Derrick Graves doesn't understand the hubbub.
The former Auburn linebacker, a three-year letterman whose college career ended after the 2004 season, said Friday that he never received preferential treatment from university professors.
Graves even studied sociology, the program that is under heavy scrutiny after a recent New York Times story indicated that professor Thomas Petee (pronounced "pete-ee") eased academic requirements for some student-athletes and other pupils.
"I always did my own work in the regular classes. I have the Fs and Ds to prove it," said Graves, who is scheduled to graduate in August with a degree in sociology. "This whole thing is insulting. Now everyone's going to look at me as a football player with a sociology degree and wonder if I did the work. Believe me, the work was hard. But it's mine."
Graves didn't take any classes with Petee but was familiar with sociology professor James Gundlach, who served as the whistle-blower for the Times' story. Other football players who studied sociology, Graves said, avoided Gundlach at all costs.
"It only took me a couple of days to figure out that I needed to get out of there," said Graves, who never took one of the directed-reading courses that prompted the article. "Me and (Gundlach) didn't get along. I'm not going to get into what the problem was -- I'll just say that a lot of us didn't agree with a lot of the stuff he was saying."
Auburn University announced Thursday that it is investigating a professor who may have given student-athletes grades that required little or no academic investment. Provost Jim Heilman didn't name the professor in question, though the Times' article made it clear that Petee is in the spotlight.
At issue is Petee's involvement in directed-reading courses, which allow students to earn credits through one-on-one instruction outside the standard curriculum. Petee offered directed-reading courses to 250 students during the 2004-04 academic year, though only a quarter of those students were athletes.
Gundlach said 18 football players were enrolled in Petee's directed-reading courses, and they earned a total of 97 hours during their careers. He said those football players earned a 3.31 grade-point average in those courses; 2.14 in their other coursework.
Petee, contacted Friday by phone, quickly referred questions to an unidentified woman at his home.
"He's not going to be answering any questions," she said. "He's not available."
Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs also had little to say Thursday afternoon.
"This is an academic issue at the moment," he said. "I don't have a response until the investigation is completed."
The NCAA's role in this issue remains unclear.
College athletics' governing body generally allows each school to determine its own approach to academic ethics. NCAA Bylaw 10.1 (c) holds that a school can be penalized for "knowing involvement in arranging for fraudulent academic credit or false transcripts for a prospective or current student-athlete."
Though some have asserted Petee's one-on-one courses were fraudulent, the NCAA is withholding judgment so far.
"Right now, it's an institutional matter," said Erik Christianson, the NCAA's media director. "Our involvement depends on the particular situation. If there are violations of the by-laws, the NCAA will get involved."
Graves isn't the only former Auburn player disturbed by the recent allegations. Robert Johnson, a Jeff Davis grad who played tight end at Auburn from 2001-03, said he never received preferential treatment.
Johnson, who now plays for the Washington Redskins, said his work toward a degree in public administration was arduous.
"Believe me when I say there was no silver spoon in my mouth," Johnson said. "There were a lot of cases where it was harder because I was a football player. It's not like all the professors love the football team. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying it wasn't easy for me."
That is an apparently strong change of direction for Johnson, who was quoted in the Times' story saying that classes were easier for players when the team was winning.
He also told the Times that players often were lumped together in classes so they could have a good time.
"What I meant is that we were put together so we could feel comfortable in class," Johnson said. "Some of these classes are tough, and it's better to have some guys in there you know. You can help each other. And, yeah, everything's better when you're winning. When you lose, it's like: I'm doing all this work in class to play ball and now we're getting killed on the field."
Sociology isn't a new degree trend for Auburn players. A 2002 study by USA Today found that only 62 students were was pursuing a sociology degree.
Twenty-six of them were football players.