their life. I have spent countless hours scouring through every recruiting article with Seastrunk all the way back to the July 2008 Texas A&M camp where Lyles says he met Seastrunk. I do not doubt that they met at this camp, I do not doubt that Lyles planted himself firmly in the mind of Lache Seastrunk; but I doubt Lache Seastrunk ever considered him a mentor. In all those hours in front of every Lache Seastruink article, not once is there a mention of Will Lyles. Not once. But he does mention a mentor! It just isn't Will Lyles!

Before talking about his mentor, his recruitment bears mentioning and detailing just a little bit. In an article on the Rivals Network titled “The Next Internet Sensation?” Lache first mentions his troubled upbringing and where he had began to seek advice:

Seastrunk already has faced the obstacles of an at-risk youth and handled them well. His father hasn't been part of his life. His mother hasn't been there much of the time, either. 
 
"She wasn't around for a while," he said. "She made some wrong decisions in life."

Seastrunk was raised by his grandmother, and received sound guidance from an uncle and from a cousin, Terrell Jackson, a wide receiver at Buffalo. "He (Jackson) was always telling me to stay focused and don't let anyone get you off-track,"

Early on, it was fairly clear that Lache was fully aware of his mother's issues. He is fairly clear from LONG before he needed to find approval for his grandmother to sign his Letter of Intent that it was she who deserved the credit for raising him. This is no indication that he did not love his mother... quite the opposite is true. In fact, the recruiting world was abuzz when Lache wore USC socks to a summer camp, many assumed he had become a silent commit. However, in an interview with Mike Farrell, Lache dispelled that myth rather quickly by telling Mike that he only wore them because they were a gift from his mother and “anything momma gives me is good luck.”

When recruiting began to heat up, though Texas was often mentioned, another school began to stand out: Auburn. In fact, he was so spellbound by Auburn that he actually hung their mail on his wall! Only two schools received that honor early on... Auburn and LSU. He revealed that in March 2009.

From that point forward there were two early leaders, hanging on his wall. LSU was high on his list, not because of any mysterious force (recruiting service) but because he was originally FROM Louisiana! Yep, his family moved from Louisiana to Texas. Now we know one of the reasons his mother favored LSU. He lost contact with LSU, however, when their running backs coach left for Memphis. And this is the theme of his recruitment, he made very good bonds with people and let those bonds guide him.

The team with the biggest early lead, though, was Auburn. Between April 2009 and July 2009, Seastrunk visited Auburn three times. On his first visit in April 2009, he was accompanied by his mother. He visited again in late May for what Auburn called “Big Cat Weekend.” This was an informal gathering where there were no evaluations or football drills, only a bunch of high school juniors gathering for fun and food. It is likely this incident which triggered the NCAA to look at whether Auburn was violating rules in regards to his recruitment.

In Lache's third visit, he became involved in a celebration at Toomer's corner. During this, visit he was recorded on video as saying “What's up Nick Saban?” He later apologized for the actions, but it is believed that this was considered a violation due to the manner in which he was taped while recruited. Lache later apologized to Nick Saban personally. It was after this visit that Auburn began to back off of recruiting Lache Seastrunk.

It is fairly well chronicled that Lache was widely believed to be a strong USC lean after Auburn backed off and LSU lost their running backs coach. He even indicated this was true in an interview with Brandon Oliver of Duck Sports Authority in January just after he verbally committed to Oregon.

“The home run threat was thought to be a Southern California lean by some while Pete Carroll was still in charge. That was also before he visited Oregon in December and had a chance to familiarize himself with the Oregon staff, players, facilities and community.

"I couldn't picture myself at USC anymore, so I started picking coach(Chip) Kelly's brain and asking him questions. The more and more I learned about him it felt more and more right. I love his system."

And, here comes the important part, in February, 2010 shortly after signing his Letter of Intent to play football at the University of Oregon, Jason Vondersmith of The Portland Tribune interviewed Lache.

I have discussed this article in the past, but there is a tidbit in there that might shake the foundations a little bit... Lache Seastrunk refers to a mentor in this article!

From the article we find the following quote:

“Seastrunk had originally intended to sign with USC, until coach Pete Carroll left for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Oregon quickly became the front-runner for his services, and Seastrunk had his mentor, Deanna Carter, pushing for the Ducks.”

Deanna Carter was an Assessment Specialist at Temple High School as well as Lache's Counselor. This is important because in her words “They’re excellent men of character,” (referring to Oregon Coaches) says Carter, also a counselor at Temple High. “After 30 minutes meeting with Coach Kelly, I knew it’s where he [Seastrunk] needed to be.”

And this is a potential bomb. Could it be that Willie Lyles has deluded himself into being more integral in Lache's life than he really was? Could it be that Willie Lyles was just another coach from a summer camp? A guy that worked for a recruiting service and just gave some information regarding Lache Seastrunk to coaches around the country? Could it be that Willie had delusions of grandeur? According to one Houston area coach, Willie Amendola, “He [2012 Running Back Trey Williams] wasn’t quite sure who Mr. Will was and what his angle was,” Amendola told FOXSports.com last month. “I guess he kind of plays himself off as being a trainer of some kind. I don’t know how far that went.”

The mentor angle is one I have more follow up to perform.. Deanna Carter is the person who forwarded an email to Willie Lyles and Josh Gibson regarding the information they requested about Lache. She no longer works for Temple High school, but I have been able to find where she works. I have emailed her in hopes of gaining even more insight into the dynamics of Laches relationship with herself, Will Lyles, Evelyn Seastrunk and his high school coach (Bryce Monsen) who was also very supportive of Lache's decision to come to Oregon. If I get a response from her, I will absolutely make sure to dictate the conversation and post the information I receive!

In another interesting side-note, Willie Lyles told Yahoo (referring to Lache's mother Evelyn Seastrunk)

“I don’t think she had enough knowledge to understand that he could sign without her,” Lyles said. “She basically just kind of never knew, and she felt that Oregon cheated some kind of way because they got him to sign the letter of intent and she didn’t sign it.”

What he does here is paint the mother as angry about Lache going to Oregon and confused that he could sign the letter of intent without her approving the choice.

If this is true, why then, was she pictured flashing the “O” at a press conference held at Lache's High School when he announced his decision?! OOPS!

Here is the photo:

                                                                                                          
      Mitch Green/Telegram

That sure does not look like someone confused or upset by Lache's choice of schools does it? And, just so it is clear, his announcement came at his school PRIOR to Letter of Intent Day. He committed on January 27, this picture appeared in a Rivals article dated January 30, 2010; three days after his commitment and 4 days BEFORE he signed his letter of intent. Looks to me like mom made it on board with Lache before he actually faxed in his Letter of Intent!