John Wall, Karl Towns speak out on college basketball recruiting scandal

In this midst of this week’s massive scandal surrounding college basketball, a hush has fallen across the land. Media days have been canceled (including SEC coaches meeting scheduled for this week) and, for the most part, everyone associated with athletics is keeping their heads down.

However, former athletes are starting to speak up. Some are supporting their coaches that have been implicated in the FBI probe, while others are sharing their experiences from the recruiting world.

According to CSN Mid-Atlantic, John Wall has no problem with holding the involved recruits responsible for their role in the scandals.

"If you are the No. 1 guy or the top guy, you're going to have guys come at you. But you have to be smart about it,” Wall said. “If you are only going to school for one year, there's no point in doing all the extra stuff. If you don't have any money and have been poor your whole life, another eight months won't hurt."

Wall was the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2009. After initially committing to Memphis, he followed Coach Calipari to Kentucky and set the stage for all of the success the Wildcats have seen since then.

If any recruit was going to be offered incentives in 2009, it would have been John Wall. It says a lot for him to come out early and speak out strongly against the corruption involved between shoe companies, AAU programs, and collegiate basketball programs. He is able to provide a very unique perspective as a top recruit that went to a top-tier program and continues to be involved with the university.

"I was trusting no one,” Wall added. “Listen, I grew up without a dad since the age of nine. It was my mom working three or four jobs to support our family. If she could provide from me then, then she could provide for me when I was 17 or 18 years old for a few months. You know what I mean? You couldn't do nothing for me then. I'd been poor my whole life. Eight months? What is that money going to do for me? I was fine with it."

Wall isn’t the only former Cat weighing in on the scandals. Karl-Anthony Towns spoke with ESPN about doing things the right way with the Kentucky Wildcats.

“It’s something that people kind of felt, but we didn’t know how big it truly was. I would be sitting here lying to you if I said it was surprising and shocking. I don’t think it’s surprising or shocking. The number of people involved is shocking. That’s the biggest thing. I’m very, very fortunate to have had a very good time in college and be with a great school and doing the right thing.”

How much responsibility do you think should be placed on the athletes involved in these scandals?