(WXIA) -- Bryan Allen is not only in big trouble with UGA fans; he could also be in trouble with the university… the kind they need seven figures and a decimal point to figure out.
If it's determined that Allen enticed star running back Todd Gurley by paying him to sign autographs and then snitched to the media that he did it, Allen could end up paying with both his checkbook as well as time in jail.
In a YouTube interview with the Coosa Valley News, Allen explains that his sports memorabilia store has pretty much whatever the avid sports fan could want in branded gear. That store in Rome, Georgia has since closed, and Allen's exact whereabouts are unclear.
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But what is clear is that he has retained one of Atlanta's premier attorneys in Ed Garland, whose high profile cases include getting Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis off of two murder charges in Atlanta several years ago.
Allen may very well need Garland's legal acumen.
There is a law on the books in Georgia designed to punish anyone who gets a student athlete to do something illegal that in turn causes the school to lose money. The amount of money can be perceived or actual.
"In the law we put it that way," said state representative Chuck Sims. "Because you really don't know how much money they may have gotten if they had to go to the Sun Bowl versus the Rose Bowl."
If Allen is in fact found guilty, the law says the university would "have the right of action against any person who engages in any activity concerning student-athletes that results in the institution being penalized, disqualified, or suspended" from a national association or athletic conference.
"What I've read is this guy kind of sucked him in to something," continued Rep. Sims. "Made him sign something. There's no real proof that he gave him any money, but then he leaked it to the press to kind of try to make some kind of big deal out of it. It's probably a violation of this law."
The investigation is just beginning. But this side of sports is smarmy tradecraft, so where it stops, nobody knows.
Meanwhile, UGA is standing by its star athlete even if Gurley can't play. They got him a lawyer. But most importantly they've got his back.
PHOTOS | TODD GURLEY
