Raymond Savage Jr. Is Going To Jail In Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Raymond Lee Savage Jr., former CEO and President of Savage Sports Management and All-American linebacker at the University of Virginia, is going to jail in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama for having one of his employees illegally contact former University of Alabama wide-receiver,Tyrone Prothro, while Prothro was in college (the year was 2005).  The employee was not licensed as an athlete agent in the state of Alabama at the time.  Savage was originally arrested and taken into custody in October 2008 for allegedly having a part in illegally contacting Prothro.  Five years later, Savage is finally being booked.

Savage had once plead not guilty to both charges for which he was accused: 1) Not registering as an athlete-agent in Alabama (felony); and 2) Initiating contact with a student-athlete (misdemeanor).  The state of Alabama dropped the misdemeanor charge, but the felony charge remained.

When Savage failed to appear in court for a reduced charge on the felony count, a judge issued a writ of arrest.  In response, Savage explained could not leave his home in Virginia due to health problems.  The judge did not buy it, and Alabama’s Assistant Attorney General Don Valeska was very displeased.  Valeska is not one to mess with.  In the past, he has said,

“At the appropriate time, one of these agents is going to go to jail because of a felony, but this one [Savage Jr.] we didn’t feel was the case based on the facts,” Valeska said. “We want the message to go out that nobody comes to Alabama without following the law and talks to college athletes about going pro.”

Mike Trope, author of Necessary Roughness and former NFLPA agent has a quote that I always think about whenever I write about Alabama, and he happened to say it in reference to the Savage case – “[Don’t] ever represent any player that is a resident or goes to school in the state of Alabama. I am not an agent anymore, but I wouldn’t do it.”  Anyone who is not licensed as an athlete agent in Alabama and is currently recruiting student-athletes based in that state needs to remind themselves that they are putting their freedom at risk based on their actions.